so i thought this video it would be really really cool to talk about your best and worst experiences
during a vacation scheme if you don't know about me in my content i am a trainee solicitor working
for a uk top 20 law firm i'm currently on secondment at the moment in my third seat
and i create content for aspiring lawyers i create content for current training solicitors
i talk about career i talk about productivity and all of that other fun stuff but also vlog
elements of my life along the way as well this video will be really useful to those of you
who want to apply to vacation schemes or currently have one coming up i understand that i've posted
this video a little bit late into summer so i'm sorry if some of you have already done
your vacation scheme already i was supposed to post this video and film it two weeks ago so
let me just talk straight away first of all actually about my worst experience well there
are two bad experiences that i had on a vacation scheme i was like an observer in a situation
so it was something that happened to someone else or something that someone else had done
on a vacation scheme and it was just wild and probably the worst experience because i think
it reflected badly on the whole cohort even those like me who weren't involved i think it ended up
affecting the image of all of us because of what had happened but because it concerned other people
i just don't feel comfortable talking about it or just for the sake of a youtube video i don't think
it's fair on those individuals especially because it happened like maybe four years ago now so i
would say personally i think the worst experience that i've had on a vacation scheme is i mean i've
had difficult questions for the training contract interview but i'd say i think the moment where i
think about okay what is exactly the worst moment and it makes me wish that the ground swallowed me
up is during a vacation scheme it was the first vacation scheme i'd done by the way i've done
three vacation schemes we were doing a mock bail trial or bail assessment or something
and essentially the people who were interviewing me for that or acting like the other party that
i was advocating to they were the people that i was currently assigned to in the seat
so i was quite comfortable with them i was quite pally pally with them as well one of them was
my supervisor and i felt like because they were interviewing me for this i felt like i could be
a bit more relaxed obviously that wasn't the case because imagine in this mock like bail assessment
thing i was cracking jokes they asked me something like a figure of how much is it for bail
and i just kind of like i didn't have a poker face i was just like what like okay 10 000. like i said
it like that instead of actually being like okay this is a question i don't know let me just say
10 000. it's just little things like that it did come back in my feedback and it actually
led to the whole overall assumption that they just felt like i wasn't mature enough to be a
trainee yet essentially now that was my worst experience i think i'd say my best experience
during a vacation scheme was my interview that i had at the firm that i'm currently training at now
because albeit one of the questions i was asked was really difficult the rest of the interview
it just felt like a really really wholesome fulfilling conversation
it was just really nice to talk about things like diversity talk about inclusion things
that i'm really passionate about and i'm really interested in there was also one moment during
another vacation scheme where it wasn't really planned that the vax schemers would attend this
but essentially we were told to go to this impromptu networking session about how to network
and they were asking all of the solicitors and the partners all these questions about networking
and i don't think it was really expected for vax schemers to put their hand up and answer
any questions i think it was mainly towards like the main theme of fee-earners in the firm
but there was one question that was asked and i knew the answer to it and i think i knew i
was right at that time so i just put my hand up and i was the only black schemer at that moment
who put their hand up to answer a question and i remember everyone just looked at me like why
are you putting your hand up to answer this question for like it was mainly aimed towards
like the fee-earners to answer the person hosting the session welcomed my thoughts and actually said
in front of everyone that that is an absolutely perfect answer i was like thank god for that i'm
actually really glad that i put my hand up to volunteer to answer that question and i think
it really reflected well on my my feedback as well so that's another thing as well i think from those
experiences i can kind of say that i was really glad that i was i guess a go-getter in that
sense and that's kind of what you got to be on a vacation scheme you kind of got to let go of that
fear of how people are going to perceive me am i going to look like a massive geek and you just got
to just just do it okay so now it's time to react to some of your best and your worst experiences
let's actually start off with the good news the best first and then we'll move on to the worst so
the best experience is attending the firm summer party after a long fat day working
you know what firms throw out some really really good parts especially during vacation scheme weeks
but i'd say generally as well like some firms have such a massive like grand affair with it
and it's so so fun to attend actually links into one of my best moments was playing uh bounce pong
uh i think we went to the thing is bounce ping pong or something or somewhere in shoreditch
and we had so much fun i went to junkyard golf as well for another social at the vacation scheme for
another firm that was so much fun too another best experience is being offered to sit in on a meeting
and spoke to the vice president of a multinational company you know what it's experiences like that
where i think firms do really well sometimes in ensuring that even though you're a vacation
scheme student it's really important for you to gain exposure to these kind of things because
it's those elements that make you feel really really fulfilled in your job and the fact that
your firm has given you that opportunity massive massive props another one similar to the one that
i last mentioned was presenting a client pitch to several fee earners and getting great feedback
these kind of things as well like allowing vacation scheme students to understand how law
firms operate as a business as well in respect to doing client pictures is so so important i
think i think it gives you a really great insight really early on in your career that the role of a
lawyer is not only just providing legal advice eventually as you progress through the ranks
you will be expected to bring in business for the firm as well so those were some of the best
ones i know some of these comments were so funny because people had mentioned that you know i don't
even have one i'm not even secured one to tell a story about it and stuff like that but don't
worry you will get there honestly that humor was so joked so when i received those kind of
messages like this i wish i could tell you but i'm not secured one yet let's move on to the
worst experiences because i felt like there was a lot more people sharing their worst experiences
than the best ones this individual told me that the whole team was on holiday didn't get any work
and the supervisor only spoke to this person twice so that's yeah that's not that great if i'm honest
