Summer clerkships 2009/2010 (6 Viewers)

[melsc]

Hows that going?

Gaden's was ok, not a long interview as they said they ask a lot more stuff in second round. Might have stuffed up a few questions but otherwise I think it was ok.

They are a bit random though, after they took a photo of me, they gave me a random question which I had to type an answer to, while I was waiting for the interview, the question was "Describe your favourite dish in mouth watering detail" random!

Good luck for Gadens!

JSW called me today, offering an interview. I think all their interviews are on the 7th September...my birthday :S

Congrats, use your birthday as an advantage!

 

[mitsui]

Hows that going?

Gaden's was ok, not a long interview as they said they ask a lot more stuff in second round. Might have stuffed up a few questions but otherwise I think it was ok.

They are a bit random though, after they took a photo of me, they gave me a random question which I had to type an answer to, while I was waiting for the interview, the question was "Describe your favourite dish in mouth watering detail" random!

ha. that's random! I wouldnt be able to answer that.

I am already rejected by Jones Day. Got about another 8 to hear from..
Freshfield emailed me couple of days ago, asking for my transcripts cause I forgot to attach them!!!!!!!! =\

Otherwise, just waiting...

 

[goan_crazy]

had minters info session tonight
it was good

i got through to the 3rd stage of this marketing internship- got to do a 60min online psychometric test though i got an sms telling me to check my email at uni today...

I havent heard from JWS or Holding Redlich yet at all

Mitsui whats freshfield? :S

 

[mitsui]

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP.


LOL'

 

[tanubi]

How did you find Minters, goancrazy? I thought it was pretty good (except I reckon they should have given us chairs!). Didn't stay till the end as I had Clutz...did they REALLY kick on until 9?

It's a bit scary going to these info sessions and seeing so many people in one room...and realising just how small intakes are this year! :S

 

[uniqueusername]

I went to Minters for an hour then to Corrs. Minters seemed pretty standard but Corrs surprised me...nice and relaxed and they cracked open the veuve which pretty much had me sold. It finished up at about 10 but quite a few people hung back until 11 drinking the last few bottles. All the grads seemed pretty normal which is a good sign I think.

What went on at Minters after the break?

 

[goan_crazy]

after the break more speakers were on
i thought minters was really good
but yeah i think they only had one night
150 1st round interview applicants in one room
and only 20 are actually going to be the clerks... pretty scary!
It was good to see minters were interviewing quite a few UTS people this year!
I didn't eat anything last night though, and only had soft drinks.

Wow corrs went on really late from the sounds of things!

so they had minters, corrs & clutz all in the one night? Corrs and clutz had more than one night though right?

 

[uniqueusername]

Corrs have another one tonight, not sure about Cltuz.

I liked Corrs because it gave us a chance to sit and relax and chat to some of their people rather than engage in forced mingling.

 

[tanubi]

Clutz just had the one, I think. Pretty sure it was a sneaky HR move to suss out what people's preferences were

Did anyone here go to the Mallesons evening?

 

[Libbster]

after the break more speakers were on
i thought minters was really good
but yeah i think they only had one night
150 1st round interview applicants in one room
and only 20 are actually going to be the clerks... pretty scary!
It was good to see minters were interviewing quite a few UTS people this year!
I didn't eat anything last night though, and only had soft drinks.

Wow corrs went on really late from the sounds of things!

so they had minters, corrs & clutz all in the one night? Corrs and clutz had more than one night though right?

aren't minters only interviewing 80? that's what i was told

 

[Blackacre]

i went to the corrs info evening as well. there were 40 there give or take. but there are 2 nights so i'd say there are abt 80 candidates who made it to the 1st round. corrs said they are taking 15. hmmm...

on a brighter note, did the kpmg ac today for corporate finance - m&a. got an offer just now. pretty happy. yah :rofl:

beginning to seriously consider finance as a possible career option. law firms just don't seem to be so impressed with my pass wam. lol undestandably.

well, at least now i got a few stuff lined up for summer in case the 3 law interviews i have don't work out. guess everything happens for a reason.

 

[uniqueusername]

Congrats!

I got KPMG for tax. And then today I got an offer for tax at Deloitte. I decided to withdraw my applications from EY & PwC because the assessment centre days are clashing with exams and work and now that I have something to fall back on I want to focus on my Corrs & Minters interviews.

 

[Blackacre]

Congrats!

I got KPMG for tax. And then today I got an offer for tax at Deloitte. I decided to withdraw my applications from EY & PwC because the assessment centre days are clashing with exams and work and now that I have something to fall back on I want to focus on my Corrs & Minters interviews.

thanks.

would you take corrs or minters before deloitte/kpmg?
tax is pretty good both in salary and career progression once you get masters of tax.

im seriously beginning to think abt finance as an option. i think partly because the finance ppl seem much nicer, and make an effort to impress you and after doing some research into the field, it actually looks quite interesting.

only corrs has made any effort to try to impress the candidates so far, other firms almost just expect you to apply because of their name.

 

[chewy123]

This thread is uncomfortable to look at.

 

[Tabris]

I am not sure if participation in summer vacation program at a big 4 may lead to a graduate position at the big 4 - heard some stories about some firms taking 1 in 4 or 5 summer vacationers where as the big law firms usually take about 70-80% of their clerks......

Anyway the point is......there is a likely difference in advancement rate from clerks-> law graduates compared to a summer vacation -> graduate analyst

Either way, well done, at least you got something to fall back onto

 

[uniqueusername]

would you take corrs or minters before deloitte/kpmg?
tax is pretty good both in salary and career progression once you get masters of tax.

If I was 100% sure about doing tax I would go to an accounting firm. But because I'm not sure about tax, I definitely want a clerkship so I get the rotations and then (hopefully) have a better idea about what I want to do.

The partner I spoke to at Corrs basically said that if I'm not sure I should go for the clerkship. He said that if I decided tax was for me then I would definitely be better at an accounting firm but that it's way easier to go from law firm to accounting firm because legal training is highly regarded - especially in terms of building & retaining client relationships.

And Tabris is right - Deliotte & KPMG both said they gave around 60% of their vaccies offers whereas law firms usually have much higher offer rates. Last year Minters made offers to 16/18 and the year before 17/18.

So I'll accept one of the offers but I'm gunning for a clerkship.

 

[Blackacre]

hmmm...
sounds reasonable. dammit. you're right.
maybe i was just unconsciously reassuring myself. better start preparing for the clerk interviews.

 

[melsc]

congratulations to everyone so far!

 

[uniqueusername]

Hey melsc did Gadens say when they'll be announcing second round interviews?

 

[kini mini]

Wow, my login still works here. It's been a while...I just thought I'd jump in to share some tips. I was a mod here in the early days and went through the clerkship process some years ago.

In terms of acceptance rates, there is an expectation at the larger law firms that practically all summer clerks will be offered graduate positions. Generally you have to do something particularly stupid not to receive an offer, like a certain person last year at the interfirm trivia night whose team won the comp. Saying words to the effect of "Thank you all for coming, and this shows why you didn't get a job at firm [X]" proved to be a career limiting move. HR from all of the major commercial firms also attend the trivia night and have their own table...so I imagine it would be difficult to get a job anywhere else after that too.

I understand that one vaccie at a certain Big 4 firm had to be taken to hospital by a partner after drinking a bit too much at the Christmas party, so perhaps at least some of their rejections are based on poor performance too.

I wish you all the best of luck in this year's recruitment process, I suspect it will be even tougher than normal due to the GFC. It is a very stressful time and I'm just glad I don't have to go through it again.