TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[legal18]

How do people manage university work and applications? I'm one week into my PGDL and I'm getting so stressed, there's so much work and it's so much harder than I expected. I don't know how I'm going to manage the workload on top of applications. Still haven't sent off one VS application and the whole week I've done nothing. Any tips would be much appreciated

 

[BM99]

How do people manage university work and applications? I'm one week into my PGDL and I'm getting so stressed, there's so much work and it's so much harder than I expected. I don't know how I'm going to manage the workload on top of applications. Still haven't sent off one VS application and the whole week I've done nothing. Any tips would be much appreciated

Honestly just time management and prioritisation. Currently working in a full time job, studying for qualifications, and doing applications at the same time

 

[abhuzaifa]

Does anyone know if you need to redo the online assessment for HSF if you passed it previous cycle ?

 

[Tintin06]

Holding myself accountable (again).

CC*
HSF
NRF
Weil
Sidley
Willkie
Cooley
Latham
Skadden
Goodwin
Covington
Linklaters*
Paul, Weiss
Slaughters*
Gibson Dunn
Macfarlanes*
White & Case
Hogan Lovells*
Cleary Gottlieb
A&O Shearman

Key: = application submitted; = test received; = video interview; = rejection.

*Training Contract applications

 

[KBanana]

Hi everyone,

Has anyone done the flex legal OA/VI? If so, what kind of questions do they ask and is it automatically sent? Thanks!

 

[erderlylars]

Does anyone know if the linklaters WG is timed?

 

[AS24]

Does anyone know if we need to complete the NRF test before the deadline?

 

[radssss]

Hi everyone,

Has anyone done the flex legal OA/VI? If so, what kind of questions do they ask and is it automatically sent? Thanks!

I’ve gotten a job at flex legal during uni term time. No it’s not automatic, only if you pass the first stage (CV check) then will you be invited to assessment and VI (both are a part of one single assessment and there is no separate VI). It is timed and the camera and mic needs to be left on throughout the test. Make sure to brush up on contract law and litigation questions (I don’t remember what they were as they were long ques w 4 options to choose from). The contract law ques was easy and I did not know the answers to the litigation ones but it was fairly easy to figure out via common sense. VI was basic talk about experiences, why do u want this job. You get unlimited time to prep for the interview but do not use ur phone to search as mic and cam is on. You get three tries to record and upload the video. Hope this helps

 

[hmevey]

How to approach HSF's question What skills, qualities and attributes would you bring to the role? without regurgitating your answer to their other question about what attracts you to HSF/the work experience section

 

[RSK]

Does anyone know if the linklaters WG is timed?

It's untimed

 

[0livia.pope]

Does anyone know if we need to complete the NRF test before the deadline?

they should have given you a deadline on the test email, mine was for the application deadline but i think that may be coincidence

 

[Andrei Radu]

How do people manage university work and applications? I'm one week into my PGDL and I'm getting so stressed, there's so much work and it's so much harder than I expected. I don't know how I'm going to manage the workload on top of applications. Still haven't sent off one VS application and the whole week I've done nothing. Any tips would be much appreciated

I had the same issue in my first application cycle, but despite a significant increase in workload in my second cycle, I was still able to invest a lot more time into my applications. I think this was mainly possible because of the following:

