Interview preparation...

... This week I will be mostly doing interview preparation.

The big day is Thursday when I will be getting all dressed up in my brand spanking new suit (which is LOVELY in case I hadn't mentioned) and heading up to the City to knock on the door of Midsized One-Stop Shop LLP. This evening the preparation hasn't been going as well as it could have done and tomorrow and Wednesday I will have to pull my socks up.

Hopefully this one will be less embarrassing than my first one, at least now I know the answers to all the evil questions he asked me last time. But I'm sure this one will ask me different ones.

On that note I am off to look up what Quantum Information and Coding actually contained because I took the course three years ago and I really couldn't explain it last time, marking the beginning of my downfall!

It's Sunday...

...so tomorrow is Monday. I have to go to work. In reality what I should be doing right now, is prepare for my interview on Thursday. However I really can't be bothered. This weekend I have done very little of constructive value (other than bought a new suit, its LOVELY) and it's been great. I pretended to start preparing for the interview earlier but then I decided not to and have been surfing blawgs and watching High School Reunion instead. Tomorrow night I will be more productive but after all the stress of loans and suchlike I feel a break was well-deserved.

I couldn't withhold my amusement when today I received an email from Midsized City Firm LLP thanking me for my application and telling me they would be in contact soon. Amusing seeing as they invited me to an interview a week ago Friday and the interview is on Thursday. If they send me another email rejecting me, I can't see how that will help me for my interview!

Am feeling somewhat sleepy, which is a direct consequence of going to bed at 5am last night. Much fun was had with Miss V at a club in my sixthform town that we used to go to when we were underaged) that has now been refurbished into a supposedly more upmarket establishment. Unfortunately the crowd isn't likely to change. However they played a lot of tunes from our college days that the 18-year-olds had never heard of and we had much fun dancing away.

Instead of preparing for interviews I would much rather do the pre-assigned reading for law school but I can't start it now until after the interview is over and done with. The reading sounds like much more fun than interview prep!

I may have to borrow Legally Blonde from Miss B... haven't watched it for a while and clearly am not going to be doing anything constructive this evening!

In the name of research...

... and those weird TC interview questions like "if you were a biscuit, which one would you be?" I carried out some carefully selected tests. The results have informed me the following*:

I am not scary.

My inner European is Dutch

As an alcoholic drink I am Rum - the life of the party and a total flirt

I am not a sociopath (but apparently I can spot one pretty easily)

I would make a great lawyer (ok I cheated a bit on this one)

I am aDalmatian puppy kind, bright and energetic, firemen like to pat my head. This will probably come in handy if i get asked the breed of dog question! Maybe best to leave the bit out about the firemen though... although YUM!

I'm hot Super Spicy apparently...

I belong in London

I'm sure you're bored now, but at least I have imparted some wisdom about me that you (and in fact I) maybe didn't know!


*Disclaimer: Not all of these tests are strictly relevant to training contract interviews and should not be taken to be in any way indicative of the kinds of questions you may be asked. I doubt they will ask how scary you are.

They think it's all over... it is now!

The Bank Saga that is.

The loan has been approved! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

There are no words for my levels of excitement and relief, and also for the levels of stress I have been experiencing in the past few weeks. Good practice for the future I suppose.

So there you go. On Monday 25th September I will be enrolling as an actual real law student. I can buy stationery and I'll get law books and stuff. I realise that to some this is not such an exciting prospect but personally I can't wait. I can finally start looking at the preassigned reading of which there is plenty, and start buying folders and consider my student wardrobe.

Also, on an equally exciting note, I can start planning with the ladies for our small tour of America. And all the shopping I will need to do for my Law School wardrobe.

I cannot begin to explain the relief I am feeling. I still have another couple of Training Contract applications to go before the deadline on Monday and there is still the small matter of an interview to prepare for so I can't chill out just yet.

But tomorrow I will be celebrating!!!

Future decided today

Finally got hold of Mr Bank Manager. The loan is being processed today. That means my entire future is decided on by a person or a computer, today. I will have an answer by Friday. That means that by Saturday I will know if I am destined for a life in the law or touring recruitment agencies.

Now obviously all I can do is wait, which is very stressful. Today. It's all being decided today. And they won't even tell me until Friday.

