Tell us about a situation where you have demonstrated initiative and the result? (300) (298)

As a volunteer tutor for [redacted tutoring agency], I had to display initiative in order to prevent the cessation of tuition during the pandemic. We had been providing supplementary tuition to disadvantaged children in person at their school in [redacted English city]. This allowed us to work closely with the children’s form teachers, who pointed out which areas of the curriculum needed attention.

Feedback: This is a classic competency question, in which the candidate has done well to follow the STAR structure (situation, task, action, result). You should note how the candidate splits their answer into paragraphs. Each paragraph deals with a separate element of STAR. In turn, this makes the candidate’s writing well-structured and easy to follow. In your own competency answers, you should replicate this structure by splitting your answer into paragraphs. This is an easy way to strengthen your answer and make it easy for the recruiter to follow.

We also like that the candidate addresses the wording of the question straight away. Within the first sentence, the candidate mentions that they had to display initiative. This helps the candidate focus their writing and makes it clear they have understood the question. As a general rule, you should address the wording of the question directly and from the outset. Not only will this help you focus your writing, but it will also convince the recruiter that you have read and understood the question.

This paragraph does include some unnecessary detail at times. For instance, the candidate’s final sentence describes how in-person tutoring allows them to coordinate with teachers. This point is not mentioned again in the rest of the answer. As such, the candidate could have cut this sentence out in favour of meaningful detail elsewhere.

When lockdown commenced, the charity’s activities were severely curtailed.  [Redacted tutoring agency] was unwilling to continue tuition remotely, fearing that regulatory compliance in areas such as safeguarding could not be assured outside school premises. Having taken responsibility for improving my pupils’ academic outcomes, I was conscious that this would affect their progress and resolved to find a way to continue helping them.

Feedback: The candidate explains the “task” element of the question in a good level of detail. They write very clearly about (1) the specific challenges that cropped up and (2) the reason why they had to take the initiative in order to overcome this challenge. This means the recruiter is given full background/context into the candidate’s subsequent actions.

As with the previous paragraph, the writing could have been far more concise here. For instance, the candidate could have simply explained that virtual tuition would have raised “regulatory issues” rather than discussing irrelevant details about safeguarding. They also could have cut down the final sentence, as it is already evident from the candidate’s previous writing that they were responsible for their students’ academic results.

It's important to remember that most of the marks lie in the “action”/”result” sections. You should devote no more than 25% of your answer to the situation/task elements. The overall purpose is to contextualise your actions and the result, so you do not need to spend too much time on these initial points.

I approached the charity, the school, and the children’s parents to devise a solution. After lengthy negotiations, I helped to codify procedures which enabled tuition to be delivered online whilst remaining compliant. This allowed the charity to resume lessons for the remainder of the pandemic.

Feedback: The candidate now explains the specific actions they took in response to this situation. This paragraph can be credited for being well-structured and consistent with the previous writing. We are given a concise outline of the steps the candidate took in response to the previous safeguarding challenges.

However, this paragraph is quite brief and lacking in detail. It is not clear how the candidate conducted these negotiations, nor is it clear what these “procedures” involved and how they helped the candidate ultimately deliver online tutoring sessions. Had the candidate cut down their situation/task paragraphs, then they would have been able to drill down on the precise steps they took to overcome the challenge.

During my final year at university, I dedicated more time to providing one-to-one tuition in order to make up for the lost sessions. This additional support was crucial as many children had been struggling with their schoolwork after their regular school classes were moved online. I made an effort to keep in touch with their form teachers by email to learn which areas required the most attention. Setting up the online tuition system and giving extra lessons took up more time than the job had previously entailed. However, it was immensely satisfying to see my pupils make real progress. Their ability to converse confidently in English and to get to grips with their homework greatly improved over the period I taught them. They became more integrated into their school communities, both academically and socially.

Feedback: This paragraph wrestles with both the candidate’s remaining actions and tasks as separate points. Ideally, the candidate would have split these points into separate paragraphs so as to aid the recruiter’s comprehension. The candidate nonetheless deals with each point quite well. First, the candidate provides some insight into specifically how they planned out virtual sessions and compensated for lost teaching time. The candidate also does well to illustrate the ways in which they took the initiative, rather than simply describing their competencies. In your own answers, you should aim to “show” your competencies by describing specific steps and actions, rather than simply listing out your skills to the recruiter. Secondly, the candidate describes the “result” element of their answer well.  We are given some detailed insight into the outcome that arose for the students as a direct consequence of the candidate’s actions. It follows logically from the candidate's actions.

