Reading Time: 2 minutesCV Writing – Tips for Getting Noticed Here are 10 top tips from us on how to get your CV noticed by employers: Make sure your CV is extremely detailed and contains all the work relevant to the application you are making. Information such as details of billing levels for the past 3 to 4…
Reading Time: 3 minutesWhat do umbrella companies do and is there any point using one to do locum work? We have been working with locums in the legal profession for over 10 years now and it seems to be a fairly recent phenomenon that a very small minority of our locums and other locums we’ve come across employ…
Reading Time: 5 minutesWhat makes a good job reference? We often get job offers for our candidates which involve a clause to say that the offer is subject to satisfactory references. A few times during the last 16 years, we have experienced difficulties getting hold of a satisfactory reference but the vast majority of references are very straightforward.…
Reading Time: 4 minutesThere are an abundance of different websites online to search for legal jobs. These include job boards, agency websites, posting boards and blogs. However, these are the best sites in our experience (apart from our own of course!): 1) Law Society Gazette Online This site, until very recently, was in our opinion absolutely dreadful. The…
Reading Time: 3 minutesVery recently, a candidate got in touch about a vacancy, explaining quite apologetically that she was returning to work after a break and could she be considered for the post. As a recruiter, I have to be honest and say that whenever anybody tells me they are returning to work I almost involuntarily sigh because…
Reading Time: 3 minutesImproving chances of success when applying for a job – become a Borg Whilst working as recruitment consultants, we often get asked by candidates what they can do to improve their chances in relation to a specific job that they may be considering applying for. Very often there are a whole raft of things that…
Reading Time: 5 minutesFive common mistakes when writing a CV. Here are five very common errors that arise from CVs we receive every day of the week into Ten Percent Legal Recruitment. Some of them are glaringly obvious, others are not so straightforward. 1) Not putting any contact details on the CV This is very common and a…
Reading Time: 4 minutesTop 5 Tips for making sure you get the most out of interviews. These tips apply as much to senior members of staff and managers as they do for junior staff. They are designed so that you get the most out of the recruitment process when you apply for jobs with a law firm. 1.…
Reading Time: 5 minutesTop 5 Tips for making sure you get the most out of candidates applying for your posts. These tips apply as much to senior members of staff and managers as they do for junior staff. They are designed so that you get the most out of the recruitment process when they apply for jobs with…
Reading Time: 3 minutesMothers returning to work – a missed opportunity? The legal profession very often lags behind other sectors for recruitment practices and HR trends. Firms have tended to be inflexible about hours, reluctant to recruit part time staff and hesitant to offer alternatives to salary increases. It is not surprising therefore that parents returning to work…
Reading Time: 5 minutesChecking 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…
Reading Time: 3 minutesThere 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…
Reading Time: 3 minutesThis 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…
Reading Time: 3 minutesPhantom 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.…
Reading Time: 2 minutesI 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…
Reading Time: 4 minutesThis 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:…
Reading Time: 2 minutesElocution 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…
Reading Time: 2 minutesRecently I have put together a couple of emails and letters for a client and these are included as free covering email and covering letter templates in this post below. The candidate in question is currently in house as a General In House Counsel. The covering email/letter is in a classic layout with the information…
Reading Time: 3 minutesI want to get out of law and am completely fed up, what can I do? This relates to a number of queries that have come into the Ten Legal Careers Centre over the last six months, although the level of enquiries of this nature has dropped (excluding crime solicitors). Redundancy or threat of redundancy…
Reading Time: 5 minutes10 Ways to Get Fired Not that this comes up very often, but it is harder to get fired from a job than you would imagine. That said, a recent experience with an employer in North Wales indicates that it is possible to be fired for wearing a pink shirt, getting pregnant (the same employer…
Reading Time: 2 minutesThis is the advice I have recently given to a career coaching client looking to put together the perfect covering email or letter. It really depends on the circumstances in which you are using these, but generally you should be sending CVs as attachments and a covering email to go with the CV which should,…
Reading Time: < 1 minute5 top tips for getting the most out of your vacation scheme with a solicitors’ firm If you have any additional suggestions, please email them across! 1. Make notes every day on everything you do – very useful for future application forms and also for remembering at interview. 2. Speak to as many people as…
Reading Time: 4 minutesI have recently seen an advert in the Law Society Gazette for a well-known London university offering law graduates a chance to enhance their career prospects by taking one of their Masters Degrees. A question we regularly get asked by candidates is whether taking a Masters Degree will increase their chances of success in the…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteI have been involved in advising US and overseas lawyers/graduates in applying for UK based roles so many times and application forms can be very difficult indeed to complete. The main thing is to make sure that you assimilate to the UK standards, with A levels rather than High School graduation certificates, degree classes instead…
Reading Time: 2 minutesOne of the biggest mistakes candidates often make is to assume that recruitment consultants read covering emails if they are anything more than about 3 paragraphs long. As recruiters we are looking for very specific information in a covering email and have very limited time to read anything at all without heading straight for the…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteWriting a Good Statement for Job Application Forms If you complete job application forms for local authorities or the judiciary, they often come with a supporting statement, statement of qualities, information to support your application, etc.. etc.. These are all the same thing, and there is a simple technique for ensuring successful completion. 1. Take…
Reading Time: 3 minutesI am sure in Australia lawyers often see adverts from recruitment agents telling them of shortages in the legal profession in the UK and particularly law fields. This has been the case in years gone past in the Law Society Gazette in England and Wales. Adverts are still around now for law firms looking for…
Reading Time: 4 minutesPeople often get in touch to say that they are looking for a training contract and will do anything to get one. Really? I can almost guarantee that in the majority of these cases if we were to push them further on this they would not have walked up and down high streets banging on…
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe decision to give references is sometimes quite complicated. Firms have requested references before second interviews, including requests to speak to current employers (!) and colleagues. Alternatively some firms ask for references prior to first interview. Others have waited until a solicitor has commenced work and two weeks later asked for a reference. Two incidents…
Reading Time: 2 minutesWe notice whenever there is World Cup, a serious incident in world politics, Christmas Parties, Christmas shopping, New Years resolution season, NQ qualification season and so forth that the legal job market in a good year will suddenly get very busy or very quiet. The answer therefore is yes! The year always starts fairly slowly…