with you of course the whole team being on holiday that's not really great planning if the whole team
was on holiday then maybe you shouldn't have been assigned that team maybe you should have been
assigned to another team where more people would have been in in those situations where you've not
got enough work this person probably already did this but trying to raise that as an issue
with your hr like ensuring that it's in writing so people know that you've not had enough work you've
not had enough exposure on your vacation scheme is really important continuing on from that another
worst experience was the supervisor took this person out for lunch and said that they were only
doing it so she could expense her food um yeah not really a great look like of course like it's kind
of obvious that you do get to expense your food back but only saying it the only reason why you're
doing and having lunch with this person is so you can expense it afterwards where are your manners
how can you say that that's a bit rude that's a bit rude and again the same person i think this
is all within the same firm so this is hella hella juicy staff but this person was told to
work for a different team understandably because the current team she was assigned wasn't wasn't
assigning her any work and then she was rejected from the training contract because she worked for
a different team so that's so unfair because she was assigned a different team because her original
team wasn't given enough work and then she was rejected because she did work for another team
make it make sense that's just mad the audacity and conveniently this person good on this person
and i give you massive massive props for this they actually investigated this whole situation and
they got 5 600 pounds from the firm for expenses you know what i mean you do get paid on vacation
schemes but 5 600 pounds that is a lot of money so you know what good on you for investigating it
and i think it just goes to show in these situations it's good to have a paper trail
you've got that written proof there of you trying to seek more work being told to be
assigned to another team all these different things having that paper trail is just so useful
someone said that they were essentially saying the quality of the keyboards was crap in the firm
and she thought she was saying it to another candidate but it was actually a paralegal there
that is so awkward from the situation it's safe to say that if you've got any negative opinions
about the firm just keep them to yourself not even talk about this other candidates because
some candidates can actually be quite sneaky as well this person another worst experience
is accidentally knocking a glass of water at the virtual exit interview oh man yeah i mean at least
it was virtual and not in the actual interview itself from this i think it's important to say
that if there is anything around you that could distract you or could potentially lead to any
spillage then just move it out the way and make sure that everything is just a danger-free zone
accidentally deleting my whole group's day worth of work oh this is the worst feeling
it's like that heart sinking feeling that you've get and i recently had that actually i thought i'd
deleted something that was really important but thankfully it was saved the previous version was
saved and i was able to just work from that one but this is why i think it's really important to
maybe save backup copies of an important piece of information but yeah now sorry that one is
that one's pretty peak i hope you've recovered from that the next one nervously playing with
my necklace throughout the entire end interview and the shattered pieces ah yeah you know what if
there's certain things that you sometimes end up doing mannerisms or habits or fidgeting that you
do in other situations and i think if you record yourself in an interview when you're like speaking
obviously the way you actually act in an interview compared to when you're recording
it will be completely different but just keep an eye out for those little things that you do
do when you are speaking so i've got quite a few speaking habits like i say like or you know what
so by recording myself i'm able to pick up on that and maybe focus uh to this person in particular to
try and use more hands gestures so then your hands are over here instead of over here and near your
necklaces i hope it was an expensive necklace and i hope you managed to get a nice replacement one
uh this person got zero feedback from the training partner having got to the final two candidates
and then this person completely ignoring uh the candidates really polite follow-up emails
for feedback but then this partner then stalks her continuously on linkedin yeah that's a bit strange
oh this one is bad the fan forgot to pre-pay for the meal and we were left with a thousand
pound plus bill to pay around 10 11 p.m i want to know how you got out of that situation girl i
you know what in that situation i would be like all right guys you know it's part of my bedtime
like i've got something emergency i got a dip well i'll probably not even tell anyone i'm
dipping i'll just dip like that's it that bill is not going on my head i am not spending my money
to pay that and then wait like 10 years for expenses to pay it back to me now you if i wasn't
that situation i'd be gone sorry but all man for himself oh during a presentation i struggled to
say a word not once twice but four times in front of two partners honestly these things happen
and i really really hope interviewers understand that people do get nervous and there are certain
words sometimes that just tend to be quite difficult to say so this is the worst experience
for someone they hit their first ever 100 in crickets that's probably a best experience that
can happen before a vacation scheme and that was on a saturday but then they went out afterwards
obviously to celebrate and found themselves in an uber home at 7am on sunday morning
slept all of sunday no prep massive two-day hangover on monday oh no and then was asked
in the first presentation to name american states and he could barely see the screen
i mean i hope this is a virtual vacation scheme because i think it would be very really
like a lot easier to get away with that than being an in-person vacation scheme that is hilarious you
know what major major legend points go to you for that one and then the last one is having to wait
six months to find out whether i'd converted it to a tc so you know what this is quite jarring i
think you've given your time so i think certain firms the most they can do is actually at least
respond and respect the fact that you've given your time and provide feedback in a timely manner
now i've been quite fortunate in the firms that i've had vacation schemes with but also a lot
of other people that i've had experiences with usually firms do tend to give feedback after
vacation schemes quite quickly but having to wait six months yeah that's a bit that's half a year
anyway i hope you enjoyed this video hopefully i think the main point of it was after sharing my
own experiences and showing people's experiences you can have a few more takeaways about some
do's and don'ts of what to expect during a vacation scheme if you've got one coming up soon
good luck i hope it goes well i've got a few other videos about vacation schemes i think my favorite
one is do's and don'ts during vacation schemes so do feel free to check that out i'll provide
the link somewhere above but thank you so much for watching and i will see you in the next video