There are still some minor points for improvement:

1. The actions described in this paragraph are not consistent with the challenges previously described. So far, the candidate has only identified regulatory compliance/safeguarding as a challenging “task”. It is not clear how the candidate’s work in planning and setting up online tuition relates to this. Though the candidate does well in describing their actions, this needs to be logically consistent with the rest of their answer.

2. If possible, the candidate should have quantified their achievements with specific and tangible details. Had the candidate used specific details (such as a statistic showing an increase in exam pass rates), then their answer would have been far more impactful overall.

We understand that everybody's situation is different, be it business or personal. As experts in our field we must analyse every client's needs and demonstrate initiative to achieve a positive outcome.

Please describe an original solution that you developed to solve a problem. Why was it important for you to implement this? What did you do and what was the outcome? (2000 characters)

I had a group video presentation deadline for my degree during a period of industrial action. This meant that we did not receive any of the usual guidance from our tutor, who was striking. The task was to research and create a short video presentation to peers followed by a question and answer session. This required a considerable amount of research and preparation before the video was even filmed. There were several members of the group who were unhappy filming themselves. They were concerned that we would not be able to finish the project in time and began attempting to gain an extension, which was unrealistic as the tutor had made it clear that the deadline could not be moved.

[Feedback: This is an excellent ‘context’ paragraph. The candidate makes this paragraph a success by describing the surrounding situation at hand before getting into the precise issue that they faced. Furthermore, the candidate addresses this question well, rather than answering in abstraction. You should note that whilst the competencies that recruiters are looking for are virtually universally held across all law firms, the way they phrase questions is not. Here, the candidate does well to elucidate what was at stake if they failed to complete the video presentation: they would fail the project and negatively impact their degree.

However, this paragraph’s content could have been written a little more explicitly. When there are lots of moving parts to a question (namely, the question has multiple sub-questions), you can improve the clarity of your writing by stating which part you are addressing.

For example, the candidate could have included a short sentence, such as, ‘Consequently, at the risk of failing one of my assignments, I tasked myself with solving the team’s internal conflict and coordinating their efforts’. A sentence to this effect would have elucidated more clearly (1) what the candidate was setting out to do, and (2) what was at stake.

Finally, this answer would have been stronger if the candidate had included some more detail in their descriptions. For example, the candidate could have mentioned what the video presentation was on or how many members were in their team. This detail, whilst it may seem inane to include, is crucial in elevating the quality of your answer. Without specificity, you risk your answer coming across as generic or fictious.]

I took the lead on the project and encouraged the group to work to the set deadline. I set up a meeting in which I divided the reading and research tasks between us to complete, making sure we were contributing equally but that everyone was happy and working to their individual strengths. I scheduled a feedback session with enough time to complete the reading, during which we wrote a script and prepared answers to some potential questions we could be asked. I divided up the tasks so that each member of the group was knowledgeable on a different section of the topic. For the video, I suggested that we recorded a scripted voice over, and found software that produces illustrations so that the group did not have to video themselves.

[Feedback: The main strength of this paragraph is the actual solution detailed. As elucidated before, the candidate’s team was unhappy videoing themselves. The solution of recording their voices over illustrations is a genuinely original solution which I am sure most groups would have not considered. Remember, although some of your examples or experiences may seem insignificant or simple to you, they can be deployed to great effect in applications. This candidate is simply discussing one of his group projects at university, yet it serves to demonstrate their creativity, teamwork, and organisation.

The main point of improvement for this paragraph pertains to clarity. This candidate’s sentences are exceedingly long. This means that certain sentences often require re-reading – recruiters will not take kindly to this, so ensure your writing is straightforward and easy to scan. Furthermore, the candidate sometimes employs unclear phraseology. For example, in the first sentence, the candidate writes ‘…work to the set deadline’; however, it is not immediately clear what they mean by ‘set deadline’ – did they set the deadline? In actuality, the candidate is referring to the existing deadline as alluded to in the previous paragraph. Make sure to qualify your claims and descriptions to ensure that the recruiter has enough information to understand your answer without having to read it twice.

