TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2023-24

[Zaakir]

Does anyone have any tips for W&C AC and interview?

VERY competency heavy, uncomfortably so

 

[pb15]

Does anyone have any tips for Dechert AC? Seeing as the written exercise was part fo the previous stage, I'm just wondering what to expect.

Hey, congrats on getting to AC! Can I ask, when did you hear back?

 

[Tintin06]

VERY competency heavy, uncomfortably so

Thank you. I looked at Glassdoor but this is very helpful.

 

[Tintin06]

Like for STAR. React for CAR.

 

[S87]

Hi @Jessica Booker,

I completed my studies outside the UK, but I noticed that many vacation scheme applications do not have the space to explain my home country. Do you suggest getting in touch with the graduate recruitment team to understand how to provide the extra explanation? Thank you in advance

 

[CocoChanel]

Hey guys, if you were to have an hour interview with grad rec and they ask "why our firm?" how long would you spend talking? Would 5-7 minutes be overkill? Thank you!

 

[Tintin06]

I have to say, the Cappfinity test feedback (I got it from Akin and Macfarlanes so far) is extremely helpful.

 

[sxw517]

I just went to submit my MoFo application after spending a couple of days on it, not having been logged out (which admittedly, I did find quite odd), and now I have received an error message and all the information I entered has gone. It seems you can't save the application anyway, so I assumed it was like vantage, in that it doesn't log out after a period of user inactivity.

A surefire way to boil my p*ss on a Sunday morning.

 

[mfuturetrainee]

Hey guys, if you were to have an hour interview with grad rec and they ask "why our firm?" how long would you spend talking? Would 5-7 minutes be overkill? Thank you!

ive always been told rule of thumb is 90 seconds to avoid waffle, there is leeway 10-20 seconds over that but dont try and go over it by too much is what my advice would be

 

[mfuturetrainee]

I just went to submit my MoFo application after spending a couple of days on it, not having been logged out (which admittedly, I did find quite odd), and now I have received an error message and all the information I entered has gone. It seems you can't save the application anyway, so I assumed it was like vantage, in that it doesn't log out after a period of user inactivity.

A surefire way to boil my p*ss on a Sunday morning.

that is so painful im so sorry I literally cant imagine anything worse than logging in your work experience all over again

 

[RANDOTRON]

Hey guys, if you were to have an hour interview with grad rec and they ask "why our firm?" how long would you spend talking? Would 5-7 minutes be overkill? Thank you!

I don't think there's a no hard and fast rule on this. In my opinion, it's more important to give a full answer to the question by pick one or two points and keep it succinctly to that with a structured answer to avoid waffling. Obviously, don't spend too long answering it, but I wouldn't rush it either. In my interview, my prepped answer was about 150 to 200 words long, I didn't focus on the minutes, and took the time to speak calmly and clearly until I finished my response.

Hope this helps!

 

[Abgaal]

Omg that CMS Watson Glaser was hard oh god…

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Hi @Jessica Booker,

I completed my studies outside the UK, but I noticed that many vacation scheme applications do not have the space to explain my home country. Do you suggest getting in touch with the graduate recruitment team to understand how to provide the extra explanation? Thank you in advance

I would just email a brief explanation to the main graduate recruitment email address as that will be the most useful way to provide this information.

Alternatively if you can upload a document to the system, then you could add that as a document to your application.

I would say 9 times out of 10 though, no explanation is needed. I know many other countries academic systems, and when I don’t I had an international qualification guide. In the vary rare instances where the qualification isn’t in that guide, I would research it.

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Hey guys, if you were to have an hour interview with grad rec and they ask "why our firm?" how long would you spend talking? Would 5-7 minutes be overkill? Thank you!

Yes - this is too long in my opinion. I would aim for more around the 3 minute mark.

I sense you are either trying to include too many points or are going into too much detail about how you have gained an interest in an area you are identifying - you rarely need the detail of what you have done in motivational questions, you can just focus on what you have enjoyed/been interested in.

 

[NMA]

I have to say, the Cappfinity test feedback (I got it from Akin and Macfarlanes so far) is extremely helpful.

i thought macfarlanes was non rolling? or do they give you an automatic test?

 

[Deleted member 27336]

Any books (aside from Jake S's Commercial Law handbook) people have found extremely useful when preparing for case studies? Feel like that is one of my downfalls rn! Cheers

 

[SalmaNasser]

London vacation scheme 2024 - no feedback just wasn’t successful. But I know why it was expected. How you getting on? Did you get a VI invite from PWC?

I completed the online test and got invited to the online video interview, still waiting for the AC. I thought they reply around Dec

 

[SalmaNasser]

Hi @Jessica Booker,

I completed my studies outside the UK, but I noticed that many vacation scheme applications do not have the space to explain my home country. Do you suggest getting in touch with the graduate recruitment team to understand how to provide the extra explanation? Thank you in advance

I am going through the same thing as well and I am not sure tbh on what to do

 

[S87]

I am going through the same thing as well and I am not sure tbh on what to do

I would just email a brief explanation to the main graduate recruitment email address as that will be the most useful way to provide this information.

Alternatively if you can upload a document to the system, then you could add that as a document to your application.

I would say 9 times out of 10 though, no explanation is needed. I know many other countries academic systems, and when I don’t I had an international qualification guide. In the vary rare instances where the qualification isn’t in that guide, I would research it.

This is what Jessica suggests to do

 

[trainingcontract]

It's SJT, and there's a pre-recorded interview at the end.

Was wondering if anyone here has finished their SH test and willing to share how they structure the pre-recorded interview? Do you have unlimited time to prep before recording? How many questions were there? Were there commercial awareness questions?

Does anyone have any insights on this?