Not sure how/if you should approach these when making applications?
These articles on the LawCareers.net website and TARGETjobs.co.uk should give you some pointers.
Extenuating circumstances?
Reply
Vacation scheme deadlines?
Take a look: The Lex 100
As good bargains go, vacation schemes stand out as amazing 3-for-1 deals: for just a few weeks of your time, you get to improve your resume, brush up your legal skills and, best of all, you can see first-hand what life’s truly like at your favourite law firm before committing to the full training contract experience.
Because we know a number of you are set on giving vacation schemes a try, we’ve put together a collection of relevant application deadlines to help you along.
Check out the Career Clinic while you’re on the website!
I am a student. How do I use social media to market myself?
In this blog post Professor David Rosen shares his views on good practice in the use of social media.
I have been asked by Brunel University Law Society to address the students today about how best to go about using social media to market themselves.
This is a blogpost intended for ALL students, anywhere.
This is not a blogpost to tell you what you should do, how you should be, what you should wear, what you should do with your life.
Do whatever makes you happy, and gives meaning to your life….or don’t. That is your prerogative.
Do whatever you want, but in doing so, you may find it that much harder to get a work-placement or a job.
On the basis that attention spans are challenged, I will keep this brief:
| What DOES attracts an Employer: | What DOES NOT attract an Employer: | Lessons to learn: |
| An Employer WILL ‘Google’ you.
|
||
| They will want to know you have a presence on the Internet | They do not want to see that you have no presence on the Internet at all. | …Write on blog-posts. Make sure your name appears. Share links. ‘Like’ things. ‘Share’ things
Make ‘Comments’.
|
| They will look at ‘influence’ search engines, such as Klout They do not want to see that you do not use any social media. Klout gives you a score as to how influential you are,
whom you influence, and in what areas, judged upon the amount of ‘friends’ you have |
||
| What DOES attracts an Employer: | What DOES NOT attract an Employer: | Lessons to learn: |
| Pictures:
A nice picture of you |
A photo of you in a compromising position, drunk, off your face bordering comatose | …responsible, friendly, with friends, having a nice time, a nice holiday, something inspiring.
|
| Pictures of you with friends | Semi-naked pictures in compromising positions attract the wrong kind of Employer
|
|
| Funny pictures, inspiring pictures | A photo of a Cadbury’s Cream Egg…an apple, the floor of your room (if you can find it) | …Pictures paint a thousand words. What do your pictures say about you? |
| Your bio/Your tag line:
Something…
|
…Nothing
|
…Stand out from the crowd. Show yourself to be keen, enthusiastic, hungry, inspiring, inspired, but not starving |
| Your friends:
They will look at your friends, and with whom you associate |
Associations with extremist political, religious, or offensive groups or friends | …Choose your friends carefully
|
| 100 friends + means you are not ‘Billy No Mates’. | LESS than 5 friends, infers you ARE ‘Billy No Mates’ | …Make friends |
| 1,000 friends + means you are influential | 10,000 friends + will be scrutinised. Did you buy them? Are they real?
|
…Not too many sham friends, or you appear false and unsubstantiated. |
| What you ‘like’ and ‘share’
Friends, and family comments, funny, serious, sometimes shocking, charity, appeals, plights |
‘Liking’ and ‘sharing’ something really distasteful, inappropriate, or improper | …Be responsible about what you ‘like’, and ‘share’.
It can be an implied endorsement
|
| The contents of your Comment: Constructive brevity
|
Troll-like comments and behaviour. Insulting, destructive comments Swearing, cursing, poor spelling, poor grammar | …Consider the ‘blush’ test. What would your friends and family think of such comments? Your University? Your Employer? The Authorities? A Court of Law?
|
| When to make comments, share, or like:
Normal eating times
|
Very early, or very late at night publications | …Test the various social media websites. Timing of comments, sharing, or liking, gives different
responses from different people. Groups of like-minded people tend to be on-line at specific times. Obviously, anything that Darlingtons Solicitors LLP, place on their blogposts is worth commenting, sharing, or liking…
|
| What groups to associate or join?
