Legal Recruitment Blog

Career Question – I have been offered a job in an insurance company but have been told by a law firm that they may have a job coming up in the next two weeks. How do I hurry the law firm up so that I can see if they are going to make an offer before I start the job in insurance? I am a solicitor who has struggled to find work for the past few months and need money urgently to pay my mortgage. The answer to this is fairly simple. There is nothing to stop you taking the job with the insurance company, and then at a later stage if another post comes up handing in your notice and moving from one to the other. Whilst this is not exactly very helpful to anyone from the employer side, it does give you the option of taking a more suitable position without compromising your income and earning capability. In most jobs these days you have a contract that stipulates there is a probationary period of 3 months. During those 3 months your employer can give you one week’s notice to leave for pretty mu...

From June 2010 onwards Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment are introducing a new service - the bi-monthly salary review. We will publish our salary guides for all levels of solicitor, both in the regions and London. If you would like an advance copy of the review please email us: cv@ten-percent.co.uk - our Reviews will be emailed out to all our clients next week. In the meantime, if you email us at cv@ten-percent.co.uk with your details, we would be very happy to do a full salary review for you.

1. Why should I join your firm? 2. What is your business plan? 3. Have you got an exit strategy? 4. Do you have a marketing plan? Have you got plans to recruit a business development manager? 5. How do you see the use of IT and office technology changing within your firm in the next 3 years? All of these questions display a certain air of nonchalance, and some are certainly not for the faint hearted. However a lot of employers like to see some thought along these lines as it does indicate a) confidence, b) a business mind, c) enthusiasm. It also indicates that you are able to think in the same way as they inevitably will. Another technique is to call the offices beforehand and ask to speak to the secretary of the person interviewing you. Ask them what hobbies the partner has and you can then drop these into the conversation during interview. A fairly risky strategy as the secretary may well tell the partner! Jonathan Fagan is MD of Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment, www.ten-percent.co.uk ....

On Wednesday 16th June 2010, Jonathan Fagan MD of Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment, Solicitor (non-practising) and Recruitment Consultant, will be at the St Pancras Novotel in London. You can come and see him with any queries regarding your CV, your career, future plans, leaving the profession, changing fields of law, getting into the profession, forthcoming interviews etc.. The maximum time for a session on this day is 1 hour. The price is £3 per minute. You will get copies of our CV Guide and Interview Guide, a free CV review and 20% off any of our careers services. To register an interest and book a slot, please email us: cv@ten-percent.co.uk with the subject heading "16th June" and we will email you back with available slots. www.ten-percent.co.uk/career.htm for further details.