So there is still a significant chance that I won't get the loan.

I'm scared!

The road to the gym is paved with good intentions

Me and Miss B went to check out the local gym today. Tomorrow we are going for our induction. It's too hot to even think about working out but I've been meaning to do it for ages and it is cheap.

On the law front, called Mr Bank Manager and left a message to call me back which he never did. However rogue statement was returned in the post today suggesting that he finally has everything he needs and the forms are being processed. Everything crossed that I come out a desirable candidate to lend money to.

As a continuance to this, this evening's training contract application has hugely amused by as the winner of well thought-out web design. This is due to the following:

• The form will not accept that I still work at my current job and tells me my end date cannot be in future. However, there is no option to leave the end date blank.
  
• There is no space to explain what I actually do at work. Only my job title. For someone who graduated two years ago it would be pretty useful to explain what I've actually been doing since then and what I've learned.
  
• The form contains a question about my positions of responsibility at school (so nearly ten years ago) and a follow-up asking why I undertook these positions. I don't think I can put "I started playing the cello because I wanted to play the violin but my mum suggested the cello as less people play it. I stopped enjoying it a few years in and carried on playing because my mum wouldn't let me quit." How's that for ambition and perseverence? I also don't think that joining the choir at school (at age 11) was particularly strongly driven by my desire to one day tell the recruiters at Medium Shipping Firm that I did it "to develop my communication and teamwork skills".
• It doesn't say anywhere that it doesn't store your answers - the form is divided into five sections and once you complete one, if you don't complete the others within a particular timeframe the page resets and everything is gone. It states that the page will reset after 40 minutes but I didn't realise that meant the WHOLE page, i thought just that section. Once again I'm doubting my ability to become a lawyer :)
  

I have come to the conclusion that I don't want to work for firms with ridiculous application forms. Unfortunately, however, beggars can't be choosers so I'm off to think up an example of when I was enterprising!

Monday Monday...

... was boring.

I am back at my computer following a weekend break to Devon. It was lovely and sunny and I bought three pairs of shoes (so much for not shopping before going to the US... but they were on sale!!!).

However now I'm back in the real world and was harshly awoken into it by an e-mail from my parents telling me not to quit my job because I might not get another one in case I don't get the loan for Law School.

I realise they were only worried and trying to help but I was particularly upset mainly due to the fact that all the concerns they raised are the ones I am currently battling with and trying to put to the back of my mind 24-7 to stop me from going clinically insane.

So in case you hadn't guessed there is no development at the bank front. I believe calling Mr Bank Manager is probably a sensible idea tomorrow as he may well have forgotten about me again like he did before and only told me stuff was missing because I called him!

So I now have the following left to complete before next Tuesday:

• Chase Mr Bank Manager to tell me more about my loan. Depending on the outcome of this, the rest of the things on my to-do list may become obsolete.
  
• Complete a further four training contract applications.
• Write a reference to myself (long story, its not as dodgy as it sounds but much more complex).
• Send off two scholarship applications to London Law School.
• Buy a suit (well that's really by next Thursday but realistically I can only do it on Saturday).
• Read the papers so I am not embarrassed at my interview with mid-sized City firm on Thursday.
• Find out who truly reads my blog in case I get comments about the interview.
• Wish I hadn't written in my blog about the interview as I'll probably jinx it.
  
• Sue the brainless idiot who came up with the ridiculous Halifax adverts, for common assault and psychological trauma.
  

Mind the blog

The dangers of blogging...

It's just not going to happen.

I'm just not meant to be a lawyer. Bank man called again and said there is STILL some statement missing and he forgot to mention there was a gap between the ones I sent LAST MONTH and the new statement I sent today with the change of name.

Someone somewhere is really against me doing this and my positive feeling about it all has gone straight out the window. I can't even be bothered to write about it.

:(

There's no 'I' in Team

Today's question is all about team work. Tell us about a situation where you worked with others to achieve a shared goal and what you learned. Maybe I should start posting my answers for them to be of any help to other wannabe lawyers? Or maybe not as they probably aren't very good. Maybe I'll post them if I get a training contract.

