Warning: Never apply for Slater & Gordon

Medicallaw

New Member
Nov 21, 2022
1
0
Just thought I'd give a small personal story because I want people to know it. I worked for a year and a half to pay for my law conversion course and worked very hard to complete it (as you will all know, it is a lot of work). I completed an MA in law so that I could write a dissertation in medical law which I thought would give me a head start, at least to getting a paralegal job. After almost a year of applying and having no responses, with HR departments not even bothering to acknowledge my application, someone I know forwarded my CV to someone they knew at Slater and Gordon and they gave me two interviews, one as a legal assistant and the other as a paralegal. They offered me the legal assistant role and asked me whether I would like to wait to hear about the paralegal role, to which I said I would wait. I had to chase them for an answer and a week later they got back to me saying they were taking both offers off the table, the justification being that I am "overqualified and would leave the legal assistant job the second something better came along". The paralegal job they didn't give me because they "weren't convinced I wanted to work in personal injury as opposed to clinical negligence and I lived too far away", even though they explicitly said distance was not a concern of theirs before agreeing to interview me.

They had no constructive criticism for me at all, they said that I was an excellent candidate and this wasn't even really a rejection. They essentially promised me that any job which came up they would give me straight away and indeed one came up the next week. I chased them for the job, hoping they could advance me to the interview stage. However, I was met with an obstinate "you need to go through the conventional channels and we'll make a note of your application putting it to the front of the queue". I filled in their application form, something which was very time consuming and frustrating (since they certainly didn't ask me to do so the first time around and yet still offered me a job). I chased them and they insisted I wait until the expiry date finish before expecting an answer. After the expiry date passed (about a month and a half later) I had to email them to ask whether there had been any update on my application. After pushing I received a note from a member of their HR department with a generic rejection email (one they didn't even have the courtesy to send me prior to my asking) where, to add insult to injury, they got my name wrong. I emailed back, politely explaining my situation, the fact that I'd been offered a job and promised an interview should another position come up (one of several I'd sent before) and was met with radio silence.

I've now given up on law because I do not believe the return on investment is there anymore. I am at the point where I am not going to fill in 100+ application forms for a paralegal role which pays under 25k. It is unbelievable that a law firm who advertise themselves as fighting for the underdog in employment cases treat applicants in this manner. I'm disgusted with Slater & Gordon and hope this puts at least one person off ever applying for or using them since I wouldn't want anyone to go through the same.
 

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