With the recent closing of applications for summer vacation schemes, comes the annual tradition of opening the email inbox only to find a seemingly endless string of rejections. For those fortunate enough to secure interviews, shuttling back and forth from London for an array of psychometric testing, assessed presentations and competency-based interviews can be a gruelling process. And so, in a climate where firms are receiving record numbers of applicants, there seems no better time to ask – is it all really worth it just to secure a vacation scheme?
My answer? A resounding yes.
Having endured the psychometric testing and commercial exercises of other firms this time last year, it came as a welcome surprise to find one which bases its selection purely on CV/covering letter, followed by a partner interview. This is not to say the selection process is any less rigorous; indeed my naivety of commercial issues, fundamentally important to a firm with a pedigree in private equity, was often exposed. However, it was a refreshing experience to emerge from the interview around 40 minutes later having felt the partner in question had really drawn the best from me.
As I entered the office doors for the first day of the scheme, it was obvious to see that my peers shared the inevitable combination of nerves and excitement. This was swiftly put to rest, however, as we enjoyed a welcome from the Managing Partner, a tour of the office and a relaxed lunch where the conversation flowed freely between schemers and trainees alike. Indeed, this welcoming, hierarchy-free environment was a consistent theme running throughout the scheme. However, the honeymoon period was abruptly put to rest upon returning to the office as we were split into groups for what must go down as the most nerve-racking ‘ice-breaker’ known to man!
Having been given a fictional scenario, we were asked to compile a 10 minute ‘Dragons’ Den-style’ pitch which we would give to senior partners within the hour. As they tore apart our hastily scrabbled together thoughts for market position, advert design and financial projections in true Dragon-style, it was a huge relief to emerge relatively unscathed as our group somehow won the task. This great sense of achievement following a challenging situation would be a recurring pattern throughout the mix of social events, workshops and office time that I was to encounter over the next fortnight.
On the social side of things, softball in Hyde Park, playing for the firm’s football team and the notorious end-of-scheme drinks allowed for unlimited opportunities to meet trainees, associates and partners who often knew us by name and always had time for a chat. The workshops continued to include litigation and negotiation exercises which developed a healthy degree of competition between the schemers and, in doing so, dispelled any myths that Exeter graduates cannot compete with those from the other top universities in the country. Office time, in the respective Tax and Financial Services departments, was often spent researching genuinely interesting solutions for problems arising in headline-grabbing cases.
A memorable moment occurred on the final day of the scheme, which didn’t start well as I sat down at my desk nursing a fairly sore head from the drinks on the previous evening. As I struggled to complete a research task from earlier in the week, I received an email from a trainee sitting with a senior partner. The email read, fairly ominously, that my presence was required in his room within the next five minutes. Having hurried to his office, I was greeted with a game of office rugby to which he had challenged some of the schemers the previous evening. It was this culture of people who take their work, but not themselves, seriously which left a lasting impression as I left the office doors for the final time.
So is it all really worth it? Besides the very real possibility of securing a training contract in the most competitive recruitment conditions of recent times, vacation schemes offer an unrivalled insight into the daily workings of legal practice, coupled with a hugely rewarding mix of work and play along the way. Absolutely, it’s worth it.