The final point of improvement regards specificity. The candidate could have included some more detail on what exactly they prepared. For example, they could have given an example of one of the questions that they prepared for or named the software that they used to make the video. This extra detail is what takes a good answer to a great answer as the added specificity lends credence and flair to your writing.]

Our group was made up of people with different strengths and weaknesses, and in recognising this I was able to navigate the project to play to these. This meant that the group became comfortable with the task and confident in completing their own delegated sections. We managed to submit the piece ahead of the deadline and all developed specialist knowledge of different aspects. The tutor was impressed with the content and different style of the video and we received first class marks.

[Feedback: This paragraph is weaker than the rest of this answer. First, the paragraph’s strengths are its concision and its clear logical line of argument.

Second, however, the candidate’s sentences are quite unclear and grammatically incorrect. The first sentence of this paragraph is very clunky – in the second phrase of the sentence, the candidate employs three ‘to’s. Whilst the meaning of the sentence is not entirely obscured, it is quite unpleasant to read and could be delivered in a more succinct and elegant manner. Again, this may seem like a minor comment or overly harsh; however, when mistakes are made throughout an application, the recruiter will become increasingly intolerant of even the most marginal of errors.

Third, much like the rest of this answer, there is a lack of detail. The candidate does include their project’s grade (first class); however, we would have liked to read about the strengths and weaknesses of the team, what knowledge was developed, and so on. As this information is omitted, it becomes difficult to envisage what the results of the candidate’s actions were. Hence, as commented before, use specific examples in your answers, and qualify and quantify your writing as appropriate.]

Sustaining a successful and profitable practice requires both commercial awareness and innovative thinking. Tell us about something that you have done that shows you have a strong innovative or entrepreneurial spirit. (250 words)

As the Events Officer for the UCL African-Caribbean Society, I was responsible for organising creative events for the society. As part of my role, I acted as the Assistant Director for our annual cultural show; Ablaze. The show included a variety of art forms including dance, fashion, and acting. Specifically, I was in charge of designing 265 costumes for our fashion show and dance acts with a budget of £1000.

Following an £800 increase in the price of the venue, budget cuts were made and I was instead allocated only £500 to design the same number of costumes. Therefore, I had to look for an innovative way to deliver the same number of high-quality costumes with a smaller budget.

I took the initiative to outsource some parts of the costume designing to small brands in the UK who specialised in making African and Caribbean costumes. I pitched the event to them, informing them about the number of guests we were expecting and how the event could benefit their brand. As a result, I received 60% of the costumes required for free from three brands. I was then able to design the rest of the costumes required with the new budget. The event was successful and we were awarded an UCL Silver Star award for adequately showcasing African and Caribbean cultures through fashion, acting and dance.

Through this task, I learnt the importance of thinking innovatively when responding to changes that require you to re-evaluate your approach to a given task.

[Feedback: This is another well-chosen example.  It arguably indicates both an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit, even though the candidate was only asked to demonstrate one such characteristic.  This suggests that the candidate is actively involved in university life and has a wealth of experience to draw upon.

The candidate uses the STAR structure effectively here.  It’s also notable that the candidate uses paragraphs well to indicate when s/he is moving on to another part of their answer.  In many applications that we see, candidates write long, essay-style paragraphs that are difficult to follow.  You should use shorter paragraphs that mirror how lawyers communicate by email.

Minor improvement points include:

●      Grammar - The candidate uses a semicolon when s/he should use a colon.  You should use a colon where the second sub-clause explains or illustrates the first, which is the case here.  This distinction is likely to escape HR though, but a pedantic lawyer would pick up on it

●      Put your achievements in context - What is the UCL Silver Star award?  How many students is it awarded to?  Is it actually that impressive?  You should make this clear by adding a few words after the award (e.g. “awarded to the top 3 students in each year group of 500”). 

●      The final sentence is a bit trite - Given how good the example is, it’s a shame that the candidate couldn’t think of something more original to round off a strong answer.]

Sustaining a successful and profitable practice requires both commercial awareness and innovative thinking. Tell us about something that you have done that shows you have a strong innovative or entrepreneurial spirit.

