The process is designed to see how you think and how you work, not to catch you out. It also deliberately mirrors a real clerkship application, from the written questions to the video and the interview, so going through it here is a genuine, low-stakes rehearsal for the recruitment you will face when you apply to firms. You get to experience what that process feels like, and get better at it, before it counts. The steps are the same for everyone, and the effort is deliberate: the wrong person in a role costs the team more than an empty seat, so we ask for a real application and give real consideration in return.
The short version.
We are not looking for the most polished CV or the person who has done the most. We are looking for people who follow through, who are honest about where they are, and who genuinely care about the work. Everything below is really just different ways of showing us that.
- Follow-through over flash. Someone who reliably does what they say matters more to this team than someone with an impressive list they cannot back up. Every stage is a small test of whether you will actually do the thing.
- Genuine interest in this specific work. We can tell the difference between "I want a committee role for my CV" and "I care about this portfolio and here is why." The second is what we are hiring for.
- Self-awareness and honesty. Knowing what you are good at, what you are still learning, and being straight about both. You do not need to have it all figured out. You need to be real about it.
The best thing you can do before applying is show up. Coming to our events is the clearest way to work out whether ALSA is for you, and getting to know the team in person genuinely helps your application. Familiar, engaged faces stand out, and turning up shows the real interest we are looking for far better than words on a form can. If you have not been to an event yet, come to the next one.
The application, by track.
Officers
A CV, a short video, written questions, and a task relevant to the role, followed by an interview. Officers own a portfolio and represent ALSA to members and partners, so the video lets us see how you communicate and carry the organisation, not just what you have done before.
Marketing team (Social Media Officer and Designer)
A CV, written questions, and a portfolio of your work submitted with the application, plus a task relevant to the role, followed by an interview. No video for these roles: the work speaks for itself, so your portfolio and the task are where you show what you can produce. If you do not have a formal portfolio yet, a simple folder or document with samples of what you have made is completely fine.
Interns
A CV, written questions, and an interview, with no task or video. The intern tier is about potential, not experience, so the ask is lighter by design.
The 2027 round recruits Officer and Marketing team roles by open application. Cabinet and intern roles are not part of this round; the intern track is described above for reference.
The written part.
You attach a CV, and you answer the written questions in boxes within the application form. For those boxes, length is not the point, substance is, so a shorter answer that says something real beats a long one that does not. What you write here also becomes the basis for much of your interview, so treat it as your first chance to prepare for that conversation, not just a form to fill in.
- Keep it concrete, one to two pages. Lead with your most recent and most relevant experience, and describe it in terms of what you actually did and what changed because of it. "Member of the debating club" tells us nothing; "ran the club's schedule and grew turnout from 10 to 30" tells us how you operate. Specifics are what let us picture you doing the role.
- Answer the actual question that is asked. The written questions are not a formality, they are the main way we get to know how you think. Read each one carefully, answer the thing it is actually asking, ground your answer in a real example rather than generalities, and respect any word limit. Going over, or answering a slightly different question than the one asked, both read as not paying attention.
- Show why ALSA, and why this role specifically. "I want to get involved" is not an answer, because it could be said about any club. Tell us what draws you to this particular portfolio, what you would want to do with it, and what you would bring. Referencing our actual work, or a gap you think you could help with, shows you have done more than skim the page.
- Be honest about where you are. You do not need a CV that already impresses. If you are in an earlier year it will not be substantial yet, and that is completely fine. What we are reading for is whether you want it and can back it up with something real, however small. Ambition plus honesty beats a padded list every time.
- Do not overinflate. Everything you write can and will be questioned at interview, so only claim what you can stand behind and explain in detail. If you say you "led" something, be ready to talk through exactly what you did. Describing a smaller thing honestly always beats overselling something that falls apart the moment we ask a follow-up.
- Proofread it, then have someone else read it. This is a written role application to an organisation that produces written work, so typos and sloppy formatting cost more here than in most places. Reading it aloud catches clunky sentences, and a second reader catches the errors your own eyes skip.
Your recorded answer.
Officer applicants record a short video, around two minutes. The marketing team does not do this. There is one prompt:
Introduce yourself, tell us why you want this role, and give one example of something you have done that shows you can do it.
A simple structure to cover in the time:
- Who you are. Name, year, and degree, plus a line on what you are about. Keep it to about fifteen seconds.
- Why this role. What draws you to this portfolio and to ALSA. Be specific to the role, not "I want to get involved."
- Your proof. One concrete example, a project you ran, a responsibility you held, or a time you delivered. Say what you did and what it shows about you.
- Why you. Close with a sentence on what you would bring. Warmth beats polish.
On delivery: a quiet space with a tidy background and light in front of you, look at the camera rather than yourself, slow down, and do one practice run and watch it back before you record for real.
A preview of the real work.
Officer and marketing applicants complete a short task relevant to the role. It is the closest thing to a preview of the job itself, and it is where we learn the most about how you would actually operate.
The task should take no longer than about three hours of work in total, across the day or two you have to complete it. It is designed to fit around a full study load, so if you find yourself pouring far more time into it than that, step back: we are testing judgement and follow-through, not who can grind the longest.
- Treat it like the job, not an exam. The task mirrors something the role genuinely involves, so approach it the way you would approach real work for the team: understand what is being asked, make sensible calls, and produce something you would actually be comfortable handing over.
- Show your thinking, not just the output. We care as much about how you got there as what you produced. A short note on your reasoning, the trade-offs you weighed, or what you would do next with more time, tells us more than a polished result with no thought shown behind it.
- Follow the brief and hit the deadline. Doing what was actually asked, on time, is the first and most important thing we are looking for, because it is the whole role in miniature. A brilliant answer to a different question, or a great piece of work handed in late, both miss the point.
- Done and clear beats perfect and overworked. Within the three hours, aim for something complete and easy to follow rather than something you have polished endlessly. Knowing when good enough is good enough is part of the skill.
Meeting the team.
We want to understand how you think, whether you would be good to work alongside, and whether the role genuinely fits you. Smart casual is right for it.
A structure for the "tell us about a time..." questions: STAR. Situation (set the scene in a line), Task (what you were responsible for), Action (what you actually did, the part that matters most), and Result (how it turned out and what you took from it). It keeps your answer concrete and stops you drifting into generalities, which is exactly what we are listening for.
- Know your own application cold. Anything in your CV, written answers, or task is fair game, and we will often dig into the specifics. Reread what you submitted beforehand and be ready to talk through any of it in detail, because this is where overstated claims come unstuck and honest ones shine.
- Expect competency questions. Officers who recorded a video have already covered the "why ALSA" and "why this role" ground, so the interview goes further into how you actually operate: how you would handle a specific situation, a time you dealt with something difficult, how you would approach a real problem the role throws up. Have a few genuine stories ready to draw on, and use STAR to tell them well.
- Bring a couple of real questions. Thoughtful questions about the work, the team, or how the role is changing show genuine interest and that you are weighing this up seriously too. Avoid asking things the website already answers, which signals the opposite.
- Be a person, not a performance. We are deciding whether we want to work alongside you for a semester, so we are as interested in what you are like as in what you have done. Trying to sound like a lawyer already tends to land worse than being warm, honest, and yourself. It is completely normal to be nervous, and it is fine to take a moment to think before you answer.
How the round runs.
Here is the shape of this round, start to finish, so you can plan around it. Dates can shift slightly, but this is what to expect.