Spring week

A spring week is a few days, usually in the Easter vacation, run for first year students at UK universities or second years on a four year course. The published content is presentations, panels and networking, and on its own it teaches relatively little about the job.

Its real function is pipeline. Firms use it to identify candidates early, and strong attendees are frequently fast tracked toward summer internship interviews, sometimes bypassing stages other applicants have to clear.

It is a UK and Ireland convention with no direct US equivalent, and it is the earliest formal touchpoint in the entire recruiting cycle, which is why the London process effectively begins in a candidate's first year rather than their penultimate one.

Missing one is not disqualifying, and plenty of people convert without it. It does mean competing later against candidates who already have a relationship with the firm and a reason to be remembered.