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Slaughters gets tough on new recruits

22 November 2010 | By Husnara Begum

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Slaughter and May has become the latest law firm to introduce an extra layer of testing for its future trainees.

The top ten City firm added a written exercise to its selection procedure at the beginning of November when it started interviewing for its 2013 trainee solicitor intake.

Slaughters’ HR manager for trainees Mel Binks said: “We recruit candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines and it can sometimes be difficult to assess their ability to write clearly, concisely and correctly under pressure. It was important to us that we maintained the simplicity of our recruitment process so we developed a short and simple written exercise inhouse.”

The current recruitment round has seen several law firms make their graduate recruitment processes more robust with the introduction of additional testing. Herbert Smith for instance has introduced an online situational judgement test, which candidates will have to take when they first fill in their application forms. Would-be lawyers will also have to take a logical reasoning test, which has been added on top of the firm’s existing verbal reasoning test.

Elsewhere, SNR Denton will be introducing psychometric testing to its online application form, while Addleshaw Goddard is adding a verbal reasoning test to its existing selection procedure.

Slaughters’ written exercise, which will be given to all applicants as part of the interview stage, takes 30 minutes to complete and requires candidates to read a short article and then summarise it in an email.

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Readers' comments (9)

  • Anon | 23-Nov-2010 11:34 am

    I'll practice now. Just read this article.

    Answer:

    Law firm with kinky name (S&M) adds another hoop for students to jump through.

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  • Ashley Balls | 24-Nov-2010 4:09 am

    All care and no responsibility rears it ugly head again as yet another HR derived hurdle is developed for candidates to jump through and HR professionals to hide behind. Where is the evidence that any of these 'barriers' work any better than judgement? To date I have only ever seen systems that add cost and somewhere to place blame. Two out of ten.

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  • richard | 24-Nov-2010 2:58 pm

    “We recruit candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines and want to be sure that they all were born in England and studied classics at prep school"

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  • Gary | 24-Nov-2010 4:40 pm

    This article is an open goal for pedants.

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  • Anonymous | 24-Nov-2010 6:34 pm

    Anon@11.34 - I'm afraid you failed even before you started. S&M would never take someone who uses "practice" instead of "practise" .

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  • Anonymous | 24-Nov-2010 10:54 pm

    You can just imagine it:

    Q.1) Does the university you attend start with the letters OX or end with the letters Bridge? (20 marks)

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  • Del Boy Trotter | 25-Nov-2010 11:14 am

    Q1) Does Mummy or Daddy earn a six figure sum (Yes = 3 marks, No = 0 marks)
    Q2) Does Mummy or Daddy earn a 7 figure sum (Yes = 5 marks, No = 0 marks)
    Q3) Do you own either a) a pony or b) a car costing more than £30,000 (Yes = 5 marks, No = 0 marks)
    Q4) Was your school a fee paying school? (Yes = 10 marks, No= -10marks)
    Q5) Were the fees £10,000 or more per year? (Yes = 3 marks, No = 0 marks)
    Q6) Were the fees £10,000 or more per term? (Yes = 5 marks, No = 0 marks)
    Q7) Did you board at school? (Yes = 3 marks, No = 0 marks)
    Q8) Did you play any of the following sports? "Rugger" (10 marks), Hockey (5 marks), Cricket (5 marks), Lacrosse (5 marks), Quiddich (10 marks), Rugby League (-10 marks), Football (1 mark)
    Q9) Are you from the North? (Yes = 0 marks, No = 5 marks)
    Q10) Are you distant cousins of the royal family? (Yes = 5 marks, No = 0 marks)
    Q10) Who would you most like to meet? Prince William (10 marks), Ian Wright (-10 marks)
    Q11) Who earnt their money and actually had to work hard? Prince William (10 marks), Ian Wright (-10 marks)

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  • Anonymous | 25-Nov-2010 12:50 pm

    Re: 10:32. The firm is known as "Slaughters" for short, not "Slaughters' ".
    It says Slaughters' in the second paragraph to indicate the possessive case (much like "the firm's HR manager, rather than "the firms HR manager").
    Slaughters' written exercise = correct.
    The Slaughters written exercise = correct.
    The Slaughers' written exercise = wrong.

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  • Anonymous | 29-Nov-2010 10:43 am

    Pathetic and ridiculous

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