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The process of securing your dream vacation scheme can be challenging. Once you’re on the scheme, you come to the next hurdle, convincing the law firm to give you an actual, tangible training contract.

But don’t despair. Firstly, vacation schemes aren’t just a means to a graduate job. Vacation schemes are of immense value in their own right. So, allow yourself room to celebrate and to look forward to this amazing opportunity. As cringy as that sounds, it’s something I definitely could’ve benefited from hearing before mine.

But importantly, there are indeed ascertainable methods for impressing at your vacation scheme that can mitigate many of these anxieties. To this end, here are some easy-to-follow vacation scheme dos and don’ts, informed by my own experience in converting one into a training contract. Let’s get into it.

Do show people you’re keen to get stuck in

For better or worse, converting a vacation scheme ultimately rests on the extent to which you’re seen around the office. There will most likely be an office email sent around at the end of your two weeks (alternatively an in-person meeting) where staff are given the names or faces of everyone in your cohort and asked for an opinion. For this reason, try to introduce yourself to as many people as is natural, showing your readiness to take on work as and where you’re needed. You may be assigned a particular supervisor who will give you tasks – but do branch out to other people in your department when possible.

Don’t network for networking’s sake  

Being seen is necessary in attaining that training contract, true. However, its value isn’t absolute in the sense that it depends entirely on the type of personality and qualities it makes visible. For this reason, be careful of a particular approach I saw during my own vacation scheme: working down the office mailing list to organise endless one-on-one meetings for the sole purpose of increasing visibility. The moment you sit down in these meetings, without anything of interest to say or ask, the ruse will be up.

Do ask questions which genuinely interest you 

Always put in effort to pursue those leads, particular areas of law or individuals with unique insights, that correspond to your actual legal interests. Presumably these interests are why you applied to the scheme, and is certainly why the firm has taken you on for it. They’re certainly not expecting you to love absolutely every area of law equally, or to have the sort of extensive legal knowledge you may feel tempted to feign.

Don’t hold out for only challenging work 

Some of the best advice I received was that a firm isn’t so interested in the quality of the work you produce during a vacation scheme, but how you are to work with. After all, even the most difficult work you’ll be given won’t be sufficiently challenging to demonstrate to the firm you have the necessary brains for this job – you’ve already demonstrated that through your interviews and application. Now, the question they most want answered is simply whether they’d actually enjoy working on a project or staying late in the office with you. Accordingly, I’d always take on as many tasks as possible with different people rather than hold out on some extra challenging job that eats away at your limited time, with the hope this will best prove your ability.

Do give time and energy to your task 

Most vacation schemes involve some sort of task. Possibly a blog post or a presentation, this provides an extra metric through which to differentiate candidates. This may not seem as important as your general impression over two weeks; but it may just better your chances of a training contract against another candidate who has otherwise performed similarly. Especially if the quality of your task work is measured through a simple standardised score, when attached to your name before partners who only met you during a brief time period, it’ll have great weight in their hiring decision. Do therefore give it lots of time, finish it early and don’t bank on being able to do it in office hours.

Don’t stay late for no reason 

I know it’s tempting. You only have two weeks to stand out from a field of highly competent candidates and staying later than them offers an easily measurable and visible way to do that. But if the firm tells you to go home at 5:00pm, and you have no urgent work, do take this at face value. As stated, the purpose of a vacation scheme isn’t to somehow increase the firm’s output through your brief stint there but just to get to know you. So go home, work on your task, or otherwise just enjoy yourself.

Looking for some more advice about vacation schemes? Check out our Vacation Scheme Insiders to hear about a range of experiences at different firms.