I just think on paper I look good, hence I get invited to ACs and then, no matter how much I prepare for them, they always go badly... I think my competency interviews are okay but it's usually the case studies/written exercise interviews that bring me down. I just feel I'm not really good at thinking on the spot; I get anxious and flustered and lose ability to think logically. I do take moments to pause and think but if nothing comes to mind I'll just stay silent until the interviewers prompt me again. I think by then they've made up their mind about me and I start feeling demotivated... I honestly don't know how I can improve this. Any suggestions? I have another 3 ACs upcoming and I'm just feeling demotivated about them.
Keep getting ACs but always feel like I fail them...
- Thread starter nisadee
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Even though I've never been interviewed, I totally get what you're saying. Even I'm having a tough time figuring out what aspects require prior preparation and what requires on the spot thinking. I think I'd face the same issues as you to be honest because what if I ask them for a good couple of minutes and come up with a really plain sounding answer, I think that's likely to disappoint them even more. Would love to know how one can remedy this.
Could you use your uni careers service to give you some timed practice? Do you have a helpful lawyer mate who can give you some basic summarising exercises? And frankly, as long as you are literate maybe you should try to knock it out of the park on the competency qs so they don't worry if you aren't flying so high on the written stuff? That's a slightly naive view but it might give you another angle?
Another technique - get someone to send you a daily competency q from a bank you've given them - use the TCLA list. Then you HAVE to Whatsapp them a voicemail answer within 5 mins?? They don't have to give you feedback, you just have to keep learning the Andy Murray/Emma Radecanu etc return of service. Thinking on your feet, which you say you find tricky.
Use props - take a sip of water, then leap into answering the Q. Book a TCLA mock interview. Imagine you are telling your answer to your favourite cuddly toy. Whatever works for you.
Also - must do some more of these myself - the Forage exercises are great. Choose a firm's Forage course, stick with it and you will come out in better shape...
Hang on in there...! 3ACs is great going!!
First off- congratulations on securing all your ACs! This is a huge achievement on its own requiring absolutely no further qualification👏 👏 👏 👏
As for how you think you can improve on your performance in ACs- how do you generally prepare for ACs, and how do you feel going into one?
Somebody I know used to feel like they looked on good on paper as well but would tank the AC when it came to it because they felt an overwhelming pressure from the get-go to appear 'perfect', make not one mistake and land an offer. From what you're describing about going silent and feeling demotivated, I think you may be feeling similarly.
I have some insight for you that I really hope will help-
- Things WILL go wrong at an AC, and that's kind of the whole point
- An AC is designed to test how well you do under pressure, and when you're under pressure, things do go wrong here and there. Maybe your tech stops working, maybe you don't speak perfectly, maybe you mess up an answer. Making mistakes is acceptable, to a large extent, but dwelling on them or ruminating about how you're being perceived and letting this impact the rest of your AC is the killer. When you make a mistake, you have to simply recover and get back to making the point you know you have the full ability to make.
- You cannot practice for every eventuality in an AC, and that can be comforting
- As much as you practice for interviews and case studies and group exercises, you cannot pre-design your responses to them, and that's something that unsettles people- when their pre-designed responses don't quite fit the bill in an AC. Instead of focusing on pre-empting what's gonna come up in your ACs, it may be more helpful to focus on understanding 1) what they're looking to test and 2) how you can develop your thinking to respond effectively. Once you've worked on this through practice, research and reflection, it becomes comforting to know that although you cannot practice for eventuality, you have the ultimate tools with you to ace the AC.
- Perfection is a lie, and you have everything you need to succeed
- Not trying to sound corny here but you already have everything you truly need to ace your AC- a firm would not interview you if they didn't think you were worthy. You have to accept that you may trip up here and there, seem nervous, seem too happy, be unintentionally goofy- these things make you you. When you perceive these things as imperfections, you start getting anxious about them and it starts impacting your performance, which is why you need to have a mechanism that pulls the brakes on such thinking in an AC. Take a few breaths, drink some really cold water, pinch yourself (I know it sounds bizarre but it works)- anything to stop your anxiety from bigger than it needs to be.