Science, specifically physics, has always been of great interest to me. In my final year of secondary school I decided to enter the prestigious Irish BT Young Scientist of the Year competition.

[Feedback:  Like the previous questions, this is another competency-centred question which warrants a CAR or STAR structured answer. The candidate continues to do well in including a strong, concise, and detailed introductory section at the beginning of their answer. You should note how the candidate specifies the specific time at which they had the experience and what they went on to do.

The only point of improvement is that the very first sentence could be cut. Although it adds some flair and colour to the answer, it does not add much value to the overall answer. By the candidate choosing to enter the ‘Irish BT Young Scientist of the Year competition’, it is obvious that the candidate has such an interest in science. When you draft your answers, you should make sure you proofread them and see if you have included any irrelevant or verbose sentences. You should aim to cut these out and use the additional word count to add in some extra detail to your remaining sections.]

This competition requires students to propose a self-directed science project, firstly, to their school, following which they then need to submit a written submission to the BT Committee. The Committee then selects 400 projects from around the country to present their ideas in Dublin over three days to both the public and a panel of judges.

[Feedback: This paragraph sets up the challenge the candidate needed to overcome. This is an excellent section as it is a model for how to explain something complex in a concise and digestible paragraph.

Candidates are often involved in competitions with convoluted rules or tournament brackets. This can make it hard for them to explain their situation and the magnitude of their task properly. If you have a similar experience, you should place yourself in the recruiter's shoes: ask yourself, can I understand what I have written if I assume no prior knowledge about the scenario? If the answer is not a definitive ‘yes’, you need to simplify your explanation and include supporting detail.

Here, the candidate does well in detailing the stages of the competition and provides specific information that helps the reader better understand what is required of the candidate. You should note how the candidate mentions the kinds of work required (for example, making a proposal or a written submission), how many other projects they would be competing against (approximately 400), where the presentations would be (Dublin) and over what time period (three days). This is all excellent, and this answer should serve as a model for how to describe and explain more complex situations (especially tournaments or competitions).]

Over two months I worked on my proposal entitled 'The Expansion of Space with reference to the Infancy Stages of Collapsing Nebulae and Supernovae. After having been selected by both my school and the BT Committee, I began work on the forty-two page detailed submission to present to the judges in three months time.

I found this really exciting but equally quite challenging to balance with the workload of the Leaving Certificate. I was also having difficulty with certain theoretical issues relating to my project and ultimately took the decision to bring on board two of my classmates who were both very skilled in mathematics and physics.

In addition, I successfully sought the advice of the renowned physicist Alexei Filippenko of the Berkeley Institute, who greatly aided us in breaking down certain challenges.

[Feedback: The above three paragraphs detail how the candidate went about overcoming their challenge. Again, the candidate provides the contextual information that the recruiter would need to understand their position. The candidate specifies not only the name of their proposal but also its specific length and the time frame they had to prepare it. These are all excellent pieces of information and work to make the answer very engaging and persuasive.

The candidate’s answer is also particularly impressive as it includes a reflection on the candidate’s struggles. Many candidates try to present themselves as wholly infallible; however, the very best candidates will mention where they struggled and how they overcame the difficulties they faced. In the second and third paragraphs, the candidate describes how they struggled with their project but, crucially, details how they solved those issues. Indeed, the recruiter is looking for candidates who have faced adversity or made mistakes and recovered from them.

An additional note is that the candidate does well in mentioning that he onboarded two of their fellow classmates. This demonstrates their teamwork and ability to know when they need the help of others (and not stubbornly reject outside assistance). This second trait is rare, and you should note that this is something to showcase (where appropriate) in your applications.

To improve this answer, the candidate could have combined some of their paragraphs together. We would advise against writing your answer in short staccato paragraphs. If you do so, you risk losing the thread of your argument and disrupting the answer’s overall flow. Furthermore, it makes it more challenging for the recruiter to know when you have moved on to a different area of discussion. If you stick to a STAR or CAR structure, you should aim for three to four paragraphs (excluding an optional introductory sentence). This will allow you to craft an answer that flows and reads nicely.

