Checking Candidates As a legal recruitment agency in some aspects our life is very easy when it comes to checking candidates before submitting them for vacancies. Firstly, the Law Society maintain an online directory of all solicitors with current practising certificates. This means that a solicitor can instantly be identified and confirmed to be holding…
Ten-Percent Group Locum and Permanent Candidate Update January 22nd 2015 Our locums are taking bookings for the busy holiday seasons in 2015. Traditionally it is harder to get locums booked for February half term and from June through to October. Book in advance. Call 0207 127 4343 or register your job online. FAQs on our…
New Year Resolutions for Lawyers? Every year we get a number of calls and emails from lawyers relating either to a change in practice or job, expansion or contraction, or new year resolutions – both employers and candidates. These are the top 5 queries since December 29th 2014: “I am a partner of a small…
Job Market Update – January 15th 2015 Comments on the current market from Jonathan Fagan, MD of Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment: “January is a difficult month to give a job market update for. Basically, from the start of December, most new work drops off as everyone goes christmas shopping, attends parties and slows down. In my…
COLP and COFA These two new abbreviations came into being some years ago and relate to compliance with Financial Conduct, Money Laundering laws and a raft of other regulations. At a lot of law firms this person will be the senior partner, no doubt overjoyed at yet another excursion away from fee earning to ensure…
Ten-Percent Group Locum and Permanent Candidate Update January 7th 2015 ▪ South East, South West, East Anglia and Home Counties ▪ London ▪ Midlands and Wales ▪ North West, North East, Scotland and Yorkshire email jobs@tenpercentgroup.com or call 0207 127 4343. Happy New Year. It is that time again when locums start taking bookings for…
There are a good number of legal jobs on the web that have been listed by recruitment consultants that are not live. I can guarantee this. I reckon that for every 1 genuinely live vacancy with a finite deadline to be filled there will be 1 vacancy that is not. This means that 50% of…
Job Market Update – December 3rd 2014 December 2014 – Summary: * Permanent vacancies down * Locum assignments down * Conveyancing vacancies still busy, Commercial Property vacancies busy * Wills & Probate vacancies down * Crime vacancies make brief revival, Personal Injury vacancies disappearing * Employment Law vacancies – up * Commercial and Civil Litigation…
Job Market Update – November 4th November 2014 – Summary: * Permanent vacancies up * Locum assignments up * Conveyancing vacancies up, Commercial Property vacancies up * Wills & Probate vacancies up * Crime vacancies gone, Personal Injury vacancies disappearing * Employment Law vacancies – non-existent * Commercial and Civil Litigation vacancies – very few…
How to cut a better deal with your current firm Working in a solicitors firm and getting paid the salary or package you feel you deserve are very often quite separate points. You probably accepted a salary offered when you first started with the firm some time ago and have seen little movement since. Indeed,…
How to Retain Staff in a Busy Job Market With over 11,000 solicitors and lawyers on our books, Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment is usually well placed to see when a firm is doing the right things and when it isn’t. It costs a minimum of £4,000 each time a fee earner leaves a firm and joins…
Job Market Update – September 3rd Summer 2014 – Summary: * Permanent vacancies up * Locum assignments up * Conveyancing vacancies up, Commercial Property vacancies up * Crime vacancies gone, Personal Injury vacancies disappearing * Employment Law vacancies – non-existent * Commercial and Civil Litigation vacancies – few here and there * Family vacancies –…
This week an LPC graduate applied for a Conveyancing Fee Earner role in Central London through us (Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment). Before every other LPC graduate sends us their CV I should add that this candidate has over 12 months residential conveyancing experience in a solicitors firm already, which is why she is an extremely suitable…
Phantom Jobs and Rogue Recruitment Agencies Very recently the Law Society Gazette published an article online about phantom recruitment agents and jobs. The complaint appeared to be that candidates were attending interviews and then not hearing anything back afterwards. Another complaint appeared to be that recruitment agents were not responding to job applications with feedback.…
Legal Job Market Update. May 2014 – summed up in a few sentences: * Permanent vacancies same * Locum vacancies up on April * Conveyancing up, Commercial Property up * Crime down, Personal Injury down * Litigation & Family up * Further increase in vacancies attracting no, poor quality or few applications. Commercial property becoming…