I won't go into detail but I will say that I quit my job today. I told my boss I was going to Law School (even though I might still not be going, depends on Mr Bank Manager although the rogue statement arrived today and I'm couriering it over from work tomorrow) and would be leaving. He was somewhat shocked, happy for me but also sad to see me go. Which I genuinely believe even though I have in the past not been convinced that my work think I am anything but mediocre at what I do. I don't currently feel particularly different, mostly because I still have five weeks of work to contend with. But the big boss man told the whole team so everyone on my team knows now. The rest of the company probably don't consider it of any interest, we are encased in the "Big IT Account" - cocoon.

But this evening has been productive. One application submitted and one nearly finished. I read this today which was nice. Quite handy although nothing in there I didn't already know but stuff that was probably good to reinforce. Mostly because I was slightly disheartened by Big US Firm rejecting me this morning. Now feeling slightly better with application to Midsize Basic Firm sent off and one to Large Corporate Giant almost on its way (which was not the plan, I was looking at nice little midsize boutiquey firms, not sure what went wrong... but at least it's the only one. I am not applying to the Magic Circle!)

Onwards and upwards - brain meltdown is almost complete thus I should depart to bed. I now also contribute to this fine piece of literary genius just in case you feel I don't write enough here.
I am yet to submit my first entry but I will try very hard soon!

Today's achievements

This evening I have achieved the following:

Completed 1 training contract application (it was an easy one, no trick questions, just extracurricular activities, work and reasons for applying

Completed a very shoddy covering letter for US Law Firm Inc. who are very choosy and state you should "demonstrate to the firm you have made an informed choice to apply".

Spent about two hours chatting to Miss S and Miss V about US, mostly hotels in DC with Miss S. (Said ladies are travelling companions for the US trip for which the NYC hotel was booked this afternoon during an MSN conversation between me and Miss S. Highly productive afternoon in the office.)

Desperately searched for a hotel in D.C. that costs less than £200 for two nights and is not too far from the centre. So far not such good luck.

Read and commented on a bunch of blogs to avoid doing more applications. I figure two in one night is more than enough.

Felt hot. Continuously. It's 10.30pm and the temperature is still 27C.

Thought my next door neighbour was playing with explosives but in fact was watching an action film at ridiculously high volume.

Recorded CSI. Now will depart to go watch it. Hurrah!

Productive evening I would say.

Today's challenge: Describe yourself

What a challenging question. Describe yourself. So simple yet so NOT. "I am a highly motivated, outgoing person who is not afraid of a challenge". Cliched, much? The new series of CSI Miami starts in 50 minutes - it's my target to finish this application by then. Hardly likely but it's worth trying. Otherwise I will record it. CSI is my reward.

Hot Damn...Summer in the City

It is very very hot.

Today it was about 32C. Tomorrow and Wednesday it will be about 35C. Thankfully the horrid humidity of the last heatwave is not so pre-eminent this time so it's actually quite nice that it's hot. Proper summer for once. Of course this is much aided by the fact that we have air-con at work and some of my poor friends are really suffering, who don't.

One more application has been finished today thanks to good effort from myself and Poirot. It is taking a very long time to get them all completed so I sure hope I get something out of it!

I was rather impressed with my efforts to include football in my answers - one of the questions was to describe a recent commercial event I had been interested in and I wrote about the Italian Serie A match-fixing scandal. Very pleased.

Today is slow and will remain a short post as they somehow always degenerate to pages and pages.

Toodles!

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I am productive...

Ok, only following a meander around Camden Market with Miss B (flatmate), involving great need for self-restraint upon discovering a number of awesome shops, probably targeted at goths but selling the most gorgeous corsets, hats and yes, THE 50s dress.

THE 50s dress is the ultimate prey for my wardrobe. So far I have not found the perfect one, and even the ones today were slightly questionable, but still closest I have ever come to finding it. Unfortunately the price was astronomical (the gorgeous satin corsets started at £225 to give you an idea..) and the dress remained. I am determined that on roadtrip to US I will find a swing-dancing shop or similar selling the perfect one at an affordable price.

