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Worried about work experience interview tomorrow!

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Reply 20

ellewoods

Good luck Seaspray :smile:

Make sure you update this thread and let us know how the interview goes xx

Reply 21

Crazy Mongoose

john171

Did it ever occur to you that he may not feel comfortable in a suit?

Did it ever occur to you he may not feel comfortable in his school uniform? And, anyway, it doesn't matter; buisness attire is a suit- either buy a one you feel comfortable in or shut up. That's simply the way it goes.

Reply 22

TommehR

john171

Did it ever occur to you that he may not feel comfortable in a suit?

He's not going to want to become a lawyer then, is he? For virtually anything business-related or involved with professional employment, a suit is going to be required.

Reply 23

m1kes

TommehR

Who in their right mind would wear their school uniform during work experience at a solicitors firm?

Completely agree. Seems like an absolutely ridiculous proposition for someone who is in the first year of college. I have done work experience at two places (one of which was during year 11 - thus in school) and neither of them did I wear my school uniform.

On a sidenote, telling someone they do not 'live in the real world' merely because he has a different opinion on when to dress smart and what to wear in certain situations is bizzare. When did dress sense become a measure of how much one gets out?

Resorting to ridiculous sarcastic comments such as 'I thought Law students had at least some common sense' purely based on Ethereal's observations strikes me as somewhat 'irrelevant' (in your own words).

Reply 24

TommehR

m1kes

Resorting to ridiculous sarcastic comments such as 'I thought Law students had at least some common sense' purely based on Ethereal's observations strikes me as somewhat 'irrelevant' (in your own words).

It doesn't reflect well on his own intelligence and common sense, does it?

Reply 25

Lauren18

john171

Meh, I was always under the impression Law students could tell the difference betweens something that's relevant and something that's irrelevant.

Look, it's irrelevant what your perceptions are... we're all Law students, you're not.

People gave their advice about what to wear because the OP asked for it. Wearing a suit is always a generally good idea. Interviews are formal and school uniform is just not appropriate if you're trying to give the impression that you'd be a good employee (despite how proud you are of whatever fine institution you attend).

If you're a 11 year old going to see Mummy's solicitor with her after school then you wouldn't bother changing out of your uniform. However, when you're trying to present yourself as mature, responsible and employable; your clothes need to reflect this. If I was the solicitor interviewing a 17 year old work experience candidate who turned up in school uniform, my first impression would be that he's lazy, lacks motivation, is not conscientious and hasn't used his own initiative. Not the best qualities for the aspriring lawyer!

Reply 26

ghtrevgy

Firstly, I am a girl :p:

and yes I dressed formally and wore a suit. It's what I have to wear to sixth form anyway. :smile:

It went okay. I realised afterwards I was poorly prepared. They asked me if I knew much about the firm and I was a little clueless :frown:

My own fault really - I should have done some research. I should have also thought of some decent questions to have asked at the end. There were two people in the interview, the female seemed optimistic and happy but the man was a little grumpy. At the end he said "we receive so many applications for sixth form work experience that we cannot interview them all so you are lucky to have got this far". That made me think "oh well, I obviously haven't got accepted". LOL.

However, afterwards the lady was telling me that a pack would be in the post within a week explaining what I would be doing on w/exp and with a timetable. I felt she was implying I was accepted but it is so hard to tell. :confused:

Oh well. Either way it was good practice for possible university interviews next year.

Thanks for the good wishes! :tsr2:

Reply 27

thats_my_poison

seaspray

Firstly, I am a girl :p:

and yes I dressed formally and wore a suit. It's what I have to wear to sixth form anyway. :smile:

It went okay. I realised afterwards I was poorly prepared. They asked me if I knew much about the firm and I was a little clueless :frown:

Oh well. Either way it was good practice for possible university interviews next year.

Thanks for the good wishes! :tsr2:

when are you doing the work experience and for how long?

Reply 28

ellewoods

seaspray

I realised afterwards I was poorly prepared. They asked me if I knew much about the firm and I was a little clueless :frown:

My own fault really - I should have done some research. I should have also thought of some decent questions to have asked at the end

Well done for identifying what you could / should have done better :smile:

Identifying where you made a mistake and learning from it is a fantastic attitude to have. (recruiters at law firms love self-aware people who want to learn and improve)

I really hope you get this work exp, but if you don't, never mind, apply for some more, and move on :wink:

You'll be prepared and ready to sail through your next interview.

It's sounds promising anyway by the sounds of what that lady said to you :smile:

Reply 29

chalks

It sounds to me as though you've got the work experience - congratulations: those interviews are never easy!

The fact that you didn't know much about the firm or have good questions to ask at the end was probably less crucial than for undergrads going for vac schemes and TCs. It is essential at those interviews that you're able to nail those two aspects. Its pretty ugly when an interviewee for a TC isn't able to explain a little about the firm they'd like to work for.

Reply 30

Ethereal

LOL esp if they say "erm, you have a netball team"

Reply 31

ghtrevgy

Thanks for your replies everyone. Looks like I didn't get the work experience - I haven't heard from them since my interview back at the beginning of April.

I'm personally a little shocked that they couldn't even be bothered to send me a letter saying something like "unfortunately we cannot offer you w/exp" - it's very rude in my opinion.

Oh well. I guess I will need to look elsewhere for work experience.

Reply 32

Ethereal

Don't get downhearted. You can learn from the experience and your next interview will go better.

Reply 33

mypaperheart

Concentrate on getting you exams done and then go work-experiencing over summer :p:

I think that's what I'm going to do!

Bad luck with not getting this one, you're right, you'd think a professional firm would've had the courtesy to send a letter. But don't let it get you down, I'm sure you'll have lots more opportunites, and you now know what do do for your next interview! :biggrin: