Willkie Live: How to Write a Successful Vacation Scheme Application

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Learn exactly how to write a successful application to Willkie Farr & Gallagher, with live examples + Q&A with Gemma Baker.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Andrei Radu" data-source="post: 218124" data-attributes="member: 36777">I think the best approach for why the firm questions is the following:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Step 1: Identify one of the firm's unique selling points (USPs) that you can justify an interest in - i.e practice area and sector strengths, strategy and growth, client base, practice area spread, training programme, etc.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Step 2: Explain what about the chosen USP attracts you. In the case of a practice area, you need to identify the elements of the work in that practice that are relevantly different from work in other practice areas. For instance, in the case of PE, you could explain how PE dealmaking involves fast-paced work on a many different types of deals in different sectors, which means your work will be very varied and novel in the challenges it presents - perhaps as opposed to advisory/contentious work, where matters tend to last for a way longer period. You could also explain how the practice is perhaps the "most commercial" one, as it involves learning everything about the companies involved in a transaction and the market they operate in, to then leverage this knowledge in negotiation of contractual terms and get the best deal for a client. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Step 3: Connect the motivation to your experiences. A golden rule in applications writing is: "show, don't tell". Everyone can claim to have an interest in a practice area; the key is to do your best to demonstrate to a recruiter that in your case, your interest is genuine. The best way of doing that is to describe an experience which showcases your interest. Importantly, the experience need not be one of actual work at a company/firm having anything to do with the relevant practice area/sectors - recruiters are well aware that such roles are very limited for people at a student/recent graduate level. You can leverage many different experiences, including Forage Virtual Internships, firm events, negotiations and commercial awareness competitions; AND/OR</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Step 4: If you feel your experiences do not suffice to show strong interest, or if you simply have the space and think you can add value to your application in this way in the context of your broader answer, you can also demonstrate interest by showing off your deeper understanding of the practice area of choice. This is because showing you have spent a significant amount of time researching an area is a strong indicator you are actually interested in it. Thus, in the case of PE, you could discuss recent trends in the industry you have researched, or significant transactions that impacted the market/that your firm got to work on. </li> </ol></blockquote>

Verification: Our company is called, "The Corporate ___ Academy". What is the missing word here?

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