Wishing you the very best- you've got this 💪
Hello, Avni. Thank you for this answer. Just a follow-up question, please? The general tip around the 3 whys is that they should be solid and shouldn't lack detail but I wanted to ask you, how can we avoid making it look like the answer is rehearsed without skimping on detail, because if the answers are detailed, IMO it kind of shows that you had prepared for it in advance. I think I'm overthinking the rehearsal point but I'm a little scared of sounding overly prepared since a lot of people have been turned down post - AC because of that.
I have the same feeling about competency questions honestly, I want to detail them as much as possible but I don't want to make it look like I had memorised these answers beforehand.
Thanks in advance.
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Hii, I totally understand your point and this is something I considered before my ACs as well. The idea is to revise your response enough to know your main points and sub-points, but not memorising it word for word. For instance, if I'm preparing an answer for 'why this firm', I would broadly tell myself 'the project finance practice, the trainee intake and the diversity initiatives'. Then in the interview, I give myself the freedom to expand on those points however I deem necessary, without stressing about trying to remember exactly what I wrote and rehearsed when I was preparing.
You said "if the answered are detailed, it shows you had prepared for it in advance". Of course you're preparing for an AC in advance haha, for some questions more so than others. They expect you to be prepared! Prepared, but not rehearsed.
In terms of making your response not sound rehearsed, think about if you were doing a uni presentation. Naturally, you take pauses. You take breaths. You um and ah. You take a sip of water in between. These are the techniques I use to make it sound like I'm naturally presenting a response, rather than blurting out something I had memorised as quickly as possible before I forget it. In the same way you would a regular conversation.
I think if you also have the mindset of "this is a conversation", rather than "this is an interview and I'm being tested", it becomes easier for your words to flow and you won't sound as rigid.
Also, record yourself when giving a response! Then watch it back and scrutinise yourself, ask friends/family to watch too. That way you really know how you come across.
I hope this helps
Thank you so much for this answer, it all makes sense now.Hii, I totally understand your point and this is something I considered before my ACs as well. The idea is to revise your response enough to know your main points and sub-points, but not memorising it word for word. For instance, if I'm preparing an answer for 'why this firm', I would broadly tell myself 'the project finance practice, the trainee intake and the diversity initiatives'. Then in the interview, I give myself the freedom to expand on those points however I deem necessary, without stressing about trying to remember exactly what I wrote and rehearsed when I was preparing.
You said "if the answered are detailed, it shows you had prepared for it in advance". Of course you're preparing for an AC in advance haha, for some questions more so than others. They expect you to be prepared! Prepared, but not rehearsed.
In terms of making your response not sound rehearsed, think about if you were doing a uni presentation. Naturally, you take pauses. You take breaths. You um and ah. You take a sip of water in between. These are the techniques I use to make it sound like I'm naturally presenting a response, rather than blurting out something I had memorised as quickly as possible before I forget it. In the same way you would a regular conversation.
I think if you also have the mindset of "this is a conversation", rather than "this is an interview and I'm being tested", it becomes easier for your words to flow and you won't sound as rigid.
Also, record yourself when giving a response! Then watch it back and scrutinise yourself, ask friends/family to watch too. That way you really know how you come across.
I hope this helps
I was in the same boat as you. Did 12 ACs over 2 years and got into an MC firm on the 12th. You get better the more interviews you do so don’t feel demotivated. Top tip is to speak really slowly as they’re looking to see how you would react if a client asked you a hard question. The slower you talk the more eloquent you sound because you have more time to think about your answer. Also structure your long answers with firstly, secondly, finally.
Hi @nisadee,
I am sorry to hear that you are feeling like this. To reiterate what @AvniD has already said though, you cannot expect perfection of yourself. It is easy to focus on the things that could have gone better, rather than the things that went well(!). Often, for example, I think things have gone significantly worse than they have.
That being said, here are two things that I think could really help:
1. Often if you do not know the answer to a question in an interview, the best approach is to start your answer (after pausing) with, "after considering this a little bit, I am not absolutely sure about the answer, however, my initial thoughts are X. I thought this for Y reason. My reasoning for this is Z". If you can work through your reasoning/thought process logically and clearly, then you are demonstrating strong communication skills whilst encouraging a discussion.
