Hard Times in the City for Law Trainees

Imagine how it must feel to be a high flying trainee, recruited straight from
University into a City Law Firm; you've sailed through your exams, you're the
envy of your contemporaries and have everything to look forward to but, at
the end of your training, you are not offered a position.

In a tough economic climate the numbers increase, and we have certainly
seen a rise in the number of trainees being offered career support during
2010.

But why should a trainee be given support?

For some trainees it feels like the end of the world – it's their first taste of
rejection and it is very painful. The anger and resentment they feel, is often
directed at the firm that is letting them go and the firm's reputation suffers.
By providing personalised career support over a short period, the situation for
all the parties concerned is quickly changed from a negative into a positive.
Our records indicate that only 50% of trainees offered support actually take it
up but the benefits and goodwill created significantly outweigh the costs.
For those who have taken up the offer of career support, most have used the
opportunity to reassess their chosen career path. Of the trainees that we
worked with in 2009/10:

• 12% stayed within the same firm
• 30% moved to another city law firm
• 17% moved to law firms outside London
• 5% moved to Government Legal Services
• 7% opted for charity work
• 6% chose to resume studying
• 23% decided to take a career break and travel

.........and 15% of these trainees found employment with an increased salary!
For more information, case studies, or comments from one of our team of
experienced consultants, please contact:

Telephone: 0845 603 3880

"Minds are like parachutes…they only work when they are open"

"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult! (Seneca)"

"We are all continually faced with a series of great opportunities…brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems (John W Gardner)"

"Behold the turtle! He makes progreess only when he sticks his neck out"

"Don't wait for your ship to come in. Row out to meet it."

"A diamond is a chunk of coal that made good under pressure"

"To be employed is to be at risk. To be employable is to be secure."

"Give a man a fish and he eats for a day - teach a man to fish and he eats for life"

"The only certain thing about the future is that the future is uncertain (Albert Einstein)"

"When people feel the wind some build windmills and some build walls"

"Do it! Move it! Make it happen! Noone ever sat their way to success"

"The greatest ignorance is to reject something you know nothing about"

"There is no future in any job. The future lies in the man who holds the job. (George Crane)"

"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds (Francis Bacon)"

"Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life!"

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started"

"It's never too late to be what you want to be"

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort!"

"Sometimes we are limited more by attitude than by opportunities"

"Opportunity does not knock, it presents itself when you beat down the door (Kyle Chandler)"

"It is not enough to stare up the steps: we must step up the stairs (Vaclac Havel)"

"Success is a jouney, not a destination (Ben Sweetland)"

"Always look at what you have left. Never look at what you have lost."

"Age is an issue of mind over matter…if you don't mind, it doesn't matter!"

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