Articles From the Team

Its decision time for NQ’s

As we role into June the vast majority of September qualifiers will now know if they are staying or leaving their training firm. At BCL Legal we have already placed a number of candidates into roles for September. Several have moved the end of their training contracts to secure new positions.

So what do you do if you have not yet secured the position you want, or possibly any position at all. The market is moving earlier than any time since before the recession. So there is no time to delay. You cannot put off looking any longer. We always have a number of candidates who register with us in August/ September by which point the options are usually more restricted.

This is the point in the year when decisions need to be made. If you have not yet got a job do you need to start asking yourself if you can be more flexible? If you do have an offer but it’s not in the right area of law what do you do then?

Some of our candidates are generally in the fortunate position where they do not need to work. They have no bills to pay in which case it is probable they can afford to wait however long it takes to secure their ideal position. Although, if it takes too long this can have a detrimental effect on your ability to secure a position.

In other cases candidates leave the law altogether because they would rather not practise law than not be a banking, corporate, commercial, employment (delete as applicable) solicitor. This always seems a shame given the investment and time that goes into qualifying as a solicitor. I know of at least one real estate Partner in Birmingham, who resolutely did not want to practice real estate when he qualified. It has clearly worked out ok in the end.

At BCL Legal we are committed to trying to help candidates secure their preferred positions. However, we are also concerned with the person behind the lawyer. For those of you who have seen the Disney film The Princess and The Frog (a favourite of my Daughter’s) the concept of helping someone to find “what they need”, rather than “what they want” won’t be a new one. In the film the main characters want a good voodoo practitioner (Mama Odie) to turn them back into humans (they have been in turned in Frogs). What they actually needed was to go on a hilarious journey to find themselves (and each other). Which ultimately led to them getting more than they ever realised they wanted.

Very much like Mama Odie sometimes our role is very much about guiding people to seek positive resolutions via routes that they have not always considered for themselves. We are experienced at guiding people at various stages of their career and have seen how decisions made at NQ level can have a knock on effect later on.

Believe it or not, we actually want the best for you. We want you to recommend us to your friends and colleagues. Therefore, the advice we give is always genuine. We’ll tell you if an option just isn’t right for you.

If you don’t have a job for September yet, or don’t have something in your ideal practice area then get in touch and find out what your options are. We are always prepared to have an “off the record” chat, especially if we have met you at one of the many networking events that we sponsor. There is always one candidate who ends up crying down the phone to me in September, having realised too late that they needed to be more flexible or move quicker. Don’t let that be you.

When making massive legal decisions, your clients talk to you because you (and your colleagues) are the legal experts. You are making a massive career decision it might be worth talking to some recruitment experts.

For more information please contact BCL Legal or call us on 0845 241 0933.