Articles From the Team
Using the right process in your legal jobs search
Delving into a legal jobs search isn’t always as simple as most lawyers expect it to be, especially if you’ve been inactive in the legal jobs market for some time.
For this reason, it’s important to ensure you have the right process in place. It can be a stressful experience so it helps to know where to start…
Register your details
Once you’ve registered your details on a generic jobs board, be prepared to be inundated with calls, emails, texts and LI requests. Sometimes, it’s better to register your details with a couple of reputable and specialist law recruitment agencies.
Honesty is always the best policy
Be honest with agencies about where your CV’s gone and where you’ve previously interviewed. Most firms have portals that can flag this automatically but this isn’t always the case.
If you think approaching a certain firm via four different agencies will maximise your chances of landing an interview, then you’d be wrong. In fact, this will work to your detriment as duplicate applications looks like you’re not serious about the role you’re applying for; that you’ve plastered your CV everywhere in a desperate and haphazard bid to land anything. Bottom line, it’s unprofessional.
Saying you’re open to anything can make the entire process messy.
Know where your CV’s gone
(Closely relates to the above!)
Always keep track of where your CV’s gone – via which agency or whether you applied directly. Make sure to keep a log: the name of the firm, date your CV was sent, the role and most importantly, which copy of your CV was sent.
Clarity in what you're looking for
Be clear on what you want and don’t want.
There’s a reason why you’re looking at legal jobs so make sure you’re clear on what you’ll accept and what you won’t consider. Some of the time, people are pretty flexible, but most us tend to stick to certain geographical locations, disciplines and have a bottom line salary. Saying you’re open to anything can make the entire process messy.