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Aspiring Lawyers - Applications & General Advice
Applications Discussion
My TC journey (career changer advice)
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<blockquote data-quote="HorsesForCoursesNeighNeighNeigh" data-source="post: 82711" data-attributes="member: 8899"><p><strong>Tactics </strong></p><p></p><p>I think a lot of the advice that you see online tends to focus on people who have been wanting to pursue law for a decent while, probably still at uni/recently graduated/working to pursue this as e.g. a paralegal. And then a separate area of advice for full career changers, people who come from a completely different background e.g. teachers who want to transition over. </p><p></p><p>For me, I wanted to step into a TC without committing to study/work in the area first—I think partially risk reduction due to having a decent career that I didn’t want to risk. This definitely makes it harder and in a way puts more of the risk on to firms, but I wouldn’t change my approach. My attitude was very much “I am getting a TC I like, this cycle, regardless of what it takes,” and reflected this in the amount of time spent on applications.</p><p></p><p>I made a super spreadsheet of all the firms I wanted to apply to, with separate pages for sent/working on/potentials. I applied to a LOT of firms, but realistically most of them were not serious applications likely to go anywhere. However as many firms had questions that could be recycled, I don’t regret bunging these off as many weren’t hugely laborious. I also missed deadlines for a lot of firms I really liked.</p><p></p><p>I know some people do multiple years of applications and have a very set vision of a specific firm where they want to train—my approach was having criteria of what I wanted and an attitude that I would then pick from the offers I received. </p><p></p><p>Ultimately my idea of the firm I wanted to work at changed a lot during applications. I knew I like disputes, I like built environment (RE, construction, development) and I like art/high end work. I ultimately want to not do huge “small cog in a big wheel” kind of work—I want to be able to work with clients and have my own projects/smallish teams. I had clear salary expectations that ruled out some avenues, and ultimately when I had options I also decided that culture, hours and leadership in the departments I liked were deciding factors. I think this tactic worked for me—I wanted a TC and would have been happy to work at somewhere not my perfect fit if necessary, but am glad I had the option to choose what I actually wanted. </p><p></p><p>I think if I had been a student I would have wanted to do VSs, but I had little appetite for that now and just wanted the TC. Some firms did however move me from direct TC stream to VS stream. I did applications for direct and for VS, ultimately as I had summer VSs lined up I started doing only direct applications too.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="HorsesForCoursesNeighNeighNeigh, post: 82711, member: 8899"] [B]Tactics [/B] I think a lot of the advice that you see online tends to focus on people who have been wanting to pursue law for a decent while, probably still at uni/recently graduated/working to pursue this as e.g. a paralegal. And then a separate area of advice for full career changers, people who come from a completely different background e.g. teachers who want to transition over. For me, I wanted to step into a TC without committing to study/work in the area first—I think partially risk reduction due to having a decent career that I didn’t want to risk. This definitely makes it harder and in a way puts more of the risk on to firms, but I wouldn’t change my approach. My attitude was very much “I am getting a TC I like, this cycle, regardless of what it takes,” and reflected this in the amount of time spent on applications. I made a super spreadsheet of all the firms I wanted to apply to, with separate pages for sent/working on/potentials. I applied to a LOT of firms, but realistically most of them were not serious applications likely to go anywhere. However as many firms had questions that could be recycled, I don’t regret bunging these off as many weren’t hugely laborious. I also missed deadlines for a lot of firms I really liked. I know some people do multiple years of applications and have a very set vision of a specific firm where they want to train—my approach was having criteria of what I wanted and an attitude that I would then pick from the offers I received. Ultimately my idea of the firm I wanted to work at changed a lot during applications. I knew I like disputes, I like built environment (RE, construction, development) and I like art/high end work. I ultimately want to not do huge “small cog in a big wheel” kind of work—I want to be able to work with clients and have my own projects/smallish teams. I had clear salary expectations that ruled out some avenues, and ultimately when I had options I also decided that culture, hours and leadership in the departments I liked were deciding factors. I think this tactic worked for me—I wanted a TC and would have been happy to work at somewhere not my perfect fit if necessary, but am glad I had the option to choose what I actually wanted. I think if I had been a student I would have wanted to do VSs, but I had little appetite for that now and just wanted the TC. Some firms did however move me from direct TC stream to VS stream. I did applications for direct and for VS, ultimately as I had summer VSs lined up I started doing only direct applications too. [/QUOTE]
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