How to apply
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We know every business's application process can be slightly different. To ensure you have everything you need we've outlined the process below with handy videos to help you if you get stuck.
1. Application form
Get ready to share a bit about yourself and your journey so far. This form is your chance to tell us about your experiences and what you know about us. Don't worry, we're here to help: watch our video for tips to help you get started.
At Gowling WLG the application form is the first stage to apply for our early talent opportunities.
We are proud to have no minimum grade requirements and therefore our focus is to get to know the real you and learn about your skills and attributes.
Our application form is designed to test your self-reflection and research skills. The application form provides the opportunity to articulate your strengths, attributes and transferable skills, and to research an engaging topic relevant to the industry.
So how can you ace the application form?
We are proud to host a wealth of virtual events available for anyone to attend to learn more about the firm and the legal profession. You'll have the chance to hear from partners, trainees, and business services professionals about their areas of expertise, career journeys, advice, and how to build your professional network by engaging and asking questions.
The event series is the perfect opportunity to develop your understanding about who we really are.
What makes us different to other law firms? Why are we proud to work for Gowling WLG.
Beyond our virtual event series, the firm has a wealth of resources across our website, social media accounts, and our fantastic blog, LoupedIn.
Read about legal updates, client work, awards and our brilliant people.
The more you can learn about the firm and understand who we are, the better idea you have as to whether we're the right firm for you, and whether you can see yourself having a successful career with us.
Be curious. Build upon your knowledge of the legal industry and keep up to date with how we advise our clients through an ever-changing landscape.
As we mentioned, grades are not the be all and end all for us.
Life happens and we can't be defined by the grades we have achieved. Everyone deserves the opportunity to succeed.
Therefore, our application process tests whether you have the skills and attributes to be a successful trainee at Gowling WLG.
Our application form is made up of two halves. Work experience and two essay style questions. Legal work experience is absolutely not essential to apply for our opportunities.
In fact, it's our unique experiences, passions, and hobbies that make us different. And that's exactly what we're looking for. At Gowling WL everyone brings something different.
Gaining legal experience doesn't define your ability to succeed. But instead, building upon the transferable skills from your life experiences is what shapes you to become a fantastic trainee.
Have you worked in a customer facing role in a fast-paced environment? Do you have a passion that has taken lots of your time and developed key skills? Or have you worked on a challenging project or had a key role in a society at university?
These are all great examples of gaining experience and developing transferable skills. Whether that's communicating with others, teamwork, solving challenges, meeting tight deadlines or juggling priorities.
Take some time to list all of your experiences to date. Think about which experiences have shaped your skill set the most.
Reflect upon what you did and how the transferable skills you acquired would make you a successful trainee at Gowling WLG.
We want to hear about three of your best experiences, what you did, and most importantly, the transferable skills this has equipped you with.
Attention to detail is absolutely key. As a trainee, this is a key skill that you are expected to demonstrate and develop from the outset of your training contract.
Excellent spelling and grammar is expected on the application form and therefore it's important that you check, check an check your application again.
Read through your application line by line. Ask a peer for their feedback and look out for any words that may have been auto corrected.
Paying attention to word counts is also really important, and the essay questions on the application form will always give you a word count to adhere to.
This is a really useful tool to use to understand how much detail we are looking for. Where a word count is provided, this demonstrates the length of response we are expecting. So, try your best to meet the word count as close as possible.
So, to summarise, research, self-reflection and attention to detail are three key points to remember when applying to us.
I'm sure that writing applications can feel like a challenging process but remember that everyone brings something different, and we want to hear about the real you.
Your applications are reviewed by real people, and we want you to succeed.
We wish you the very best of luck and look forward to receiving your application.
2. Online task-based assessment
Once you’ve completed the application form, it’s time for the next step: an online task-based assessment. This assessment is designed to give us an idea of your natural strengths and preferences in a fair and objective way. The best part? You’ll receive a detailed feedback report once you’ve finished the assessment.
Preparation
No advance preparation is required. If you would like to familiarise yourself with the assessment format, you will have the option of completing a practice task in the preliminary section of the assessment. You can also complete a practice task hereto get an idea of the format.
If you require a reasonable adjustment, please read the additional information in your invitation email and reach out via the support email provided before you begin the assessment, as adjustments cannot be applied retrospectively.
During the assessment
After
3. Video interview
If you pass the online assessment and application screen stage, we then invite you to complete a situational based video interview. This can be conducted at a time convenient for you, but within the set deadline. You will be asked a series of pre-recorded questions which assess how you would deal with scenarios you might face as a trainee. Don't be daunted – you will have reading and thinking time to prepare your answer. Watch our video for guidance on the video interview stage.
At Gowling WLG, the video interview forms the third stage of our application process.
It is at this point which we get to hear from yourselves directly about your skills and approach to work. You'll be given four questions to answer in succession, each assessing the different competency that the firm deems integral to success in the role of a trainee solicitor. The video interview is not live, and for each question, you'll be given three minutes to prepare your answer, to make notes or bullet points and 90 seconds to answer the question.