Anyway, after that, Poirot is finally home, and we are on a mission to get me a training contract. Unfortunately its taking a long time and doing the most simple application (only requiring covering letter, positions of responsibility and work experience) has taken a good three hours. I am not impressed. I don't have such time in my hands. However another application to become part of Corporate America (yes, this one was a US Law Firm operating in Lonfon) has been completed and I can, with considerable smugness, feel like I have achieved something. I am now, like a good girl, writing a Curriculum Vitae to send to London Law School for them to give me a scholarship. Oh and the same CV will be going to US Law Firm number 2 soon also.

Somehow writing a CV is a lot more difficult that writing an application form. They have empty spaces to write sentences in. CVs seem far more arbitrary and are not my favourite way of portraying my magnificence. I am about half way through and I am sure it is not particularly good. The stuff in it is good, but the actual thing isn't. I know this because the stuff has already earned me two interviews with law firms but, alas, in application form format.

Students - please make use of your University Careers Service, you won't know what you've got til its gone!

Someone out there really doesn't want me to go to Law School...

Ok, a few things of interest have happened in the last day or two. Here is the lowdown:

• The battle for funding continues. Mr Bank Manager cannot apparently process my application because my bank account is in my middle name (which is the name I use on a daily basis) but my passport is in my first name. The fact that my passport also has my middle name clearly bears no relevance to the situation. As a result I today marched into my bank and demanded they change the name (I mean if it was likely to be a problem, how could they even let me OPEN a bank account in a name that wasn't exactly the same as that on my passport). Which they did but now tell me they can't provide me with a statement with my new name until the 5th August. Which I believe to be utter rubbish. So I am calling them tomorrow and saying many very very nasty things to demand an answer. Obviously to clarify - my law school fees are due on the 1st of August so the 5th of August really isn't going to be much use.
  

• I went to see my law school for the first time. You may be in shock that I would have accepted a place in an institution I had not yet laid eyes on, but reputation was more important than physical appearance. However it is very nice. It is by no means quaint and historic like I like academic institutions to be, but more like a law firm. Apparently that's the point according to my very wise law student friend who has already finished his conversion course in Manchester in the same institution and is coming to join me in London for his LPC. He also gave me some valuable information about the processes and things and generally made me feel rather impatient about getting to go.

• On a point leading from this, apparently London Law School is rather full of stereotypical arrogant rugby players and identikit blondes with a trustfund. This upset me as I like breaking the stereotype of being blonde and stupid but apparently I am not the only one. How upsetting. Although my law student friend attempted to pacify me by suggesting that none of them are as pretty and as clever as me, I did have a sneaking feeling he was lying... who says I don't have intuition!

• I found the suggested "pre-course reading" today on the Law School website. I was excited about this as I did not know there was pre-course reading and can't now wait to start doing it. But I don't feel like I should until I actually know I am GOING or I would be very upset...

• Me and Miss S have booked our flights and car hire for our US roadtrip. This is by far the most exciting news of the day but was somewhat downplayed by the horridness of my bank. However we are now definitely going, which means I am definitely quitting my job law school or no law school as the flights are booked and I don't have any holiday left.

• Poirot is better. He is coming home on Saturday and on Sunday I will be carrying out a major application programme. Tonight I had the privilege to get a loan laptop from Miss B (flatmate) as she has gone out and is working from home tomorrow. She did offer her Mac too but those things just confuse the hell out of me. So I have gone through all my remaining application needs, listed the questions I already have answers to and those I need to answer and on which ones, and have a good starting point for Sunday.

These interesting developments have led to a somewhat unpleasant feeling overall today, as the stress of law school fees is becoming considerably heavy to bear. I just want it sorted so I can focus on the exciting things like the pre-course reading, shopping for law school things, and the ROADTRIP!!!!!!

I will now continue to muse my answers to the following, completely stupid questions I have encountered on training contract applications:

• What is the biggest non-academic decision you've ever had to make? I'm guessing the choice between the pink and the black shoes, or the pinot and chenin blanc is not an acceptable one? What a ridiculous question, all my major decisions so far have been somehow academically related!

• Describe a situation where you have been given a challenging situation with no guidance? How did you deal with it? - Surely this is a trick question. If you say you just got on with it, they might think you can't ask for advice. So presumably you should say you tried to get guidance from elsewhere. But then you're not really answering the question because they already told you that you got no guidance.