If a Law Student, your University, LawSchool, The Law Society, None at all, is not a realistic option. Law firms, Pro Bono schemes, Barristers’ Chambers, the Bar, lecturers. Current affairs. Newspapers such as The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Law Society Gazette, CharonQC, LegalCheek, LegalAware
|
Avoid extremist political, religious, or
offensive groups |
..Demonstrate by association that you are keen and enjoy the subject and field you wish to work in. |
Wishing you all the very best of luck. By the way, I expect you to follow, share, and like this blogpost obviously, and to follow @ProfDavidRosen, @Brunellaw, @Brunellawsoc, @Darlingtons_ , @THEACFE, @ACFEUK
Professor David Rosen, is a practising Solicitor-Advocate, Partner and head of Litigation at Darlingtons Solicitors LLP, based in London, EC4. He is Vice-President and Strategic Director of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners UK Chapter, and a working member of the Fraud Advisory Panel. He is a member of the Society of Legal Scholars, and a member of the Royal United Services Institute. He is an associate Professor of Law at Brunel University regularly lecturing amongst other things, on Civil Fraud and Criminal Fraud.
PWC Legal insight day
PWC Legal LLP is offering a chance for you to attend an insight day next week. Move quickly as places are limited!
Date: 19th November
Time: 6.30pm
Location: Central London
Come and meet our Trainees and recruitment team to learn more about a career with PwC Legal LLP. At this invitation-only event, you’ll gain a deeper insight into what goes on in at PwC Legal and where you’d fit in. You’ll also find out what we look for in our graduates, why others chose to join us and what their experience has involved so far.
Invitations are strictly limited. And we’re keen to attract the highest calibre graduates. So to reserve your seat, you’ll need to submit your CV to london.seenquiries@uk.pwc.com. Please note that to attend, you’ll need at least 320 UCAS points and you must have, or be on course for, at least a 2.1 result in your degree.
Win a vacation scheme
A 500 word essay for a chance to win a vacation scheme at Clifford Chance? Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Take a look at the link to find out why it might be well worth putting pen to paper to impress one of the UK’s leading law firms.
Awful Emailing Etiquette
No matter how much time you spend polishing your job applications, tweaking your CV and practising interviews, one bad email can ruin everything. Whilst it’s no bad thing to follow up with people you meet at networking events by email, make sure that your approach is always polite and professional. The following email (originally posted on BroBible) is a lesson in how not to email a recruiter. If you want to find out more about how to email recruiters professionally and politely (I’ll give you a clue: most professional emails don’t start with the word ‘Hey’) go to Blackboard Learn, look under Organisations and you’ll see Law Careers Resources. There’s a section on writing professional emails in there.
Subject: Question
Hey REDACTED,
We talked a couple weeks back at the UW-Milwaukee accounting night. (I was the one looking for equity research positions and had a zit on my lip that could have passed for a cold sore. Lol. Whew. It was not. You’re probably like, “uh.. What?” Maybe that helps you recall, maybe not. Not completely important, I suppose.
Anyways, if you have a chance here is my question: (background first) I interviewed with BDO and Baker Tilly today, two firms that seem like good places to work, I believe they don’t kill you like a big 4. Tomorrow I have an interview with Deloitte :O somewhere I thought I’ve always wanted to work. Obviously I don’t have an offer so this is all hypothetical thinking, but if I get the job, the reality of the situation is that I’m getting old. 25. I know you can’t force love and I know it just comes when you’re not looking, but would working for a big four completely squash any possibilities for potential relationships if one came along? Is working for a big four a potential career – love trade off? I mean, I like money(as do most females) but love is…great 🙂 What are your thoughts?
Thanks!
REDACTED
Tempted to lie on your CV?
I occasionally see students who ask me if it’s ok to ’embellish’ certain parts of their CV. Worried that they lack legal work experience or don’t have much to say about interests they feel that if they don’t do this they’ll be overlooked for jobs. My advice is to always just start from where you’re currently standing. Don’t fill gaps with lies, fill them with experience. Overstating the facts on the CV will eventually catch up with you in one way or another as this disgraced barrister found to his cost.
