Victoria Wisson, Linklaters
The fair's coming to town
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The law fair season is upon us and it’s that time of year when us recruiters pack up our giveaways (well, charity tokens for us – look out for the boxes!), and dust off our suitcases to hit the university trail and tell you all about the fabulous opportunities we have open to you.
Victoria Wisson
This will be my first season representing Linklaters and I’m keen to see the reaction to our new marketing campaign, ‘Link Up’. I’ve seen a fair new brochures on campus this season so feel free to let me / the team know what you think of them all by posting on Facebook or Twitter (yes, we’ve embraced the new social media and have even more ways for you to get in touch with us).
I’m slightly apprehensive as to how this season will ‘feel’ on campus, as there continues to be talk in some firms about redundancies and the spectre of the recession still looms over the UK. From the fairs to date it appears that many students are still fearful about job opportunities and I’ve had numerous questions about: how to make applications stand out; what do we look for; what can I do a as first year? (By the way, great to see so many first years being proactive and wanting to get involved – we’re launching our new first year programme called ‘Pathfinder’ next year, so keep checking the website for details.)
The careers services continue to do a marvellous job in running numerous workshops on these topics and students should make the most of everything available to them. (I did an Interview Skills session not more than a week ago with some fantastic Manchester students to give some guidance on best practice and methods of prepping.) Top tips from me would be:
· Structure answers to ensure clarity. Anyone who’s spoken to me on the subject will know that I think the STAR technique can really help. Think Situation, Task, Actions and Results to give your competency answers a good clear beginning, middle and end.
· Check spelling and grammar (small errors continue to creep in).
· And have good reasons for wanting to join a specific firm. Research is the key to this so give yourself plenty of time for each application and know all your deadlines in advance.
Reading up on law firms before fairs is essential as it does help to make a good impression wherever possible. At a recent fair when I told the student who my firm was they looked slightly blank and didn’t seem to know a thing about us. All in all not a great first impression; I don’t think they had been following Lawyer2B….
