Vacation Scheme Student Review

I partially enjoyed the scheme, but there was a lot of drinking and they didn't seem to value work as much as a firm of their pedigree should have.

I felt my department valued me a lot, but the Human Resources team were poor at motivating the vac schemers.

Very little. Feedback was the worst out of all the schemes and various internships I've been on. There was no evidence that the firm was willing to provide honest and constructive advice. As for support, my supervisor was out of office on the first day and 3-4 days thereafter. I felt directionless on some days.

I did, in fairness, learn a lot about law and the corporate culture. That being said, many other vac schemers did not learn anything at all and were treated as mere assistants or chatting pals.

Organising breakfast briefings after socials may have been a way of testing applicants' mettle, but seemed artificial after the first two occasions. Again, that my supervisors (and others') was out on the first day, made me feel that the firm hadn't given much thought to the intake. Moreover, the fact that the Graduate Recruitment Partner took a holiday during arguably the most important graduate recruitment period seemed an easily avoidable, illogical mistake.

A change in the HR department prior to the scheme seemed to have thrown the entire scheme into disarray. The firm seemed great, with great people in my department. HR, however, were both duplicitous and incompetent.

There were some fairly useful training sessions, but largely I wouldn't expect to feel invested into.

I felt I understood the firm well.

As above

It made me question whether I want to be a solicitor, which I suppose is good.

I was taxed.

Plentiful and (mostly) enjoyable.

Despite an ethos of respecting social lives, the firm was surprisingly mute on this issue.

Not at all. It was a difficult and draining process, which felt rewarding only sporadically. Moreover, despite being told my work was excellent, it turned out vac schemers on the first scheme were preferred overwhelmingly over vac schemers on the second scheme. I couldn't attend the first scheme due to exams, but was lied to about the first scheme preference by HR. There has recently been a change in the running of the HR department, and I feel it was a bad change. The head of HR during my assessment centre was different to that on the day and I did not appreciate the shift in culture which accompanied that replacement.