Successful Graduate Job Hunting
research early, engaging with employers through their work experience programmes, and making use of all the support and resources available through your university, you’ll give yourself the very best chance of success. Applying for a Training Contract at a Top Law Firm
proved unsuccessful, they will help you reflect on your career plans and see if there are other opportunities that you may be better suited-to. Finding your first graduate job can be a very challenging experience but by starting your careers
S laughter and May is a leading international law firm and we recruit up to 95 graduates each year to train as commercial solicitors. Trainees are recruited either through our summer work experience programme or by applying directly for a training contract – and we hire a mix of law graduates and those who’ve studied other subjects at university. The selection process for a training contract begins with a short application form that asks for your personal and education details, along with your CV and a covering letter. The next stage is to come into the office for an interview, which consists of a written exercise, partner interview and HR interview. The written exercise is completed on a laptop and is based around a commercial case study, where you’re given pieces of information about a fictional business. You’ll be asked to review the data and prepare a summary, perhaps as a note to the board of the company, setting out the information, reviewing the options for the business and making a recommendation. It’s really important that lawyers are able to review information and documents they’re presented with, analyse it and extract key data, and then write it up in a really clear, concise manner. This exercise is a real-life simulation of the work you’ll be doing as a trainee but no prior legal knowledge is needed or expected. Your partner interview will be with two of the firm’s partners – or a partner and a senior legal counsel. Beforehand, you’ll be given a recent newspaper article to read along with a set of instructions. It could be business-related or a political piece and you’ll have 15 minutes before the interview to summarise the contents, form an opinion on the subject matter, and prepare to have a conversation about it. The interview itself will last around an hour and will include a discussion about the
“
Janine Arnold, Head of Recruitment, Slaughter and May
newspaper article. It’s quite a skill to be able to take a lengthy piece, distil it into two or three sentences and then discuss what you conclude from it. This isn’t about testing what your opinion is – there is no right or wrong, it’s about how you’ve reached your opinion and the key points you’ve taken from the original article. Your interviewers may well take an opposing view to yours and challenge you to find out how well thought-out your argument is. It’s a test of your ability to think on your feet. You’ll also be asked during the interview about your CV, your degree and your motivation for applying to the firm. It’s important to be able to articulate why you want to join Slaughter and May, show you’ve done your research about the firm and found out why we’re different to our competitors. And you’ll need to demonstrate you really understand what is involved in a career as a commercial lawyer.
”
46 TOP 100 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS
Powered by FlippingBook