Hiya
@Chris Brown
Just wanted to add to the excellent comments by
@Andrei Radu. Loved his point that the vac scheme is particularly useful in helping you feel out the more intangible aspects of a firm. In my case, there were a few key things I paid attention to during my schemes.
One was how receptive people were to me asking for work. I try to be proactive and enjoy chatting with people to see where I can get involved. At some firms, that wasn’t always easy. People were polite but not especially keen to loop me/vac schemers into live matters. At others, I found that even busy associates would find time to get me stuck into something, which I really appreciated. This really highlighted how collaborative people seemed. The more open and team-oriented the culture felt, the more excited I was to picture myself working there.
I also looked at how people gave feedback. When they offered feedback, did it feel like a genuine learning opportunity, or more like a box-ticking exercise for them? Since I knew I was leaning towards firms with strong learning-on-the-job cultures, it mattered to me that people took time to explain what I’d done well or where I could improve. This was particularly important to me, since US firms don't always have such structured learning. Feedback on my work was my way of seeing whether I could effectively teach myself how to complete tasks to a high standard.
And lastly, I’d echo what Andrei said about friendliness/sociability and how this can vary from firms. I still remember getting lost on my first day at one firm and a partner offering me a tour and inviting me to get involved with a PE matter (this interaction really stuck with me). It was important to me that people could be seen chatting near the coffee area, or that I'd see senior associates/partners at social events.
Overall, I'd recommend having a think about what factors really matter to you. You're going to do amazing!