If this sounds like something that could be helpful, I would really recommend the resources provided by McKinsey, Bain and BCG (MBB firms) for their case studies. Each have useful (free) resources on their websites. Just as an example, BCG's is here. The subject matter will be different from your interview, but these will give you an introduction to the skill of "thinking out loud". This video might prove useful too.
I did this ahead of my interviews and found it a really helpful (and applicable) skill.
2. If you can, I would really recommend asking friends and family to run through a mock interview or two with you. There are paid services which offer this too. Each time I practiced, I found that I improved.
I know that you said you feel like you struggle to think on your feet. However, I honestly think a lot of this feeling is rooted in a lack of confidence in your ability to do so. Practicing will improve your technique. It will also make you more familiar with that awful feeling of being asked a question that you do not (immediately) know the answer to.
I hope that those tips might help.
Please do reach out though if you would like any further help or support. Best of lucks with your ACs if I do not hear from you though 💪
Thank you so much for the advice and the resources- I didn't know they existed!
Hi @nisadee,
Myself, @James Carrabino and @AvniD are always on hand if you would like any further guidance! Do tag us if you would like any more thoughts or help.
I am delighted to hear that you found them helpful 🥳
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@nisadee it is great that you have been helped by my wonderful colleagues @George Maxwell and @AvniD - their advice is more thorough than anything I could provide!
I would like to add emphasis to this case study article by @Jacob Miller which @AvniD already linked you to. What I found so incredibly useful is the way that it sets out a table with all the possible legal and commercial considerations in the scenario.
I am sure you are actually very good at thinking on your feet and besides, with the incredible number of ACs you are getting (huge congratulations!) I know that you will improve naturally anyway. Nevertheless, I am about to reveal a big secret...
....you do not need to be quite as good at thinking on your feet as you might think 🤣
When completing a case study or written exercise for the first time, I would take inspiration from @Jacob Miller and make a list of all the possible considerations. In fact, I would have a pre-written list beforehand and simply cross off the ones that may not be relevant.
I separated my list into legal, commercial and reputational issues and included the following bullet points amongst other things:
If the written exercise is on a topic completely unrelated to a legal/commercial scenario, then my main advice is to read the question first and have a brief read of all the material they provide you with so that you understand the big picture of what you have to do. Then lay out a clear structure for yourself as to what issues they are asking you to address, before going back to address each issue in more detail. This involves slightly more thinking on the spot than my above example but if you get it all done at the beginning then you will feel much more capable of writing fluently on the topic.
At the end of the day, these exercises are unlikely to have details in them which are really tricky to notice! You do not have to be in genius mode when you are completing them, you just have to think creatively and the main thing is that you present your answer with as clear a structure as possible! I hope that all helps
I would like to add emphasis to this case study article by @Jacob Miller which @AvniD already linked you to. What I found so incredibly useful is the way that it sets out a table with all the possible legal and commercial considerations in the scenario.
I am sure you are actually very good at thinking on your feet and besides, with the incredible number of ACs you are getting (huge congratulations!) I know that you will improve naturally anyway. Nevertheless, I am about to reveal a big secret...
....you do not need to be quite as good at thinking on your feet as you might think 🤣
When completing a case study or written exercise for the first time, I would take inspiration from @Jacob Miller and make a list of all the possible considerations. In fact, I would have a pre-written list beforehand and simply cross off the ones that may not be relevant.
I separated my list into legal, commercial and reputational issues and included the following bullet points amongst other things:
- Stakeholder interests
- Methods of financing
- Due diligence
- Risks of litigation
- Warranties + indemnities
- Possible synergies
- Employment issues
- Competition/antitrust regulations
- Tax implications
- Client's competitors
- Future client relationships
If the written exercise is on a topic completely unrelated to a legal/commercial scenario, then my main advice is to read the question first and have a brief read of all the material they provide you with so that you understand the big picture of what you have to do. Then lay out a clear structure for yourself as to what issues they are asking you to address, before going back to address each issue in more detail. This involves slightly more thinking on the spot than my above example but if you get it all done at the beginning then you will feel much more capable of writing fluently on the topic.