Here are our top tips for the video interview.
The interview is a situational judgment based assessment, and therefore, you do not need to reference any prior experiences, whether relevant to the question or not.
90 seconds is a very short amount of time, and if you spend time talking about your experiences rather than discussing your approach to the task at hand, you'll not be able to give a fully developed response within the time limit.
Be concise. Again, time is of the essence. Whilst we appreciate there can be nerves, if you utilise the three minutes preparation time to formulate a concise plan of key messages you want to cover, then this will help deliver your answer confidently and succinctly.
Be yourself. There is no singular perfect answer to any of our questions, and we want you to be able to bring your unique perspectives and skills to the answer.
Do not overthink the preparation. Go with your gut instinct as oftentimes these will be your most natural response and way of working.
Try not to approach the video interview from the perspective of what would a Gowling WLG lawyer do?
Genuinely tell us what you would do.
Be mindful of where you record this video interview. Think about background noise and what your background looks like.
Make sure you are in a space where you can successfully complete it without any distractions.
If you experience any technical issues in the first instance, please reach out to the support team at iCIMS.
4. Immersive assessment centre
This marks the final stage of our recruitment process. You will join us for an immersive day-in-the-life assessment where we’ll evaluate your potential as a commercial lawyer at Gowling WLG. At the same time, you’ll have the chance to explore our firm and culture, and get to know our team members, helping you decide if we’re right for you. Watch our video to help you prepare for the assessment centre.
Take note: Both the vacation scheme and direct training contract routes provide an opportunity to secure a training contract.
The difference is that the vacation scheme route will give you the opportunity to gain one-week's legal work experience within one of the firm's practice areas, before being assessed for the training contract.
Vacation scheme assessment centre tips
At Gowling WLG, the Vacation Scheme Assessment Centre is the final stage of our application process to secure a vacation scheme.
This is the perfect opportunity for you to meet the firm and for us to find out more about you as an individual within the context of a professional environment.
The Assessment Centre is designed as an immersive day in the life of a trainee, and as such, there are a mix of activities that you'll be expected to partake in during the day.
Each exercise is designed for you to demonstrate skills across the competencies that the firm deems are integral to success in the role of a trainee solicitor vacation scheme student.
The Vacation Scheme Assessment Centre consists of a written exercise, a team meeting, and a competency based interview with a partner at the firm.
Once you have arrived and settled into the group, you'll be briefed on the day of what to expect and should you have any queries.
There's always someone from early talent on hand to help you guide you through the Assessment Centre.
The written exercise will involve you analysing some information and formulating an email response to a request from a fictional member of our diversity, equality and inclusion team.
This activity is an independent piece and you must share your response with a coordinator once the task is finished.
As with any written exercise, spelling, grammar, punctuation, formatting, and layout are important to ensure your ideas are received clearly.
During the team meeting is important for you to be yourself and work with others the way you usually would.
Ensure that you both listen well and share your opinions, keeping in mind that the firm prides itself on the power of teamwork.
Following this half of the group will have the opportunity to meet a current trainee, while half the group will sit, their partner interview candidates will then swap over and those who are yet to complete their interview will do so.
The partner interview will consist of three competency-based questions.
When answering these questions, it's important to utilize the star technique to help provide a concise response to the question.
Situation.
Ensure you have set the scene when formulating your response, give the interviewer the context to ensure they can understand clearly the situation you are discussing.
Task. Outline what was expected and required of you during this situation.
Action. Arguably one of the more important elements.
Think about the actions you took, which helped demonstrate your approach to the competency being assessed.
Result. Be sure to discuss the results of your actions, both positive and negative, applicable, and what you learned from the situation.
If you can quantify your results, then this is also insightful.
It is important to remind you that when sharing your experiences and discussing the skills you've developed, these do not need to be examples drawn from a legal setting.
They could be from any area of your life where appropriate for the question at hand, such as volunteering, university extracurriculars, sports, part-time, and full-time, work, and other industries, hobbies, the list is endless.
At Gowling WLG, we champion the unique experiences of all and recognize that top talent is moulded from all areas of life.
Here are our top tips for the team meeting, exercise.
Listen to everyone's viewpoints.
This will help you make more nuanced and informed contributions.
Strike a balance between contributing and listening well. It's better to speak less with more informed contributions than to speak lots, but adding little value to the conversation.
If you notice, a peer not contributing, do your best to encourage their involvement.
If you are timekeeping, ensure this is not your only contribution to the meeting.
If you are challenged on a suggestion, it's completely appropriate to defend your viewpoint with conviction in a professional manner.
Equally, if you disagree with somebody, challenge their view.
Debate is healthy. Speak loud enough so that the assessors can hear you.
They cannot assess what they cannot hear.
Make sure you keep to the brief or the task at hand.
It can be easy to drift away from the task at hand, but always remember what is being asked of you during the meeting.