Job Market Update – May 8th April-May 2014 – summed up in a few sentences: * Permanent vacancies up * Locum vacancies up in April * Conveyancing up – severe shortage of NQ-5 year PQE solicitors * Commercial Property – severe shortage of all candidates * Continued increase in vacancies attracting only poor quality or…
Job Market Update – April 3rd April 2014 – summed up in a few sentences: * Permanent vacancies up * Locum vacancies up on March but still lower than an average month * Conveyancing up * Crime down * Litigation up * Further increase in vacancies attracting no, poor quality or few applications. * Market…
This is our Top 5 list of Solicitors, Legal Executives and Paralegals Candidate 8PR1L 500LS – Solicitor, speaks 5 languages, wills & probate following worth £175k, 5 years PQE, 29 years old, prepared to relocate to work, looking for a salary of £20,000. Candidate 8PR1L 500LS2 – Paralegal with 12 months experience in conveyancing –…
I have just taken the most bizarre telephone call I think I have ever received as a recruitment consultant. It went like this: Caller: Hello, is that Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment? Me: Yes it is. Caller: I’ve seen an advert for a vacancy online – its for a paralegal position in Derby. Me: Oh right. Do…
This query comes up quite regularly with legal job applicants coming into the profession. So many times I have been asked by graduates and students why we have ignored their applications for specific vacancies that require say ‘2 months legal experience’. The conversation usually goes: Caller: “But I have 2 months legal work experience.” Me:…
10,000 Hours Theory – can it work? At the moment there is a journalist who is trying out the above theory – is it possible to put in 10,000 hours and turn into an expert? – article is on the BBC website – here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26384712. The journalist has given up the day job and taken…
Should I stay or should I go? Crime Job Market Report I hope this article assists crime solicitors and does not depress anyone too much. It is a reflection of the harsh reality of crime regardless of the latest government interference in funding. Each time we get close to new contract deadlines or the next…
Lying on CVs This is probably more relevant for locums than permanent candidates, but when going through gaps on CVs we very often get asked why it is so important that we know what someone was doing in 1995 for 12 months. Well here is the reason. This is an extract from a CV for…
How much money can you earn as a consultant, freelancer or locum solicitor? We regularly get contacted by solicitors wanting to know how much can be made from working as a freelancer (if in crime), a consultant (if family or litigation) or a locum (if non-contentious). These include sole practitioners, senior solicitors looking to enjoy…
Job Market Update – February 6th 2014 2014 has been a bit wobbly to date. I think recruitment agencies are probably a fairly good barometer of the economy, and so far I have to say that 2014 has started strongly, but not as much as it finished off at the end of 2013. This is…
We sometimes get asked about International Baccalaureates and how they convert into A levels. We also spend some time every year advising clients and candidates on what BTEC HNCs equate to for A levels. Here is a handy table for converting them all into UCAS points. As an aside – whatever happened to all the…
Legal Recruitment Job Market Update – January 14th 2013 has been one of the strongest years for growth in the recruitment market for a long time. The KPMG and Recruitment & Employment Confederation Report on Jobs dated 9th January 2014 (monthly report) had the following highlights: 1. Strongest rise in permanent placements since March 2010…
The Law Society have recently released an article based on a Freedom of Information request by Ed Austin. http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/5039197.article?utm_source=dispatch&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GAZ161213. This indicates that every practising solicitor has contributed just under £100 to pay compensation to former Wolstenholmes clients who have suffered loss as a result of the firm’s dodgy dealings. Just after the recession kicked in…
Why do Paralegals always seem so unreliable? One of the main reasons people come to see me as a career coach or contact our website is because they are law graduates and unable to get ahead – whether this is to secure a training contract or work generally in the legal profession. We very often…
Elocution Lessons – a vital part of a move from the North to London? There has recently been a flurry of articles and comments in the media about the legal profession being traditional, conservative and middle class with a bias against anyone not conforming with the norm. This includes those with strong regional accents applying…