disability and application season

[gr00]

Is there anyone who is suffering from a disability or mental health issues, and how do you cope with sending applications? Due to my disability, it's hard for me to submit the perfect application on deadline especially cause all of the firms are due near the same dates and I feel hopeless whenever I am not able to submit an application early enough. I see people from my cohort in uni posting about their accepted offers already on LinkedIn and it just makes it worse

 

[AvniD]

Is there anyone who is suffering from a disability or mental health issues, and how do you cope with sending applications? Due to my disability, it's hard for me to submit the perfect application on deadline especially cause all of the firms are due near the same dates and I feel hopeless whenever I am not able to submit an application early enough. I see people from my cohort in uni posting about their accepted offers already on LinkedIn and it just makes it worse

I am so sorry to hear that you've been finding it hard to cope with sending applications. I made my applications for training contracts in a year that was incredibly challenging for my mental health and managing the volume of applications I intended to make was something I found incredibly hard to do.

Upon reflection, I think what worked for me was working on only one application at any given time, giving that application the best effort I could, and being kind to myself about any deadlines for other firms that I would miss in the meantime. It was simply harmful for me at the time to deal with the pressure of sending out tons of applications in one go, which is why I am so glad that I just focused on sending out as many applications as I comfortably could while trying not to obsess over the ones that I missed out on.

I also found it beneficial to clue my family and friends into how I was feeling about missing multiple deadlines and the stress of making applications so that I'd have their support to rely on in the event that my faith in my strategy was lacking.

In the end, I've come to realise that there is no 'one' way to get a training contract- you just have to do your own thing and believe that you're doing the best you possibly can in a manner that is the most beneficial to you. Everyone has their own timeline and their own goals that they need to achieve in their own way- someone's achievement on LinkedIn is not your loss, and you are not any 'less' just because you have a way to achieving your goals.

For me, the most admirable thing is someone hustling and working hard towards their goals and ambitions, regardless of when and how they achieve them, and you're doing this exactly by posting here on the forum and seeking support and I find that so commendable

I fully believe that you have everything it takes to make it- please feel free to reach out here on the forum if you need any help with your applications or have any questions and I will try my best to help you. All the best

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Is there anyone who is suffering from a disability or mental health issues, and how do you cope with sending applications? Due to my disability, it's hard for me to submit the perfect application on deadline especially cause all of the firms are due near the same dates and I feel hopeless whenever I am not able to submit an application early enough. I see people from my cohort in uni posting about their accepted offers already on LinkedIn and it just makes it worse

Have you sought any support from any disability employability organisations? If not, I can potentially recommend a couple.

 

[IRO]

I completely agree with @AvniD 's comments above. I'm disabled (neurodiverse, chronic health conditions, and mental illness) and I found application season tough.
I put in 5 applications, and of those I put the most effort into my first choice firm because I knew they were able to offer more disability support than other firms. Compared to a lot of people that might seem like ludicrously little effort. Especially on TCLA/LinkedIn where people will talk about putting in 30/40 applications. But ultimately may not be necessary to put in that many applications, especially if you're disabled and wouldn't be able to submit that many applications without compromising on quality. For me 5 applications was the right amount based on what I could do with my disability and other time commitments.
You might find adjusting your goals to be in line with what's achievable with your disability helpful. And I'd definitely recommend avoiding conversations where people discuss their application strategy/successful offers. It'll just distract you from your path and as you say it can make things worse.
However, if you are interested in hearing from others, @gr00 I'm happy to talk more about disability issues and share my experiences. I accepted my TC with my first choice firm on my first cycle. It's definitely possible to do amazingly well with a disability, even if you're finding the application process tough.

 

[gr00]

I am so sorry to hear that you've been finding it hard to cope with sending applications. I made my applications for training contracts in a year that was incredibly challenging for my mental health and managing the volume of applications I intended to make was something I found incredibly hard to do.

Upon reflection, I think what worked for me was working on only one application at any given time, giving that application the best effort I could, and being kind to myself about any deadlines for other firms that I would miss in the meantime. It was simply harmful for me at the time to deal with the pressure of sending out tons of applications in one go, which is why I am so glad that I just focused on sending out as many applications as I comfortably could while trying not to obsess over the ones that I missed out on.

I also found it beneficial to clue my family and friends into how I was feeling about missing multiple deadlines and the stress of making applications so that I'd have their support to rely on in the event that my faith in my strategy was lacking.

In the end, I've come to realise that there is no 'one' way to get a training contract- you just have to do your own thing and believe that you're doing the best you possibly can in a manner that is the most beneficial to you. Everyone has their own timeline and their own goals that they need to achieve in their own way- someone's achievement on LinkedIn is not your loss, and you are not any 'less' just because you have a way to achieving your goals.

For me, the most admirable thing is someone hustling and working hard towards their goals and ambitions, regardless of when and how they achieve them, and you're doing this exactly by posting here on the forum and seeking support and I find that so commendable

I fully believe that you have everything it takes to make it- please feel free to reach out here on the forum if you need any help with your applications or have any questions and I will try my best to help you. All the best

Thank you so much for your reply, I'll try changing my strategy and do one application at a time. It's really relieving to know there are people like me who struggle with the application process too and thanks for your positivity I really needed it

 

[gr00]

Have you sought any support from any disability employability organisations? If not, I can potentially recommend a couple.

I only know about employ-ability, knowing more would be great!

 

[gr00]

I completely agree with @AvniD 's comments above. I'm disabled (neurodiverse, chronic health conditions, and mental illness) and I found application season tough.
I put in 5 applications, and of those I put the most effort into my first choice firm because I knew they were able to offer more disability support than other firms. Compared to a lot of people that might seem like ludicrously little effort. Especially on TCLA/LinkedIn where people will talk about putting in 30/40 applications. But ultimately may not be necessary to put in that many applications, especially if you're disabled and wouldn't be able to submit that many applications without compromising on quality. For me 5 applications was the right amount based on what I could do with my disability and other time commitments.
You might find adjusting your goals to be in line with what's achievable with your disability helpful. And I'd definitely recommend avoiding conversations where people discuss their application strategy/successful offers. It'll just distract you from your path and as you say it can make things worse.
However, if you are interested in hearing from others, @gr00 I'm happy to talk more about disability issues and share my experiences. I accepted my TC with my first choice firm on my first cycle. It's definitely possible to do amazingly well with a disability, even if you're finding the application process tough.

Thanks for replying. I thought at the beginning I could do around 15 applications like everyone else but even doing one is so draining. I will adjust my goals and try to be less on LinkedIn definitely. It so great you received your first choice firm! this gives me hope lol

 

[AvniD]

Thank you so much for your reply, I'll try changing my strategy and do one application at a time. It's really relieving to know there are people like me who struggle with the application process too and thanks for your positivity I really needed it

Let me know how it goes with changing your strategy- you are absolutely not alone, the application process challenges all of us in different ways and the whole point is to try every day to make it work for us in whatever we can. You're doing great!

 

[IRO]

Thanks for replying. I thought at the beginning I could do around 15 applications like everyone else but even doing one is so draining. I will adjust my goals and try to be less on LinkedIn definitely. It so great you received your first choice firm! this gives me hope lol

Definitely a lot to be hopeful about! Also not everyone does 15+ applications, I know someone who only did 3 and got their TC. You might find people have very different paths into law from what you hear about online. At the end of the day all that matters is you make one successful application, it doesn’t matter how many unsuccessful apps you make to get there.
If you’d like more specific advice feel free to message me. Otherwise: good luck! Being disabled is a challenge but I don’t think it should stop you achieving great things.