Furthermore, the candidate could have been more specific with some of their descriptions. For instance, the candidate writes that Alexei Filippenko ‘greatly aided [them] in breaking down certain challenges’. However, the candidate does not indicate what challenges they faced nor how Alexei Filippenko helped them. This additional detail would have elevated the quality of the answer and afforded it additional credence. Once again, you should be looking to include specific detail at every point in your answer. Part of the proofreading process should involve you reading over your answer and checking if you could add supporting detail to each sentence you have written.

Finally, you must be careful of making typographical errors. The candidate misses an apostrophe when writing ‘in three months time’. Recruiters are becoming increasingly unforgiving when marking application forms and may reject applications outright if they spot a mistake. You must proofread your work and use a spellchecker (such as the one in Microsoft Word or Grammarly). You can also give your answers to a family member or trusted friend to proofread. These errors are easy to correct; however, if you accidentally leave one in, you risk your application (even if it is otherwise excellent) being unduly rejected.]

We subsequently presented and defended our thesis over three days to different panels of judges and were ultimately awarded the bronze medal in the Senior Physics category.

[Feedback: This concluding sentence details the result of the candidate’s actions. Once again, the candidate includes a good amount of detail, specifying the duration and the prize they won.

The central area for improvement here concerns answering the question. The question asks the candidate to ‘[show they] have a strong innovative or entrepreneurial spirit’. However, throughout their answer, the candidate never once uses the words ‘innovation’ or ‘entrepreneurship’. Hence, an especially cynical recruiter may think that the candidate has not answered the question, although they have discussed an impressive achievement.

You should use the terms of the question in your answer and use your final section to link your answer back to the question at hand. The candidate needed to have explicitly explained how their achievement evidences their ‘strong innovative or entrepreneurial spirit’. Whilst the recruiter might infer this for you, do not leave it up to chance. You need to be explicit to ensure you communicate exactly what you mean and provide no opportunity for the recruiter to mark you down.]

Sustaining a successful and profitable practice requires both commercial awareness and innovative thinking. Tell us about something that you have done that shows you have a strong innovative or entrepreneurial spirit.

I demonstrated innovation and entrepreneurial spirit when I led a team of two to the [tech competition] Finals, designing and marketing a self-watering plant pot.

Feedback: This is a good start to the answer. You should note how the candidate addresses the question’s exact wording from the outset. We advise that candidates do this, since it will focus your writing and make it clear to the recruiter that you have understood the question. This question requires you to explain a time you devised an innovative solution to a problem, or alternatively a time where you identified an opportunity and took risks in order to capitalise on it. The candidate has clearly focused on the “innovative” element of the question.

We would add that competitions, even if not won, are brilliant ways of evidencing competencies. They demonstrate the candidate’s resilience and technical ability, as well as specific competencies in certain competitions (such as technology and innovation in this case). You should not shy away from using such examples even if you did not ultimately win the competition.

Wanting to combine my coding insights from Computer Science lessons with the commercial challenge of spotting a market-opportunity, I discussed the rise of environmentally-friendly technology with a friend. After researching the competition criteria, which required creating both an Innovation Log and prototype, I initially helped brainstorm an automatic irrigation system for use in developing countries. I devised a strategy to split up the coding and design element of the project, whilst working collaboratively on writing up the Innovation Log.

However, further research revealed both the existence of well-established firms such as Hozelock, and the difficulties in building proto-types on such a large scale.

Feedback:  In keeping with STAR, the candidate offers a reasonably clear picture of the actions they took to succeed in the competition. That said, the candidate needed to drill down on exactly what was innovative about these steps. We are told that the candidate brainstormed an automatic irrigation system, but we are not told how the candidate came up with this or how it differed from existing products in the market. The candidate also should have elaborated on the “difficulties in building protoypes on such a large scale” and how they considered overcoming this challenge.

To create space, the candidate should have cut down on the context they gave at the beginning. The question does not call for you to describe your wider motivations. Had the candidate cut down on this background information, they would have had more space to analyse the innovative steps they took and how these contributed to the candidate’s objectives.

The candidate also spells “prototype” inconsistently, by writing it incorrectly as “proto-type” in the final sentence. We advise that candidates read their answers slowly and out loud so that they can spot slip-ups like this more easily. Given that Hogan Lovells receives thousands of applications for double-digit spaces each year, you cannot afford to make spelling and punctuation mistakes such as this.

