Hey! How quickly did a pfo for HSF come through after completing the test?Holding myself accountable (again).
HSF
NRF
Weil
Sidley
Willkie
Latham
Dechert
Skadden
Covington
Linklaters*
Paul, Weiss
Slaughters*
White & Case
Hogan Lovells*
A&O Shearman
Key:= application submitted;
= test received;
= video interview;
= rejection.
*Training Contract applications
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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25
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- Sep 7, 2024
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Hey @rras. It’s perfectly normal to name future trainees at the firm. However, always ensure to ask for their permission first. Another thing to be mindful of is to not just ‘name drop’ but ensure the point you’re making directly links to a factor that is not generic, or one you wouldn’t otherwise find on the website. Hope this helps!
- Sep 7, 2024
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Hey @hitherelaw. This largely depends on whether the applications for that particular cycle are rolling or not. I’ve linked our tracker HERE which should help out with deciding which applications you could prioritize. With such firms, they usually get back to applicants for interviews within the cycle. For example, Jones Day has started getting back to applicants. However, it doesn’t mean that a firm wouldn’t get back with an interview offer if you apply a bit later on. Regardless, this differs between firms so I would recommend applying relatively early in the cycle and not leave it to the last minute.
- Sep 7, 2024
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Hey @AGRACHEL , great question! I would recommend a hybrid approach. For example, you could include skills like organizational management and link an example of how you demonstrated this skill. Following this, you could also briefly touch on the result on a project/task of you effectively demonstrating this skill. Did it give rise to higher sales? Did it contribute to wider departmental efforts? What was the feedback you received from your manager? This will ensure demonstrated interest. You don’t need to touch on multiple skills, just a few you feel are relevant to the role.
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- Sep 7, 2024
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- Sep 9, 2024
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I think it's generally better to give names, as from the recruiter's perspective this is evidence you have actually interacted with the firm and that you have also taken care to remember the people you have spoken to. However, I do agree with @Amma Usman's point that in the case of future trainees, you should firstly ask for their permission before naming them in an application. I would argue this is a general rule for interactions you have with people outside the setting of a career event organised by the firm - where the very purpose of all your interactions is to inform you for a potential application.
Regarding your second question about relevance, I once again agree with @Amma Usman's response that it is fine to mention a future trainee as long as the information you learnt from them is not something you could have easily gotten from their website. The one caveat I will add is that I do not think the information given to you from a future trainee necessarily needs to be completely new to you. I believe it would be fine to mention the interaction with a future trainee if speaking to them either (i) gave you a new perspective about a feature of the firm you already knew about, or if (ii) it simply offered confirmation from practical experience about a selling point of the firm.
For instance, say you spoke to a future trainee at firm you knew had a great reputation for private equity work. You might have known this already, or could have found about it by researching online. However, say the future trainee does not stop at mentioning just this fact. Perhaps in a vacation scheme, they got to meet and speak with some of the firm's practitioners and realised that the firm's reputation attracts the best in the field, which turned out to be an unparalleled learning experience for the future trainee, which led to them accepting the TC offer. This is a new perspective on the relevance of the firm's reputation, which you could mention you learned from the person you spoke to, even if the firm's reputation is something you knew about before. Alternatively, imagine a firm heavily advertises having a very collegiate culture. A future trainee could again mention some anecdotes from their experience with the firm: how helpful people where when they reached out to them, how the recruitment team was very friendly throughout the process, how the partners were down to earth and approachable etc. While you might have know the firm advertises this collegiate culture, the conversation with a future trainee provide you with concrete evidence to this effect and is therefore relevant in an application.
You really can't, you just have to wait and see. The only possible indication is whether your feedback strengths align with things the firm looks for, but thats probably a stretch.
- Sep 9, 2024
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I completely agree with @Jessica Booker's advice - waiting to attend an open day and then mentioning that in the application is very unlikely to hurt your chances. Firms generally prefer applicants who attended open days and as such, although the application process might be rolling, they will not hold the later submission date against you. That would undermine the purpose of the open day, since an open day at this time of the year is organised to provide applicants with insight for this application cycle, not the next.
The only other thing I'll add is that while I think waiting to attend open days for each firm does generally lead to better odds for the success of each individual application, it does not necessarily translate into better odds at overall success in securing a TC. The reason for this is that employing this strategy for a high number of firms can make your application schedule administratively difficult.
Let's say you aim to apply to 20 firms this cycle, and let's say you would want to attend an open day at each before submitting a VS application. Firstly, this means that besides 20 VS application, you will need to take the time to write 20 open day applications, which is a significant increase in workload. Secondly, and more importantly, most open days you can apply to now will only be held between November-December. That is the exact period for most VS application deadlines. While there might be at least a two-week gap between the date of the open day and the deadline for VS applications at each individual firm, these periods are likely to overlap for different firms. Thus, if you do not submit some applications early, you could find yourself in a situation where you have 5 deadlines in a week. This can lead to a significant decrease in the amount of time you can invest in writing each application, which will in turn lead to a significant decrease of your chances of success. Alternatively, should you not want to compromise on quality, you may be forced to forego applying to some firms you wanted to apply to - which once again will reduce your overall chances of securing a TC. Hence, my advice would be to only wait to attend open days at a small number of firms you are particularly attracted to - around 4-5 is what worked for me.
- Sep 9, 2024
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It can also be in an .doc, .docx, or .rtf format, but I believe it is general practice to send it in pdf.
- Sep 9, 2024
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They most likely will, but K&E normally only announces openings for VS applications after the 1st of October - so I would advise you to have a look at their careers page in the coming days.
- Sep 9, 2024
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When I spoke to the graduate recruitment team they said the firm would accept applications from final year students, provided they acknowledge they will only be able to start their TC in 2027. I would assume the same policy applies for applications from graduates, in that the application will be considered but they will not be able to accommodate an earlier start date.
Hi guys, do you think it is too late to hear back from Sidley now? (Winter Vac S)
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