Rating

3.6/5
  • About You
    3.8
  • The Company
    3.9
  • Everything Else
    3.9

    About You

  • 1. To what extent did you enjoy the virtual experience?
  • I have to say I was initially concerned about doing the vacation scheme virtually, but was surprised by how well it went. CMS had made a real effort to keep things interesting and provide us with a variety of different content/ tasks throughout the week to keep things interesting. The frequent use of break out rooms meant that I did actually build relationships with the other participants. Overall, I enjoyed the scheme far more than I thought I would and gained a lot from it.

    4/5

  • 2. To what extent did you feel valued during your time at the company or firm?
  • Even before the scheme, CMS was making an effort to keep us up to date and to start to build a relationship. Everyone has been unfailingly nice throughout, and the Early Talent Acquisition Team has always responded very quickly and helpfully to emails. Before the scheme itself we were all sent a goody bag of freebies to use throughout the week. During the scheme itself we were given opportunities to work with people from all levels of the business, and I really got the impression that they were making an effort to make us feel valued.

    4/5

  • 3. How much guidance/support did you receive during the virtual experience?
  • The Early Talent Acquisition Team kept in touch throughout, providing all of the information that we needed and replying quickly to any queries. They also created a WhatsApp group chat for all of the participants which was really helpful- we could all help each other out and start to build a community. That group has since broken off into multiple training contract group chats, which has made me feel very supported going forward with the firm.

    3/5

  • 4. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and information you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
  • Most of the skills we learnt were more practical than academic, which is what I was looking for in a vacation scheme. Some of the skills were quite specific, for example a session on how to introduce the beginning of a persuasive presentation, but also very helpful and definitely something that I will go back to in future. Other skills were more subtle, such as learning to interact with people far more senior than myself, or talking without talking over others on a zoom call.

    5/5

    The Company

  • 5. How well structured was the virtual experience?
  • The CMS Academy was well structured: they had vastly shortened our days, down to roughly 10 - 4, and only 4 days. However, I feel that this was the right choice, as working on zoom is frankly very tiring and less engaging than real life. However, our sessions were structured to give us variety, to have us talking and interacting for significant amounts of time, and to have breathing breaks in between. Doing stretching as a group everyday was unexpected, but helpful and enjoyable.

    5/5

  • 6. How was the general atmosphere during your virtual experience?
  • The atmosphere was really positive throughout. Ali, who was leading, was brilliant: professional, but friendly and engaging, and managed to keep the energy up. By creating the WhatsApp group chat, and giving us the opportunity to talk frequently on the break out rooms, as well as a small number of group projects, I truly felt that I built relationships with people and gained a really valuable experience. Having playlists (with requests) playing throughout the day also really helped, as well as everyone engaging with running jokes from within the group etc.

    5/5

  • 7. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
  • The scheme really did give us some valuable sessions.

    4/5

  • 8. To what extent did the virtual experience help you to understand what it would be like to have a full time role with the company or firm?
  • The scheme certainly did give an insight into the firm itself, and their culture and ethos- there was a big focus on CMS' corporate social responsibility. We were also given an opportunity to talk to people throughout the firm, which gave us an insight into their roles. However, the Academy was initially (pre-Covid) meant to include two weeks actually working in their offices, which I feel would have given me a much greater insight into what a trainee solicitor actually does day to day. I also felt that it would have been helpful to facilitate some kind of anonymous Q&A- there are some questions, for example about salary, that you may need to know but wouldn't feel comfortable asking someone outright.

    3/5

  • 9. How much did the virtual experience help you in understanding the company culture?
  • I do feel that we got a good insight into the company's culture, as we got to meet so many people from all over the firm, and there were a lot of discussions surrounding culture, corporate social responsibility, and diversity. However, of course there would have been a better insight had we been able to go into the offices. I am pleased that the assessment centres were held in their offices as it gave me a short insight there.

    4/5

  • 10. How valuable was the content in helping you to decide on your future career path?
  • The content was helpful in terms of giving insight into the firm itself and the role of various people within it. However, I also really appreciated the focus outside of that: we heard from various people who had done secondments elsewhere (some of whom had stayed there), an in-house solicitor for another firm, and also got the stories of other people in the firm, for example learning about where else they had worked and why they chose CMS. I liked the idea that a training contract was treated as a stepping stone rather than the be all and end all.

    4/5

    Everything Else

  • 11. Were you paid or reimbursed adequately for this experience?
  • I was paid £440 for 4 days (roughly 10-4 online) which I felt was a good salary. I was also given a £50 amazon voucher as a kind of bonus for performing well in a task, as were many others. I believe we were initially going to be paid around £1200 for three weeks work in person, although with longer hours (as I understand it there were also meant to be various evening activities throughout the week, e.g. dinners and drinks).


  • 12. Were there opportunities for networking and meeting other employees of the company or firm?
  • Yes, definitely. We were interacting with employees from all offices at all levels frequently throughout the week. I think we would have been able to get to know them better in person, but they definitely did a good job considering the online limitations. The employees were all very friendly and open, and made an effort to answer question openly and helpfully. They also interacted with us on LinkedIn afterwards, allowing us to keep in touch.

    5/5

  • 13. How were the networking/ social event opportunities?
  • They were a little awkward considering that they were being done in zoom breakout rooms, but everyone made a real effort and I think we got a lot from them. Including opportunities to have a chat, sometimes at the end of the day after the timetabled events had ended, was definitely a good idea and a nice way to get to know each other.

    4/5

  • 14. Did you find out about activities that employees can get involved in outside of work?
  • We did quite a lot of activities surrounding corporate social responsibility, and one of the solicitors I spoke to mentioned that they have a netball team.

    3/5

  • 15. Would you recommend this virtual experience to a friend?
  • I would definitely recommend this virtual experience to a friend: it was a really positive, fun experience and I feel that I learnt a lot and got to know some great people. Having spoken to friends who did other schemes, I really appreciate that this was all done to a timetable, live as a group. Doing it that way, and including discussion breakout rooms and group projects really made this a much more social and valuable experience.

    5/5

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Details

Internship (1 Month+)

London

October 2020


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