Whilst looking up one of the sponsors of the competition, Maplin, I quickly realised the popularity of educational “gadgets” geared towards a younger audience. Wanting to make use of our existing work, such as programming different sensors, I helped modify our product into an electronic toy for children to grow their own plants: a gap in the market. I re-drafted a new time frame, and my team was able to create a fully functioning prototype and marketing design for our product. After presenting to industry experts at the Royal Society, our team was ranked top three out of 200 teams in the “Consumer Innovation” category. This experience developed both my understanding of how businesses operate, and ability to deliver creative solutions.

Feedback: We consider this paragraph stronger than the previous. The candidate appears to address the “entrepreneurial” element of the question, which aims to identify whether you can identify opportunities and capitalise on them by taking risks. We are given specific insight into how the candidate found a gap in the market. The candidate also offers good detail into the steps they took to capitalise on this gap, namely by making use of their existing work and modifying it accordingly. The candidate also better explains their individual contributions and precisely how these contributed to the team’s success. You should aim for a similar level of detail when discussing the “task/action” elements in the STAR structure.

You should also note that the candidate describes the “result”/outcome of their achievements extremely well. Not only are we told that the candidate ranked in the top three, but we are also told specifically that this was in the “Consumer Innovation” category and that the candidate competed against 200 other teams. This adds context and gravity to the candidate’s achievements whilst also linking it back to the question directly.

Describe a time you had a good idea and made it happen. (300 max)

Feedback: To ensure that your answer is both comprehensive and easy to follow, we recommend following the “CAR” (“context”, “action”, “result”) structure and addressing the elements of said structure in separate paragraphs of roughly equal length, as the candidate does in this case.

After graduating from university, I managed the social media presence of jewellery SME, Franco Florenzi, publishing content to engage with its social media following and drive traffic to the website. When the new jewellery collection was released, I was assigned the launch of our first advertising campaign. I was determined to produce an innovative design that would connect with our existing customer base whilst expanding our reach; hence, I admire Farrer's commitment to balancing experience and innovation. I gathered the customer data analytics in order for a targeted campaign, and found that the brand had significant engagement from Spanish speakers around the world. Therefore, I had the idea to create an advert that would resonate with these potential customers and consolidate the Hispanic following.

I took the initiative to approach Spanish photographers through the company's social media accounts, proposing a business collaboration that would supply high quality photographs of the new collection and present Franco Florenzi to a new audience. Forming a meaningful partnership through the informal medium of social media was challenging, with no response guaranteed due to the volume of requests that many photographers receive. Nevertheless, I learned to tailor my proposal and exercise sound judgement, pursuing photographers that aligned with our brand ethos. By communicating clearly and professionally, I established a strong relationship with the company's current photographer. This helped ensure the linguistic and cultural accuracy of the campaign's Spanish text.

I used research from the data analytics and likely conversion rates when selecting the adverts audience, to narrow the scope and target Hispanic countries. My drive to raise brand awareness and deliver results from the campaign motivated me, and taking the commercial decision to respond to this potential following led to an influx of social media engagement and strengthened the company's customer base, boosting sales accordingly.

Feedback: The candidate outlines the “context” behind their idea in a reasonable amount of detail, providing the recruiter with sufficient information to understand why their idea was particularly good. For the sake of cohesion, the candidate could have omitted the brief, sudden reference to Farrer & Co’s “commitment to balancing experience and innovation” because it does not sit comfortably alongside the rest of their answer. Echoing the comments made supra, you need not include references to the firm in response to this particular prompt because its purpose is to ascertain whether you possess a so-called “entrepreneurial spirit”, whether you are capable of thinking independently. The candidate subsequently illustrates the “action” that they took in order to make their idea happen in a vivid manner, concentrating on the prospect of showing rather than simply telling the recruiter what they did (e.g., “By communicating clearly and professionally, I established a strong relationship with the company’s current photographer”). Finally, the candidate highlights the “result” of their “action”, providing the recruiter with a sense of closure and impressing upon them the significance of their idea. To take their answer to the next level, the candidate could have placed a greater deal of emphasis on the “result” of their “action”. To that end, they could have provided precise figures to highlight the magnitude of their initiative, e.g., “As a result of my initiative, social media engagement saw an x-fold increase”, they could have shared the feedback they received from their supervisor(s), or they could have explained what prompted their initiative to be a commercial success.