Chapter 5 – A bit of a disaster

Transcript

Deborah Dalgleish, Head of UK Trainee Recruitment

People are so infinitely varied that there's always something interesting and something unusual to find out about in interviews.

Freddie New, Trainee Solicitor

My first hand experience of the law was on a personal level and I found it something that I enjoyed.

Christina Jensen, Trainee Solicitor

I was a figure skater in Denmark.

Shahab Uddin, Associate

I was working for ITV.

Deborah Dalgleish

The most important thing to do is to make sure you have a completely realistic understanding of what is involved in working for a firm like Freshfields. It's not an easy choice and it won't suit everybody.

So it is very important that you find out as much as you can. We're very keen on people who are able to pack a lot into their lives and demonstrate that they have a high level of...

Organisational ability, analytical ability and strong written communication skills. Strong interpersonal skills are important and something that we like to think of as people who are able to work outside their comfort zone.

Chris Forsyth, Trainee Recruitment Partner

Nearly all of you will have done at least one if not more than one vacation placement before. And so some of you may think you've made some kind of provisional decision already and you may think you know what's going to happen over the next two weeks. Well that's nonsense and you must suspend your cynicism and you must suspend your judgment

And I want you to promise to hit the ground running and make the most of these very quick two weeks

and enjoy yourselves. We really enjoy what we do.

Kwarty Topen, Trainee Solicitor

I did quite a few vacation schemes because I wasn't really sure what they were about. And they try and attract young people with what they think they will enjoy, like free stuff and booze. I chose Freshfields because as well as having fun I actually did some work and I know that sounds geeky but at the end of the day you are going to have to choose a place where you are going to be working

Simon Johnson, Partner

The interview is made up of three parts. The first part is a written exercise which is a problem solving exercise. The second part is an analytical interview. The third part is a more general interview, based on the candidate's background, their ambitions... what they've been doing over the last few years...

...So, much more of a personal touch.

U-Shaun Lim, Trainee Solicitor

That was a bit of a disaster, or at least that's what was going through my head when I went in. The partners essentially picked up on all the bits of my application form that I didn't really want to talk about. There was loads of stuff I wanted to talk about. There were some things I would rather them not focus on, but you just couldn't get anything past these guys. I mean they're just incredibly sharp people and I think that might well have been one of the reasons why I decided to join Freshfields.

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