• My personal favourite - Describe a situation where you worked successfully with others and what your contribution was. - OK, I work in teams every sodding day at work. All the time. Unfortunately so much so that picking just one example has become impossible. I can't actually think of one single example to put down. And there are bound to be hundreds. I don't like these "example" questions. Humph.

On that note (and this impossibly long blog entry) I will be off to do something else. Research law firms supposedly but I am feeling to an extent a bit fed up with brain-activity so may just go to bed. And have nightmares about big giant cheques for law school fees chasing me down the South Bank.

Ze little grey cells just ain't working

Poirot has a virus. For those who don't know, Poirot is my laptop and he is very poorly and even though the virus is gone he is too scared to connect to the internet. This means that I don't have access to the internet at home, which sucks because:

1. I have until 31st July to submit 12 training contract applications (I've submitted 5 so far and I started in February -oops!). It was all supposed to be done by now but stupid virus messed it all up. This also might not be so bad was it not for the fact that I am fully busy both this and next weekend and doing something every night this week except Thursday but it's unlikely that I will get Poirot back anytime soon from being fixed by J-Lo.*

2.I have until 31st July to submit about 10 scholarship applications to London Law School. Which includes writing a supposedly different application for each and writing a reference from my ex-boss. She has agreed that I can use her as a reference but has said I should write the reference. Oh dear. See point 1 why this is a problem.

3. I will have to take my work PC home and think of an explanation why if someone in my team sees me - not because I am not allowed to, its none of their business, but my boss would expect that the reason is I would be doing work on it which I clearly won't be. So when it comes time for my beloved timesheet again at the end of the week, chances are it won't have as many billable hours as you would imagine someone who took their computer home, to have.

4. The new girl starts tomorrow and she will be sitting behind me. Which means I can faff a lot less at work and do things I need to do on the internet (such as write my blog, its crucially important to the survival of mankind!).

The likely result of this is that I will not get a training contract because I left it too late to submit my application (the whole point was I wanted to submit them really early so they would look at it before the deadline and hire me before others had a look in). The result from that is that I will probably have to drop out of law school within about a month because I wont be able to afford to live. Short of the Stripper-plan. Which isn't going to happen. The result of that is I will be very very upset because I want to be a lawyer. So I will be jobless, moneyless and law-school-less all because my computer got a virus. Life can be pretty strange sometimes!


*Note J-Lo is my ex-boyfriend. He is a computer geek extraordinaire. If he can't fix Poirot, nobody can. But he won't be too pleased if he reads this and realises I dubbed him J-Lo. Sorry hun... I will need to think of a better nickname but currently this will have to do.

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Yes, I am a quarter of a century old now. I have decided to ignore this fact as it makes me depressed. When I was little I thought that when I was 25 I would be a proper grown up. I probably thought I would be married (heaven forbid!!!) or a lawyer/politician/famous movie star. I probably also thought I would be rich. Funny how life is... I don't want to be a movie star anymore, the idea of a boyfriend let alone marriage brings me out in hives and I can't afford Jimmy Choos yet. Humph. So I'm pretending it hasn't happened and I'm not a grown up yet. I still have time.

This brings up the amusing prospect of going to Law School with a bunch of 21-year-olds. I'm hoping I will blend in and not feel horrifically old, but instead feel like I am 21 again. On Saturday night kind strangers who bought me Jaegermeister and RedBull (clearly now that I am older I have become a lot wiser about my drinking... ahem) thought I was 22. I was flattered. And then I downed the Jaegermeister and RedBull like a good little 22-year-old. But there was no podium dancing or other embarrassing shenanigans (I think) of any description. Any embarrassing shenanigans have been quietly stored away at the back of my memory in a little box never to resurface again. In fact this is a case of "if I don't remember it, it didn't happen". Nothing embarrassing did happen but this is my theory in general regarding drunken nights out.

Today I am in the office, and I have a client meeting. How inappropriate that a client meeting has been set for my birthday. It wasnt like I didn't make a huge deal about it at the time, and so far only my boss has remembered it is my birthday (notably hardly anyone else is here, but the strategically placed birthday card on my desk should be enough to make people throw presents at me. Preferably cash). It turns out it is some other girl's birthday today too but the fact that nobody bothered to organise a birthday lunch for me but about 20 people turned up in the pub I was having lunch with my (only) workfriend in for her birthday lunch, speaks volumes. Its ok, I don't like the people I work with any more than they like me. Don't lose sleep over it, my darlings :)

YOU got into Law School? - What, like it's hard?

