TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

[golden99]

Anyone else really confused about what’s happening with eversheds London responses. All others offices seem to have had vi invites and pfo’s. But for London just seen a small number of vi’s. Not sure if that means pfo for the rest of us

 

[Leightoncass]

got Kennedys SST too

I hate the SST. I did it for Kennedy's last year and failed. To this day I've never managed to pass an SST. Also got an SST for Kennedy's this year! Not looking forward to it

 

[Donuttime]

Any insight into Dechert Written exercise please
no idea what to expect 😓

 

[GXA123]

This could be a good sign because from this forum they usually reject straight away

I really hope so

 

[Ray00313]

Saw it on LinkedIn some DLA (London Birmingham), HL (London) ACs coming out.

 

[AP2000]

I am not sure when but from checking the forum from last year I would say end of Jan and early Feb! my report turned out quiet interesting. how about yours?

Hope we hear good news soon! Same really- I've done this assessment two times before for non-law companies and most of the traits are quite consistent....then there will be 2-3 things that are just complete opposites plus some weird combinations (e.g., very inclined to be innovative, very okay with uncertainty, but also prefers consistency and familiarity?). Took me some time to stop worrying myself over this, but it helped knowing the firm won't turn someone down based on what the test says alone.

 

[GXA123]

Saw it on LinkedIn some DLA (London Birmingham), HL (London) ACs coming out.

did HL themselves post about it?

 

[Law2021vacschemer]

Hi @Law2021vacschemer,

I thought I would draw out a few articles I read on this recently. Seems like a lot of more traditional UK firms are increasingly dropping the Lockstep model in an effort to retain talent that may otherwise escape to US firms.

I hope these are helpful 🕺

1. Law.com (behind a paywall although I believe you get one free article per month!
2. FT article

Amazing thanks!

 

[Veep9]

Anyone got rejected from NRF post TI?

edit: sorry, that was a typo. I meant to ask if anyone had been rejected yet because I haven’t heard!

 

[bibss]

Anyone knows if graduates can apply to Cleary vac scheme?

 

[Rob93]

Anyone knows if graduates can apply to Cleary vac scheme?

Off the top of my head, I think so? Worth dropping their grad rec an email to confirm if the website isn't clear

 

[thirdtimelucky]

Anyone got rejected from NRF post TI?

edit: sorry, that was a typo. I meant to ask if anyone had been rejected yet because I haven’t heard!

I haven’t seen anyone on the forum get rejected yet but I know they were still interviewing so I imagine people will start hearing back this week! Fingers crossed it’s good news for you!! 🤞🏼

 

[Rob93]

Anyone knows if graduates can apply to Cleary vac scheme?

Their brochure says they encourage all applicants to try for a VS - direct TC presumably exists for people who for whatever reason can't do a VS there.

 

[elizabeth_98]

Has anyone’s Freshfields direct tc application been updated since they applied?

 

[Asil Ahmad]

This may sound stupid but when writing a vacation scheme on a cover letter is it Vacation Scheme or vacation scheme. Also, does it matter if you don't or do write it with capitals I mean will that be spotted as a grammar error by graduate recruitment.

 

[Arche172372]

Milbank AC!

 

[John Travoni]

Has anyone’s Freshfields direct tc application been updated since they applied?

I applied on the 6th Jan and it says that jt portal was updated on the 7th so I have no idea what this means 🤷‍♂️

 

[bibss]

Their brochure says they encourage all applicants to try for a VS - direct TC presumably exists for people who for whatever reason can't do a VS there.

Thank you, I missed that I'll probably send an email just to be sure

 

[George Maxwell]

If they let you and you want to, sure. As noted above, some don't re-interview - I think this is fairly common across MC and large-intake firms generally (small-intake firms tend to be more forgiving) but you'd have to dig up the particular firm's policy or email their grad rec.

In the interest of being strategic about time & effort, though, I'd have a think about why you didn't clear AC and whether that's really something you can remediate.

If it's because you were having an off day, or stumbled on commercial awareness or didn't have your motivations fully articulated, these things can be improved between now and next cycle. Go for it.

That said, it's also possible that you and the firm simply weren't the right fit - and there's nothing wrong with that. It could be that your working style or ambitions don't match with their training methods, or any of a number of 'cultural fit' mismatches. I don't know your personal circumstances - or which firm it was - so I won't speculate any further. But if the rejection post-AC comes down to this kind of alignment issue, I'd think about whether that's somewhere you really want to be. Would you actually get on in that environment, in that type of programme? If the answer to that is ultimately yes, then sure take another crack and have a think about how you can better show your alignment with the firm (without compromising yourself). If it's no, there are plenty of fish in the sea - you've made it through to AC at a MC firm, you've clearly got the chops to make it through plenty of other places.

Tl;dr - do you vibe with this firm?
Like... there are a bunch of firms who are top-notch in the practice areas I really want to pursue, great comp, prestige, whatever, but I don't bother applying simply because I do not gel with their vibe.

Just want to call this out publicly- fantastic post @Rob93!

 

[elizabeth_98]

I applied on the 6th Jan and it says that jt portal was updated on the 7th so I have no idea what this means 🤷‍♂️

Thank you for this🙂 I applied on the 5th but mine hasn’t updated since then - not sure what to think haha!