Firstly, be aware that a lot of employers want to do the decent thing when it comes to interviews, and are open to requests. They are highly unlikely to offer to pay travel expenses unless you ask! You have to prepared to be proactive in interviews, and not expect everything to be handed to you on a platter.
Usually as recruitment consultants we recommend asking at the end of the interview whether the firm have a policy on travel expenses for interviewees, and see what the response is.
You will get an idea as to how the employers will be to work with as well as possibly getting your expenses reimbursed.
If the interviewers get shirty with you and ask why you want your travel costs paying, it is clearly a firm you may not want to be spending your hours working at! If they reasonably explain that the firm has no policy but that they do not normally pay expenses, again it is a reflection as to how they will be to deal with on a daily basis, and the same applies if they agree to pay the expenses.
The standard practice re interview costs is for the candidate to bear them, and it is increasingly rare for a firm to pay them. However if you don’t ask, you don’t get! Make sure you have a figure ready to give the employer so they can write you a cheque on the spot.
Author: Jonathan Fagan MIRP MAC Cert RP LLM Solicitor (non-practising) – Managing Director of Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment (www.ten-percent.co.uk) – save time, skip the legal job boards and register with us! Jonathan Fagan is a specialist legal recruitment consultant, author of the Complete Guide to Writing a Legal CV and the Guide to Interviews for Lawyers. He has recruited for law firms across the UK and overseas in all shapes and sizes. If you have any questions that we have not covered above, please email us at cv@tenpercent.co.uk