• Prioritization: I decided that besides keeping my learning to a level which would enable me to get a 2.1 at the end of the year, my number one priority was going to be to secure a TC. Firstly, this meant that I significantly decreased the time I was spending on university work in the first few months of the year. I focused solely on doing some of the essential readings to enable me to understand the basics as I was progressing through the course. My worries around the impact to my results were somewhat eased by the fact that I was going to have at least one month at the end of the year in which I could commit only to revising. Secondly, having applications as my no 1 priority meant that I had to significantly decrease the time I was spending on my personal interests and on my social and interpersonal activities. Although never easy, what helped here was being very straightforward from the start to people in my circle about what the next few months would look like for me.
• Planning: A key element to managing your limited time will be proper planning. For your applications, you need to figure out (i) how many firms you are targeting, (ii) which firms you are targeting, and (iii) when you are aiming to submit each application. After you do that and start working, you will be able to estimate roughly how long it takes you to research and write a high-quality application. Subsequently, you should block out some times in your timetable every week exclusively for this purpose. Then, you can make the rest of your work/free time schedule around that.
• Improving efficiency: A big issue for me in my application cycle was that despite spending many hours on some applications, the time was not well-spent. Whenever I would lack inspiration as to how to answer a question, I would fall into the trap of starting to do other things: from beginning a new application, to switching to university work, to taking my phone out and scrolling. What I did in my second cycle which really helped was to commit to not doing anything else but applications work in the allocated times. Although it was very frustrating at first, as time passed I realised I was really improving the output as to how many hours it was taking me to write a good answer.

 

[Hm129]

How long after you submitted the application form for HSF did you receive the test link?

 

[rras]

^ in addition to above, do you need to complete the HSF test before the vacation scheme application deadline?

 

[Andrei Radu]

How to approach HSF's question What skills, qualities and attributes would you bring to the role? without regurgitating your answer to their other question about what attracts you to HSF/the work experience section

I think the way you should interpret this is a 'Why you?' question. Essentially, what you want to do is to discuss your experiences and achievements, the skills/attributes that these experiences demonstrate, and how these skills/attributes are relevant for the work of a trainee. You do not have to discuss any firm-specific motivations or motivations for commercial law in this section.

As such, the only danger of repetition comes from discussing the same experiences/achievements here as you did for the other two questions. To avoid that, I'd try to be tactical with the experiences/achievements I mention in each section. Firstly, I'd avoid discussing more than two or three experiences/achievements in any of them. Secondly, I'd chose for each section the experiences that bring most value to it. For instance, if you have an experience/achievement that could be mentioned both in the 'Why the firm' and in the 'Why you' answers, and you have many other experiences you could use in the 'Why you' section but few other experiences you can use in 'Why the firm' section, you should include it in the latter.

Finally, my specific advice in approaching this section is to write two or three paragraphs using the following structure:

1. Start by describing your experience/achievement in detail, using a STAR structure. If possible, quantify any results or impacts.
2. Explain why your experience/achievement and its result demonstrates Y skill you have.
3. Explain how Y skill is relevant for a trainee's success.

 

[Andrei Radu]

^ in addition to above, do you need to complete the HSF test before the vacation scheme application deadline?

I could not find any specific information about this on their website, but I remember that last year you could complete it after the deadline as well.

 

[BillSikes]

Read a firm profile. Click on details. It will say vacancies and also vacation scheme spots.

E.g. implied VS to TC conversion rates for a few firms ...

Firm / VS / TCs / conversion

Covington & Burling / 30 / 9 / 30%

Milbank / 20 / 12 / 60%

Willkie Farr & Gallagher / 20 / 6 / 30%

Arnold & Porter / 10 / 4 / 40%

Sidley Austin 60 / 17 / 29.82%

Sullivan & Cromwell / 12 / 8 / 66%

White & Case 75 / 50 / 66%

A&O Shearman 80 / 90 / c90%

Hogan Lovells 70 / 50 c70%

Linklaters 100 / 100 / 100%

Ashurst 50 / 40 / 80%

N.B. US firms don't generally give out many direct TCs, whereas firms like the magic circle are more likely to do so.

Linklaters had 100% conversion rate for VS? So no hires from direct TC?

 

[BillSikes]

^ in addition to above, do you need to complete the HSF test before the vacation scheme application deadline?

Looking to find out the same

 

[BillSikes]

Is Addleshaw's critical thinking the WG?

Similar - but not quite the same. won't have all the sections of WG - and more questions from certain sections of it.

 

[BillSikes]

Hiya, does anyone know what the PWC online test for their summer vacation scheme consists of?

Its like you have three answers to choose and you gotta pick two answers that you best believe answer the question - and then a 10 minutes games test.