• Get Everything You Need to Secure a Training Contract
    Now half the price. Join TCLA Premium for £30/month and get step-by-step application support, daily commercial awareness practice, and 700+ successful examples of past applications and interview experiences. Plus so much more.
    Join Premium →
  • Office Hours with BCLP (Live Q&A)
    29 Oct 2025 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm (UK) Hosted on TCLA TV
    Join Isabel Elsey, Legal Recruitment Manager at BCLP, for a live Q&A session. Get details on secondments, innovation, growth areas, and everything else you’ve wanted to ask about life at BCLP!

    📺 Join Event

Interview Question: Why did you fail your vac schemes?

wwood

Distinguished Member
Jan 19, 2019
68
99
Hi everyone :) I'm not sure if this has been posted before. I've been getting this question "Why did you fail your vac schemes" recently. I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on tackling this question? Frankly, mine was lacking confidence (leading to bad time management, not as proactive etc.) ... but I'm not sure if recruiters would like to hear that, given that job applicants should be confident. Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you so much! :)
 

Zsaurcaks1

Distinguished Member
Future Trainee
Sep 4, 2018
63
54
Hi everyone :) I'm not sure if this has been posted before. I've been getting this question "Why did you fail your vac schemes" recently. I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on tackling this question? Frankly, mine was lacking confidence (leading to bad time management, not as proactive etc.) ... but I'm not sure if recruiters would like to hear that, given that job applicants should be confident. Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you so much! :)

hey! My response was tactfully honest- so I explained the feedback honestly and then focused more on ways I had improved since being given that feedback
 

TCLA Community Assistant

Legendary Member
TCLA Moderator
Gold Member
Graduate Recruitment
Premium Member
Forum Team
Aug 1, 2019
15,526
21,762
Hi everyone :) I'm not sure if this has been posted before. I've been getting this question "Why did you fail your vac schemes" recently. I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on tackling this question? Frankly, mine was lacking confidence (leading to bad time management, not as proactive etc.) ... but I'm not sure if recruiters would like to hear that, given that job applicants should be confident. Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you so much! :)

it doesn’t matter what the reason for it is, what matters is you being able to demonstrate how you have developed/solved that weaknesses since then
 

About Us

The Corporate Law Academy (TCLA) was founded in 2018 because we wanted to improve the legal journey. We wanted more transparency and better training. We wanted to form a community of aspiring lawyers who care about becoming the best version of themselves.

Newsletter

Discover the most relevant business news, access our law firm analysis, and receive our best advice for aspiring lawyers.