Training contract assessment centre tips
At Gowling WLG, the training Contract Assessment Centre is the final stage of our application process to secure a training contract.
This is the perfect opportunity for you to meet the firm and for us to find out more about you as an individual within the context of a professional environment.
The Assessment Centre is designed as an immersive day in the life of a trainee, and as such, there's a mix of activities that we'd be expected to partake in during the day.
Each exercise is designed for you to demonstrate skills across the competencies that the firm deems are integral to success in the role of a trainee solicitor, or a vacation scheme student.
The training Contract Assessment Centre consists of a team meeting, a presentation, a written exercise, and a competency-based interview with a partner at the firm.
Once you've arrived and settled in with the group, you'll be briefed on the day and what to expect.
Should you have any queries, there's always someone from the early talent team on hand to help guide you through the Assessment Centre.
Firstly, you will have individual preparation time for the team meeting and presentation.
As a group you'll then have an hour to discuss the task at hand and build towards a presentation.
You will be assessed for the first 30 minutes of this hour.
You'll then have the remaining 30 minutes to finalize your presentation.
The presentation will need to last for around 15 minutes, and each member of the group needs to present for two to three minutes.
Following this, each candidate will then be asked a question related to their portion of the presentation.
Next half, the group will complete their written exercise while half the group sit, their partner interview candidates will then swap over and those who are yet to complete their interview and written exercise will do so.
The written exercise will involve you analysing some information and formulating an email response to request from a fictional partner centred on considerations for a fictional perspective client.
This activity is an independent piece and you must share your response with the coordinator once the task is finished.
No legal knowledge is required.
As with any written exercise, spelling, grammar, punctuation, formatting, and layout are important to ensure your ideas are clearly received clearly
The partner interview will consist of two competency-based questions, a motivation question, and a commercial awareness question.
When answering the competency questions is important to utilize the STAR technique to help provide a concise response to the question.
So remember, STAR stands for Situation, task, action, and results.
Situation. Ensure you have set the scene when formulating your response, give the interviewer the context to ensure they can understand clearly the situation you're discussing.
Taskutline what was expected or required of you during the situation.
Action. Arguably one of the more important elements.
Think about the actions you took, which helped demonstrate your approach to the competency being assessed.
Result. Be sure to discuss the results of your actions, both positive and negative if applicable, and what you learn from the situation.
If you can quantify your results, and that is also insightful.
It is important to remind you that when sharing your experiences and discussing the skills you have developed, these do not need to be examples drawn from a legal setting.
They can be from any area of your life where appropriate for the question at hand, such as volunteering, university extracurriculars, sports, part-time, full-time, working other industries, hobbies, the list is endless.
We champion the unique experiences of all and recognize that top talent is moulded from all areas of life.
For the motivation question, it's important that you're able to convey your commitment to the role the firm, and your career as a lawyer.
Research into the firm will be key to ensuring that you understand the firm's offering and how this fits in with your professional goals.
For the commercial awareness question, it's important that you are able to demonstrate awareness of the current commercial world and how this can impact sectors, industries, commerce, and even clients of a law firm.
The easiest way to demonstrate this is by keeping up to date with current affairs around topics that genuinely interest you, such as AI or climate change, and also to keep abreast of key sectors and emerging markets.
Here are top tips for team meetings.
Try and listen to everyone's viewpoints.
This will help you make more nuanced and informed contributions.
Strike a balance between contributing and listening well.
It is better to speak less with more informed contributions than to speak lots, but adding little value to the conversation.
If you notice a peer not contributing, do your best to encourage their involvement.
If you are timekeeping, ensure this is not your only contribution to the meeting.
If you are challenged on a suggestion, it is in completely appropriate to defend your viewpoint with conviction in a professional manner.
Equally, if you disagree with somebody, challenge their view.
Debate is healthy. Speak loud enough so that the assessors can hear you.
They cannot assess when they cannot hear.
Keep to the brief and task at hand.
It can be easy to drift away from the task at hand, but always remember what is being asked of you during the meeting.
Here are top tips for the presentation.
While she will be able to utilise short notes, do not rely on them to read from.
They should act as a prompt and should not take away from the fact you're presenting rather than reading a script, ensure that you are responsible for delivering some key content within the presentation.
Those who deliver the introduction and conclusion without any key content will not fare well in this assessment, ensure that you can articulate your section clearly and concisely.
Preparation is key. Support each other.
If you're in a situation where you can see your colleague struggling, providing them with a nudge or a prompt of encouragement is more than fine.
Do be mindful not to step over someone else's toes and start delivering on their behalf or alluding to any information that your colleagues may have missed.
It's really important that you project your voice so that the assessors can hear what you have to say.
Be mindful that you will be asked a question following the presentation.
So do consider the types of questions that may be asked respective of your content, some key things to remember.
Think about your body language. Don't fidget.
Keep eye contact and build rapport with your audience.
Your future is one click away
Our vacation scheme and direct training contract applications are now open.