Legal Recruitment Blog

Legal CV Advice Update We have recently given CV advice to a client and thought that some of this was relevant to a wider audience of law students, graduates and solicitors. The advice relates to specific fields of the CV. 1.  Personal Profile and Details I have kept your profile very short and to the point. This is because the profile is there to instantly tell a recruiter or partner exactly who you are, coupled with the personal info at the top of the page, in less than 5 seconds. It needs tailoring to the post you are applying for on every occasion. For example if the post is for an Associate Real Estate Solicitor (ie you are applying to a larger commercial law firm who use different terminology to many others) you will need to describe yourself in this manner or at least get the keywords across in the profile. Very often the first person to see your CV will be a HR Assistant or fairly junior member of staff who will not really appreciate your worth a...

Vacancy Update for 20th October 2012 - taken from our Daily Legal Jobs Blog - if you would like to apply for any post please email a CV to Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment - cv@ten-percent.co.uk and quote the reference number. 14695    Conveyancing and wills &; probate solicitor    Conveyancing and Wills & Probate Solicitor    Bristol    A conveyancing and wills & probate solicitor or legal executive is needed for a small firm in Bristol for a 6 month locum assignment for maternity cover to start ASAP. 14696    Litigation Solicitor    Civil Litigation Solicitor    Chelmsford    A mid Essex firm  is looking for a litigation solicitor or legal executive. The ideal candidate should have commercial or civil litigation experience and preferably employment law experience. The firm are looking for someone who has around 1-3 yrs PQE. 14697   ...

Interview Question & Answer – Where do you see yourself in 10 years’ time? This question is a classic example of why you should never give totally honest answers to questions during interviews. Instead you should always give answers that you think the interviewer will want to hear. The honest answer to both this question and the “Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time” question is probably that you intend to retire, work for yourself, set up a different firm or be happily plodding along in a firm trying to avoid doing very much work at all, but where you are being paid a good salary. This is not however what the employer often wants to hear. They want to hear that you would be happy to be working in the post you are currently interviewing for or possibly having done such a good job you are in line for promotion to a different position. This is because when employers recruit they do not see just the first few months or the first few years in their heads, they see the next decad...

Crime Solicitor Duty Solicitor Rota Slot Shop is open for business for November 14th 2012 CDS12 Deadline A new way of finding somewhere to lodge slots and get crime work has been introduced by Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment. The agency has been working with crime firms for over 10 years on duty solicitor, higher court advocate and police station vacancies. They have set up an online Rota Slot Shop for Duty Solicitors. So many firms are now using freelancers as well as salaried staff the company has decided to dedicate a mini-site to assisting with the sale and purchase of slots as well as salaried duty solicitor roles. You can register your details for the site, or if you are already a candidate with Ten-Percent just drop an email over with your requirements. The agency will post your information onto the site (anonymously) and keep you updated with potential offers of purchase of slots, work or salaried roles in your area. To visit the Duty Solicitor Rota Slot Sh...

Interim Lawyers and Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment's Guide to Surviving as a Locum. 10 Top Tips for Lawyers and Law Firms.  Here are our ten top tips for surviving work as a locum - tips for locums and for law firms. 1. Locums - make sure you turn up.  Always useful. If you don't turn up, you may be surprised when your locum agency decides not to offer you any more assignments and in fact may even choose to ignore you.... 2. Locums - when you turn up, make sure you are smartly dressed.  Turning up to work wearing a pair of jeans and trainers can be beneficial if you are planning to work for Google, but in a law firms these items of clothing are only seen on partners at weekends, and even then only when they are mucking out their horses or wandering around Legoland. 3. Locums - be nice to the secretaries and support staff (TOP TIP) This is our top tip. Think about it. When you leave the firm after completing your assignment and your legal locum agency request...

Law Firms in the Stone Age I recently coached a solicitor who was dealing with the most unbearable conditions at work, but with a familiar story to me as I have coached may others in similar circumstances. This particular candidate works in a law firm where they have: 1) No staff perks at all. 2) No days out, meals out or any staff events. 3) No staff induction when you join the firm. 4) No words of encouragement at any time from any other member of staff during this person’s time at the firm (well over 5 years). 5) No social events at all amongst any staff whether organised by the firm or by the staff. 6) A process whereby if someone requests annual leave one of the partners grills that person to determine whether they are going for a job interview or whether they have something else planned. 7) If a complaint about someone’s behaviour is made then the person who has made the complaint is usually dismissed within 2 to 3 weeks. 8) A reasonable salary is paid in line with ...

'LLB graduates and in fact A-Level students are ripped off regularly by education providers'.  This may sound like a fairly controversial statement, which of course it is, but here are the arguments for suggesting that students are regularly ripped off by providers. Students without sufficient grades to ever qualify are allowed, if not encouraged, to take degrees that will not enable them to progress.   When students have graduated they are encouraged to take courses at Masters level and post graduate diploma but would never increase (or decrease) their career prospects. Students are encouraged to take the BPTC (Bar Professional Training Course) when they have absolutely no hope in hell of ever getting pupillage at the Bar which at best is elitist and at worst is nepotistic.   Instead of encouraging A-Level students to go and do courses that could lead into relatively secure jobs in engineering or science or indeed IT, teachers encourage them to do classics and...