Virtual Vacation Scheme Review

I found the 4 days very insightful and I learned a lot, it's hard to believe the scheme was so short in comparison to how much I had learnt from it. There was a lot of opportunities to set up extra meetings and talk to people after events to get more of an insight into their careers. Everyone was also very friendly and supportive, including the vacation schemers, which made the experience even more enjoyable.

I felt very valued. My supervisor and trainee buddy were both very friendly and approachable and really helped me throughout the scheme. They also both gave me opportunities to meet more people during the scheme which I really appreciated. I also felt that people knew who I was and remembered me throughout. I appreciated that we were also set a partner mentor, and had meetings with the graduate development partner as well at the end of the scheme.

I received a lot of support. My supervisor was very helpful and supportive, as well as the trainees I had met on the scheme. Any questions I had were answered quickly and would give useful advice on how to approach our tasks or any issues that we found.

I found that the skills developed from the scheme helped me realise that this was a career I would like to pursue in future, and that Simmons and Simmons was a firm I could see myself working in.

The tasks were hard to complete during the day as I found the meetings took up most of the daytime. However, the insight was well-structured and I found the experience was very smooth and enjoyable in general, with minor issues.

Very friendly, comfortable and even fun. I enjoyed meeting the people at the firm, as well as getting to know the other vacation schemers, some of which I feel like I have become friends with and would look forward to meeting them in person when that would be possible.

We were sent freebies ahead of the scheme as well as the timetable with a section which had bios for all of those on the scheme. They also gave us feedback from our assessment centres which I really appreciated as that would be useful in future if we had to go through the application process again. I also found that people were willing to give their time to help or talk to us and answer any questions we had.

I think this is difficult to properly gauge remotely but I think you still got a good sense of the culture from the 4 days. Generally. everyone was very friendly and the work was interesting and enjoyable to complete. Hearing about the work from all the departments and practice groups was also useful to hear about how areas of law work in practice, and how things like technology can affect your job in the firm.

The insight definitely helped me to understand the culture as everyone I spoke to was lovely, friendly and approachable. I enjoyed all the conversations and found them very personable as well.

I was exposed to areas in certain practice groups which I had not considered before and in hearing about them more, made me think about areas I would love to try out in future during a training contract. Everything was also explained in a very accessible way during the panel discussions which made it easy to understand areas which I may have struggled to understand before on my own or found difficult to get my head around.

Yes there were many opportunities. The panel discussions made it easy to identify people who I was interested in contacting after hearing about their work and career journeys.

We had a quiz and virtual escape room in the evenings and both were so fun! We also had a group presentation to complete which meant I got to work closely with the other vacation schemers. I really appreciated this as doing it virtually meant that we weren't able to engage with each other as much. The group presentation meant I was able to get to know a few others very well and even make friends.

Yes briefly but not in too much detail.

Yes I definitely would recommend this to anyone interesting in an international firm that does high quality work that has a friendly and supportive culture.