Our Recruitment Process
To apply for a Legal Work Placement or Training Contract the first step is to complete our online application. The below table details the timeframes and stages of the recruitment process.
| Recruitment Stage | Legal Work Placement Summer 2010 | Training Contract 2011 and 2012 |
| Application Opening | 1st December 2009 | 1st December 2009 |
| Application Closing | 5th February 2010 | 31st July 2010 |
| Assessment Centres | March 2010 | July & August 2010 |
| Interviews | N/A | July & August 2010 |
| Offers made | w/c 5th April 2010 | w/c 6th September 2010 |
What can I expect at an Assessment Centre?
Candidates successful at application stage will be invited to attend an Assessment Centre. These are half day Assessment Centre's that take place in Sheffield. The Assessment Centre consists of:
- Personal Presentation
- Problem Solving Exercise
- Critical Thinking Test
- Group Exercise
- Written Exercise
So what is an Assessment Centre?
An assessment centre is a selection event, they vary in length and can be anything from half a day to two days. They bring together a group of candidates who undertake a series of exercises and assessments designed to test their suitability for a job and organisation. All organisations design their own assessment centres but many of them will contain similar elements. Typical exercises include: group exercises, a presentation, psychometric tests, written exercises, role-plays, case studies.
Why do we use Assessment Centres?
The centre is intended to be a two way process, that allows you as a candidate to find out about us as a firm, as well as us to find out about you!
How to prepare for an Assessment Centre?
When you have impressed us with your application here are some tips on what to do to help you prepare:
- Plan your journey and allow plenty of time to arrive.
- Research the firm; find out their size, type of work they are involved in.
- Decide what to wear – best to adopt business dress unless you are told otherwise.
- Find out as much as you can about what the activities entail and what to expect – make the most of the resources available to you; the careers service, key recruitment or legal websites, other students who may have been through the process.
- Review your application – it may be some time between when you made the application and when you are invited to an assessment centre, review it, you may get asked about it.
- Prepare your answers to some basic career related questions; Why have you chosen this career? What skills are needed for the career you have chosen? What is the nature of work undertaken? In answering these try and demonstrate a real passion for law and ensure you have examples to back up the skills you are talking about.
- Get a good nights sleep!
Tips for Assessment Centre itself
The Assessment Centre has arrived here are some tips for the day:
- On arrival try and relax, the firm are impressed with your application and want you to shine at the assessment centre.
- Listen carefully to any instructions given, if you are unsure about what you are being asked to do, ASK.
- Don’t compete against the other candidates, even though it may seem like survival of the fittest, this is not in fact the case. You are competing against standards that the organisation has set, not against the others. Super competitive behaviour, therefore could be perceived as arrogance.
- Get stuck in make the most of the assessment centre, they should always be a positive experience that you can learn from.
- Most importantly just be yourself!
What can I expect at interview?
Candidates applying for a Training Contract, who are successful at Assessment Centre will be invited to attend an interview. These are approximately 50 minutes in duration and are held across our offices. A candidate is interviewed by a Partner and a member of the recruitment team.