At the end of the day, these exercises are unlikely to have details in them which are really tricky to notice! You do not have to be in genius mode when you are completing them, you just have to think creatively and the main thing is that you present your answer with as clear a structure as possible! I hope that all helps
Wow, this is so incredibly helpful! I agree, having a list beforehand would be very useful, especially to prevent my mind from going blank and I could stay more structured and logical that way. Thank you!@nisadee it is great that you have been helped by my wonderful colleagues @George Maxwell and @AvniD - their advice is more thorough than anything I could provide!
I would like to add emphasis to this case study article by @Jacob Miller which @AvniD already linked you to. What I found so incredibly useful is the way that it sets out a table with all the possible legal and commercial considerations in the scenario.
I am sure you are actually very good at thinking on your feet and besides, with the incredible number of ACs you are getting (huge congratulations!) I know that you will improve naturally anyway. Nevertheless, I am about to reveal a big secret...
....you do not need to be quite as good at thinking on your feet as you might think 🤣
When completing a case study or written exercise for the first time, I would take inspiration from @Jacob Miller and make a list of all the possible considerations. In fact, I would have a pre-written list beforehand and simply cross off the ones that may not be relevant.
I separated my list into legal, commercial and reputational issues and included the following bullet points amongst other things:
Now these are very broad and vague topics (and I am sure there are many more not directly off the top of my head). A lot of these would not apply at all to certain scenarios, but it is good to go in with an idea of the kinds of things you should be looking out for.
- Stakeholder interests
- Methods of financing
- Due diligence
- Risks of litigation
- Warranties + indemnities
- Possible synergies
- Employment issues
- Competition/antitrust regulations
- Tax implications
- Client's competitors
- Future client relationships
If the written exercise is on a topic completely unrelated to a legal/commercial scenario, then my main advice is to read the question first and have a brief read of all the material they provide you with so that you understand the big picture of what you have to do. Then lay out a clear structure for yourself as to what issues they are asking you to address, before going back to address each issue in more detail. This involves slightly more thinking on the spot than my above example but if you get it all done at the beginning then you will feel much more capable of writing fluently on the topic.
At the end of the day, these exercises are unlikely to have details in them which are really tricky to notice! You do not have to be in genius mode when you are completing them, you just have to think creatively and the main thing is that you present your answer with as clear a structure as possible! I hope that all helps
James Carrabino
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I've got two ACs next week and I am starting to get overwhelmed with information. I had an interview last week with a different firm where I was unable to answer a competency question and I didn't answer two commercial questions how I would have liked 🥲, and it's stressing me out that maybe I don't know as much as I should. When do you know if you've done enough? I know you cannot prepare for every single thing, but the more time I have, the more I think I should be doing more competency examples, more firm research, etc 😕
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I rarely felt that I had 'done enough', but I also knew when to stop. I only felt unprepared for an interview if I had not thoroughly gone back over all of the following six things in advance of the interview (which only happened once I think, when I had a coursework deadline the night before an interview):
- First and foremost, I compiled a thorough document dedicated to my research about the firm, including deals, partners, awards etc. and a structured list of bullet points on how to answer 'Why this firm' if it came up. Often I would end up with way too much information and have to be very rigorous about going through and deciding what was a priority to mention and what I would only bring up if the interviewers asked subsequent questions. I would not worry abut having done too little research (unless you really have not done much research at all) because usually the problem is having too much information to draw from.
- I reminded myself of my other 'general' answers to questions including 'Tell us about yourself and your journey', 'Why did you study your university degree?', 'Why are you interested in law/commercial law?', 'What are your strengths/weaknesses?' and 'What makes you stand out as a candidate?' I always got asked 3/5 of those questions.
- I went back over which examples I would use for seven key competency questions on teamwork, resilience, ability to take constructive criticism, leadership, integrity, communication and dealing with failure/making a mistake. If I had one example for each of those, I tended to be fine and very rarely found myself searching for an answer on the spot. If the question did not quite map onto one of those competencies, I could often still use the same example and alter my conclusion slightly in order to address the exact question being asked.
- I prepared two commercial answers - one about a general commercial news story of interest to me and another specifically about a deal that the firm had recently worked on.
- If we were given the names of our interviewers, then I made sure to know a bit about them and their work, just in case it could fuel any conversation or inform my questions later on.
- If the interview involved a case study, I always went back over @Jacob Miller's comprehensive case study advice the night before.