Ok so I will start again. I have now completely given up on getting any work done whatsoever and am going to dedicate my afternoon to sweet procrastination. Obviously this poses a significant challenge when the time comes later today to post my billed hours, but I feel creative enough today to be able to find something that looks sufficiently genuine, and will therefore proceed.

Some interesting facts you as my reader may appreciate follow henceforth:

1. I want to be a lawyer. You may shudder in some cases, or just run away screaming, but you won't be able to sway me. I wanted to be a lawyer since I was about 5 and watching the classic 80s success that was L.A. Law. Of course back then I failed to appreciate the sheer awfulness of the haircuts and excessive shoulder padding, but it was enough to convince me of my career direction. Of course it hasn't all been smooth sailing and that is what this blog is all about.

2. I'm blonde. Yes I am really genuinely blonde and you can save the jokes - I've heard them all and laughed at many. Therefore, I have often been likened to the preppy but not-as-stupid-as-you-would-think Elle Woods. Of course the significant differences between us are that I am considerablt less ditzy than she is and also that my ambition to be a partner in a major law firm and quote complete Acts of Parliament by heart has not originated from a breakup with a bonehead boyfriend who has gone off to Harvard to marry a Vanderbilt.

3. I can't afford Law School. Simple as that. I do not have £7000 tucked away somewhere or parents that are made of money. My parents are brilliant, I love them to pieces, but I wouldn't take money from them now even if they offered it as I know they don't have £7000 and it's about time I paid my own way for my whimsical career progression. My options stand thus:

a) Pray, beg and bribe the nice man at the bank to provide me with a loan to pay my fees. I spoke to him today and it turns out that the forms I sent in with great difficulty (involved all sorts of issues I would rather not delve into right now) were missing the photocopies of my passport, degree certificate and proof of acceptance which he took and gave me to send back to him. Occasionally my stupidity surpasses even Elle Woods. My memory of the moment was that he took them but clearly that was distorted and only returned to normal once he spoke the words. So felt quite stupid but thankfully the bank is open tomorrow and I can go in, have my things certified and pootle along to the Post Office next door and send them off to him. In theory - everything surrounding getting this loan has so far been a challenge so I will probably oversleep or something similar.

b) Pray, beg and bribe the nice people at City Lawyers LLP and Dewey, Cheatham and Howell etc to offer me a training contract and pay my fees along with a nice scholarship to live off. This preferably in combination with the loan in which case I can live off the loan.

c) Pray, beg and bribe the nice people at London Law School (that isn't the real name of it by the way) to consider me worthy of a scholarship and donate at least a little bit towards my extortionate fees.

d) Put it all on my credit card and hope for the best.

e) Pray, beg and bribe the nice people at Strippers-R-Us to give me a job that pays £1000pw.

Somehow I think option e is not very likely to happen... and I hope it doesn't come to that. If the choice is between taking my clothes off for a living and not going to Law School? Then Elle Woods will be disappointed to find I did not follow in her footsteps to greatness.

My first entry

Welcome to my blog.

I'm going to really do it this time. Write a little bit most days and update the world on my goings-on. I can't imagine many people will be that interested but you never know who might come across it.

It all started when I was looking for a blog for a law student, as that is what I am going to be in a few months time (hopefully). I had some issues, it wasn't quite as easy to find, so I decided to create one to aid future generations of aspiring lawyers in their quest for justice... or money, whichever your motive.

Of course you will have to put up with anecdotes and happenings from my personal life, and occasionally perhaps eccentric musings, but you asked for it! And if I don't get to go to law school, then all the more so you will have to put up with it!

This first entry is really only here to get the whole thing going, as I shouldn't really be doing this in the office but nevermind... nobody else is here . I think I will return a bit later with a proper introduction.

Toodles!

Sx

PS After putting up this post I found a whole bunch of other law student blogs, including a fellow Legally Blonde! Doh!