London Law Fair
Don’t miss the opportunity to talk to representatives from UK law firms at the first London Law Fair. Make sure you come armed with knowledge about the firms and chambers that will be exhibiting and get ready to ask them some questions.
The PCC and Brunel Law Society will be hosting a Wednesday afternoon fun networking game to get you in the mood for mixing and mingling so we hope to see you in the Moot Court on Wednesday 20th November from 1pm to 3pm.
Law careers goes digital
This term’s Legal Professionals Master Classes will have a slightly different flavour from last year’s in that most of them will be delivered online, via webinar. We do, however, have some exciting new face to face events that are a joint venture between the PCC and Brunel Law Society.
Here’s the full list of events with the webinar links for you to sign up. The face to face events will take place in the Moot Court with further details to follow…
7th Oct – 10 to 11am PCC How to write a legal CV (webinar – all levels)
Please register for LAW: How to write a legal CV on Oct 2, 2013 1:00 PM BST at:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8536265583537334530
Where do you start when writing a legal CV? This workshop will show you what legal employers are looking for when you’re applying for roles in the legal profession. We’ll be talking through an example CV so you can see how it’s done.
14th Oct – 10 to 11am PCC How to write work experience/vacation scheme applications (webinar – all levels)
Please register for LAW: How to write work experience/vacation scheme applications on Oct 2, 2013 2:00 PM BST at:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1677970545819451906
If you’re writing applications for either work experience or vacation schemes then you’ll need to understand how to present your skills to legal employers. Join us on this webinar to find out more.
21st Oct – 10 to 11am PCC How to write job applications (webinar – Level 2 and 3)
Please register for LAW: How to write job applications on Oct 9, 2013 11:30 AM BST at:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/287582017444314114
Writing a good job application is essential in order to beat the competition when it comes to getting an interview. Learn the tricks of the trade in this webinar, which shows you how to write killer applications.
28th Oct – 10 to 11am PCC How to answer competency questions competently (webinar – all levels)
Please register for LAW: How to answer competency questions competently on Oct 23, 2013 1:00 PM BST at:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2650454495767568898
Competency questions appear throughout the recruitment process, in both application forms and interviews and answering them is a learnable skill. This webinar helps you to understand how these questions are structured and how you get maximum ‘points’ when answering them.
4th Nov – 10 to 11am PCC How to identify your legal niche (webinar – all levels)
Please register for LAW: How to identify your legal niche on Oct 30, 2013 2:00 PM GMT at:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4806317521882890498
Understanding more about the area of law you’d like to work in is a necessary part of the process of applying for jobs and will help you answer the notoriously tricky questions “Why law?”and “Why this firm?”.
11th Nov – 10 to 11am PCC How to identify alternative careers (webinar – all levels)
Please register for LAW: How to identify alternative careers on Nov 13, 2013 2:00 PM GMT at:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2367204907289754370
Not all law students want to become lawyers. There are many alternative careers you could pursue with a law degree. This webinar helps you to identify both careers where a law degree is useful as well as careers which do not require any specific degree.
20th Nov – 1 to 3pm PCC and BLS The Networking Game (live event – all levels – priority levels 2 and 3)
Moot Court
Learn how to network like a pro before the London Law Fair! This is a friendly, interactive
session that will help even the shyest of networkers learn how to relax and enjoy the
experience.
4th Dec – 1 to 3pm PCC and BLS Selling yourself at interview (live event – all levels)
Moot Court
You’ve done all the hard work in making your applications to get you to the interview stage,
so make sure you’re prepared both psychologically and physically. This session will also
teach you how to answer some of the most dreaded interview questions in style.
Financial Ombusdmen Posts
A career that uses your law degree doesn’t restrict you to becoming either a barrister or a solicitor. There are some really interesting opportunities to be had in the current marketplace. This role as a financial adjudicator for the Financial Ombudsman allows you to use your legal knowledge and would appeal to those of you who really enjoy working with people and making a difference in their lives.
And it seems this organisation is a popular place for Brunelians. We’ve recently seen three successful Brunel law graduates taken on into this exact same role. So what are you waiting for? Get cracking on your application and come and talk to me once you’ve done it so that I can help you to make sure you’re hitting all the right notes.
Law Careers Uncovered 