Bearing all of this in mind, know that firms will try to ask you questions that you have not prepared for, and they will almost certainly succeed at least once. So be prepared for that moment where a question comes that makes you think, 'Ok, you win - I simply don't have this one prepared'. Allow yourself to confidently admit to yourself that you did not prepare an answer and then ask for a few seconds to think. Don't beat yourself up over not preparing enough and don't worry if this answer does not end up being your very best answer. Everyone will face this moment at least once in an interview and as long as you don't let it startle you, then I am sure you will think up a decent answer on the spot!
After every interview, I would make a note of all the questions I was asked and what my answer was, whether it was good enough, or whether I should think of a new one for next time. This process of learning and improving after each interview really helped me improve from one to the next!
All of this is to say - don't stress! I am sure that you are extremely well prepared already, but feel free to have a look over these suggestions if you want to be able to put your mind at rest
Thank you so much for this, I deleted my message and put it in another forum because I thought this was the wrong one to post in 😅 I definitely agree with point 1 because I did a good amount of research before applying to those firms and the additional research I’ve done this weekend just makes it feel like there’s too much information. I will look over Jacob’s case study article this evening, thanks for this. I’ll come back to these points again the day before each of those ACs to put my mind at ease, I really appreciate it!I rarely felt that I had 'done enough', but I also knew when to stop. I only felt unprepared for an interview if I had not thoroughly gone back over all of the following six things in advance of the interview (which only happened once I think, when I had a coursework deadline the night before an interview):
If I had completed these first six things then I felt ready. I would feel comfortable going to sleep the night before an interview if this was all that I had done. In whatever extra time I may have happened to have, however, I would do everything else I could think of. This included preparing answers to more questions from this list, thinking about the types of questions I may want to ask the interviewers and generally searching online for any advice about interviewing at the firm that I could find. If I did not have time to do these final things, however, then I would not stress out!
- First and foremost, I compiled a thorough document dedicated to my research about the firm, including deals, partners, awards etc. and a structured list of bullet points on how to answer 'Why this firm' if it came up. Often I would end up with way too much information and have to be very rigorous about going through and deciding what was a priority to mention and what I would only bring up if the interviewers asked subsequent questions. I would not worry abut having done too little research (unless you really have not done much research at all) because usually the problem is having too much information to draw from.
- I reminded myself of my other 'general' answers to questions including 'Tell us about yourself and your journey', 'Why did you study your university degree?', 'Why are you interested in law/commercial law?', 'What are your strengths/weaknesses?' and 'What makes you stand out as a candidate?' I always got asked 3/5 of those questions.
- I went back over which examples I would use for seven key competency questions on teamwork, resilience, ability to take constructive criticism, leadership, integrity, communication and dealing with failure/making a mistake. If I had one example for each of those, I tended to be fine and very rarely found myself searching for an answer on the spot. If the question did not quite map onto one of those competencies, I could often still use the same example and alter my conclusion slightly in order to address the exact question being asked.
- I prepared two commercial answers - one about a general commercial news story of interest to me and another specifically about a deal that the firm had recently worked on.
- If we were given the names of our interviewers, then I made sure to know a bit about them and their work, just in case it could fuel any conversation or inform my questions later on.
- If the interview involved a case study, I always went back over @Jacob Miller's comprehensive case study advice the night before.
Bearing all of this in mind, know that firms will try to ask you questions that you have not prepared for, and they will almost certainly succeed at least once. So be prepared for that moment where a question comes that makes you think, 'Ok, you win - I simply don't have this one prepared'. Allow yourself to confidently admit to yourself that you did not prepare an answer and then ask for a few seconds to think. Don't beat yourself up over not preparing enough and don't worry if this answer does not end up being your very best answer. Everyone will face this moment at least once in an interview and as long as you don't let it startle you, then I am sure you will think up a decent answer on the spot!
After every interview, I would make a note of all the questions I was asked and what my answer was, whether it was good enough, or whether I should think of a new one for next time. This process of learning and improving after each interview really helped me improve from one to the next!
All of this is to say - don't stress! I am sure that you are extremely well prepared already, but feel free to have a look over these suggestions if you want to be able to put your mind at rest
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I am really glad to be able to help! And no worries at all - I will go post my response in the main vac scheme thread as well for people who would be more likely to read it there
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