Monthly News

How to boost your chances of finding a Job

10 Top Tips:
 
1. Make sure your CV is up to date. We have so many CVs that people tell us are 6-12 months out of date – firms immediately ask what was in the gap and are suspicious.
2. If you have been out of law for a period of time, make sure you fill in the gap somehow. If you have been stacking shelves in Tescos, you need to get this bit rewritten and perhaps describe the time as a “career sabbatical” undertaking a few things – for example DIY, travelling (everyone does this every day of their lives to a certain extent), part time work..
3. Make sure you have your degree class on the CV. Firms can be very particular and are always suspicious when they are left off.
4. Don’t forget to include the Professional Skills Course – as a recruiter I can be very lazy and not bother reading a whole CV if I don’t see this on a recently qualified solicitor’s CV as I immediately think you are not qualified.
5. Concentrate on the buzz words – business generation, business development, marketing, networking.
6. When concentrating on these buzz words, dont just write them – actually give evidence – what exactly have you done with these – what figures are there to back this information up? Even non-legal work is very useful in these areas.
7. Include a profile at the top of the CV to spell out who you are. Make sure you describe yourself as the type of lawyer the firm are looking for – eg if you are applying for a wills & probate solicitor post, describe yourself as either A Wills & Probate Solicitor or ‘a solicitor with wills & probate experience’ – it is important to connect with the reader and put the keywords into their mind.
8. Be available. Answer your phone.
9. Attend all interviews with an open eye and ear – think about the whole process from the employer’s perspective.
10. After any interview – give prompt feedback and be as positive as possible.
For further careers advice please visit www.jbfagan.co.uk (non-legal) and www.ten-percent.co.uk/careersshop or www.ten-percent.co.uk/career.htm for legal.
Monthly News

Improve your CV

We regularly write tips on doing this, and again this month have had a load of pretty awful CVs in to work with. If you have 30 seconds, try the following:
 
Underneath your personal details at the top of the first page, include a profile.
Think of the following:
1. Your connections geographically to the place you are applying.
2. Your job title and confirmation of your qualifications – eg a solicitor.
3. Your level of experience if this assists.
4. What you have to offer – eg panel membership, accreditations, personal connections to potential clients, networks, following, sheer hard work (and evidence of it), excellent billing record (and evidence of it).
5. Your availability.
 
Try to avoid the waffly nonsense of “excellent communication skills, outstanding advocacy ability, good time keeping, ability to work well as part of a team” etc.. etc.. yawn. Recruiters and law firms cannot read this – they do not have time….
For expert assistance with your CV – CV writing, CV reviews, DIY CVs and CV ebooks, please visit www.ten-percent.co.uk/careersshop
Monthly News

Working Overseas – how to do it

We recently had a career coaching session with a solicitor looking to move overseas and we thought it might assist others to see a summary of our advice:
1. It is almost impossible to apply for work in some countries if you are not locally based. A quick example would be Gibraltar. If you are planning to work there you really need to be somewhere in the vicinity. The client we saw this week had been invited to an interview with a firm on the Rock, provided he was able to get there the following day. If you have a local address, use it when applying. Worry about the logistics of attending interviews later.
2. Make sure you know the law for the country. It is no good applying to a firm in Sydney and expecting them to be understanding when you say that you are not sure of the jurisdictional differences between the two countries. Buy a book, read it.
3. Be aware of local variances in recruitment – for example in Bermuda the local firms cannot recruit overseas lawyers unless they have advertised extensively on a local basis first, and not been successful.
4. Some overseas jurisdictions are saturated with lawyers, and you may simply have to cross qualify and set up yourself if possible and practice on your own to start with. Alternatively think about why you are making the move and whether there is something else you could do – run a bar?
For details of our Career Coaching service, please visit www.ten-percent.co.uk/career.htm
 
Monthly News

Ridiculous Interview Questions & Answers

We have run columns on this over the years to determine the most ridiculous interview questions and answers. Have you got any to add to the following list?

1. Why do you want to be a solicitor (also Why did you want to be a solicitor?)

What a ridiculous question. If you are recruiting for a training contract, sit back and prepared to be bored rigid by some nonsense about the law being a passion, the interviewee excited by the interesting developments and some reference to a childhood yearning to be in a courtroom. If you recruit someone more senior and ask them this question I would hope that from time to time you would get a response such as: “Good question. Why on earth did I want to be a solicitor, earn peanuts and sit here listening to idiots like you asking me stupid questions? I’m off to do something more constructive with my life….”

2. If you could take one person with you to a desert island, who would it be and why?

Again a ridiculous question. At one stage the answer used to be either Margaret Thatcher or Ronald Reagan, but these days the stock answer appears to be Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan or Mother Theresa. What do the interviewers get out of asking this question, apart from a deep sense of excitement as the candidate squirms in their seat worrying about whether to say Belinda Carlisle, Englebert Humperdinck or Captain Sensible….

3. If you were a tree what sort would you be and why?

Try asking this question in your next interview. Go on, try it…. Fascinating responses are guaranteed. A ridiculous question, but sometimes produces interesting answers mainly through ignorance both from the interviewer and the interviewee as to what constitutes a tree…

Any more? Email your questions or answers to cv@ten-percent.co.uk – we usually award a prize to the best/worst question/answer.