Ten Percent Legal Recruitment

in Careers Advice, CV Writing, Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience

Mitigating Circumstances – do they ever exist and do you need to mention them on a CV or at a job interview?

No. Mitigating circumstances do not exist. Ever. Well, hardly ever. “Mitigating circumstances” is probably one of the most irritating phrases ever to come out of university careers advice centres. What a fantastic excuse for rubbish grades. We have just had a CV in from someone using the term when they got a 2.1 from a…

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in Careers Advice, Changing Jobs, CV Writing, Job Applications, Legal Profession, Relocation

Returning to work after a break – steps to improve your CV, prospects and chances of success

Very 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…

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in Careers Advice, CV Writing, Job Applications, Newly Qualified Solicitors, Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience

How to Improve your Chances of Success when making Job Applications – become a Borg

Improving 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…

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in Careers Advice, CV Writing, Job Applications, Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience

Five Common Mistakes When Writing a CV

Five 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…

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in Careers Advice, CV Writing

CV Review for a 2nd year Law Student at a University

Here follows a CV review. We offer free CV reviews provided you are happy for us to publish our feedback on the website and your CV in full. Candidate 03062139 Address: Telephone (Mob): Telephone (Home): Email: Date of Birth: Marital Status:                  Single Sex:                                     Male Nationality:                       British Driving Licence:               Full driving licence EDUCATION 2014 – 2016                        …

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in CV Writing, Job Applications, Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience

Sample Covering Emails and Letters for Legal Jobs

Recently 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…

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in Changing Jobs, CV Writing, Job Applications, Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience

What should be included in a covering letter or email for a job application?

This 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,…

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in CV Writing

How we prepare CVs

We have been preparing professional CVs for lawyers since April 2000 and the process is fairly simple. Firstly we ask our clients to send us over a completed form on the internet with lots of detail in.  Alternatively our clients can send over their existing CV and we will work from that. Very often clients…

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in CV Writing

How long should a CV be?

How long is a piece of string?  I get asked this question almost on a daily basis and hear a lot of different answers once I have given my response. CV – never longer than 2 pages? The usual or fairly common response is someone who has been told by a careers adviser when they…

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