We are pleased to be supporting Allen & Overy’s Smart Start Experience again this year and would love to invite your eligible students to join us.
Last year, Smart Start was successfully converted to an online experience which provided students the opportunity to gain interview experience, network with employees at a leading law firm and develop valuable employability skills such as personal brand and commercial awareness (accredited by City & Guilds).
Sultan, 2020 Smart Start participant
Smart Start will be delivered virtually from 16th – 20th August for successful applicants (who may also be invited to the London office during the Autumn, depending on restrictions).
This year, we are excited to announce that all successful and unsuccessful applicants will also be able to take part in a self-paced, online, Smart Skills course.
In what continues to be a challenging time, this will be a fantastic opportunity for your students to develop the skills and belief to take their first steps on the career ladder.
Benefits
Smart Start is Allen & Overy’s award-winning scheme to broaden access to the legal profession and inspire young people to consider a career in business.
- Easy application process – the application form will take students 10 minutes to complete
- Gatsby Benchmarks – 5, 6 & 8
- Minimal hassle – other than a short teacher referral form, we handle the rest!
How do students apply for Smart Start?
To take part in Smart Start, students must:
- Be eligible to take part. Criteria here.
- Attend one Smart Choices event (March/April 2021)
- Complete the Smart Start application form (March/April 2021)
- Complete the online Smart Skills course (July 2021)
Smart Choices events
After last year’s success, Smart Choices online events will provide Year 12 students with the opportunity to learn how to identify, secure and analyse professional and academic experiences.
These events are open to all Year 12 students that are eligible for Smart Start.
Participants will:
- take part in a range of interactive activities
- assess the benefits of various opportunities
- find out how to demonstrate commercial awareness in interviews
- leave with an action plan
Participants will also be encouraged and supported to apply for the Smart Start Experience.
Dates/Times
Smart Choices will be taking place online across March and April 2021. Students will have the option to select and attend their preferred event:
- Option 1- Tuesday 9th March (4.30-6.30pm)
- Option 2 – Thursday 11th March (4.30-6.30pm)
- Option 3 – Wednesday 17th March (4.30-6.30pm)
- Option 4 – Saturday 20th March (10.30am-12.30pm)
- Option 5 – Tuesday 23rd March (4.30-6.30pm)
- Option 6 – Thursday 25th March (4.30-6.30pm)
- Option 7 – Thursday 1st April (2.00-4.00pm)
- Option 8 – Wednesday 7th April (10.30am-12.30pm)
Smart Skills online course (26th July – 6th August)
This will be mandatory for all students that have secured places for the Smart Start Experience and open to all unsuccessful applicants.
It will provide students with the opportunity to identify and analyse key attributes necessary to thrive in the world of business, such as problem-solving, creativity, leadership and teamwork.
The online course can be completed in the participant’s own time, by 6th August.
The Smart Start Experience (16th-20th August)
Through a five-day timetable of interactive online workshops and group tasks, participants learn about the wide range of careers available within an international business like A&O.
They will build on the essential skills developed during the Smart Skills online course.
Students will also be set an overall challenge for the week, along with tasks based on Allen & Overy cases and professional scenarios.
Eligibility
In order to be eligible for the Smart Choices events, students must meet the basic eligibility criteria outlined below. PLEASE NOTE: if they do not meet the basic criteria, but do meet more than one of the additional criteria, please do contact us to discuss this, or students can contact us directly to discuss their application:
- be in year 12 and attending, and have always attended, a state-funded, non fee-paying school/college;
- grown up in a household where no parent or guardian has achieved a qualification at a university in the UK;
- be classed as a home student, or expect to be, by the time they apply for a university place
PLUS, they must also meet a least one of the following additional criteria:
- They are currently in receipt of, or have previously received at secondary school, free school meals, Education Maintenance Allowance and/or 16 to 19 Bursary
- Their parent(s)/guardian(s) receive income support or housing benefits
- They have been, or are currently, in local authority care (for a period of three months or longer)
- They are, or have been, a full-time or part-time young carer
- They came to the UK as a refugee or asylum seeker
- They are attending a school or college with:
- below average A-Level or Higher points score and/or
- low rate of progression to higher education
(They do not have to tell us whether they attend a school that has below average attainment and/or progression to higher education (we will check this ourselves).
How to register for a Smart Choices event
Students must complete the registration form here and select their preferred date.
Registration deadlines
Registrations will close two weeks before the date of the event.
What happens next?
- Students register to attend Smart Choices event
- Students place at event confirmed
- Students attend Smart Choices event
- Students apply for Smart Start (complete application form)
