Student profile

Louise Turner writes:

As a Fellow of and an employee for CILEx, I am often asked: ‘How do I get qualifying employment?’ It’s a tricky question as, nowadays, securing employment in the legal field is competitive, and so I have reached the conclusion that candidates need to stand out from the crowd.

This sounds difficult , but it isn’t really. You simply need to reflect on your achievements, character and attributes, and think: ‘Why would I employ me?’ I liken this idea a lot to my previous work as a criminal defence lawyer, when delivering mitigation to the court about why someone should stay out of prison. If you don’t give the court a good enough reason, then the chances are your client will be going inside and you won’t be getting any repeat business.

This is the exact advice I gave when Katherine Ditch, an Associate of CILEx from Chichester, contacted me in July 2015. About to enter her final year of CILEx studies, Katherine was desperate to secure qualifying employment and, despite her best efforts in applying for legal jobs in the local area, she was getting no response. Immediately, on receiving her CV, it was apparent that she was selling herself short, focusing on the negatives and failing to mention her great achievements. The trouble was those achievements didn’t even register with her! For instance, when I met Katherine in person she was bubbly, friendly, well presented and articulate, and, most importantly, genuine and personable: all the right ingredients for working in a client-facing environment, but she just couldn’t see it!

Academically, Katherine had, so far, been successful in her CILEx studies, which she had completely self-funded , but did she even refer to herself as an Associate of CILEx on her CV? No. In fact, Katherine made no mention of her CILEx status, and so, on the face of it, it appeared to a potential employer that she had not yet achieved any letters after her name.

As I got to know Katherine, it made sense to me why she was not getting interviews. On paper, her CV was pedestrian and littered with suggestions that she wasn’t very experienced, when in fact she had legal academic and life experience by the bucket load. Over a couple of days, I made suggestions about how she could improve her CV and covering letter, and on making the relevant changes she replied: ‘I cannot believe how much better and more professional it looks and sounds. I didn’t even think of adding my CILEx initials to my CV or covering letter. Definitely an eye opener how one little change can make a massive difference!’

Within a week or so, the interview offers were coming in thick and fast, so we moved on to discussing how Katherine could make herself shine during the interview process. First, I said: ‘Don’t sell yourself short. You have a lot to offer an employer, and you may find that other applicants have law qualifications behind them, but zero experience in the working world.’ I illustrated this to Katherine by telling her about potential employees I had come across in practice. I had asked them to start by putting the kettle on and getting some photocopying done, and they would just stare at me blankly! One even said to me: ‘I don’t drink hot drinks’ : they didn’t last long!

Firms want people they can rely on, who can use their initiative. I highlighted to Katherine that all the changes I had made to her CV were changing the things she had highlighted as negatives into positives. I didn’t actually change any of the information or facts; I just presented them in a positive and appealing way.

I also advised that Katherine spent time researching the interview panels. I always find it is good to establish who on the interview panel is the main decision-maker and what their role is within the firm. Also, look at what their interests are (this is usually on their online profile), and try and find some common ground. It’s good for an employer to see how you would easily slot into their firm, so the more you know about them the easier it will be for you to see how you could fit in too.

Katherine, to me, had many other personal attributes which I felt an employer would find endearing and very telling of her personality. For instance, she casually mentioned to me that, this year, she had run the London Marathon. When I asked what on earth possessed her to do this, she explained that, sadly, her grandmother had passed away from cancer, and she felt determined to lose a significant amount of weight in order to run the marathon to raise vital funds for charity. My immediate response was: ‘Well, if that doesn’t show determination, I don’t know what does!’ I could see that Katherine was starting to view herself in a different light, and that in fact all she needed was a bit of encouragement to get out there and sell herself. To be continued...