Ask A Graduate Recruiter Anything!

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica,

Just a quick question: if I address a cover letter by saying "Dear Graduate Recruitment Team", I would end with "Yours faithfully", correct? If I'm not mistaken, the rule is if I do not address a particular individual, it has to be this way.

Best wishes,

Yes - it’s yours faithfully where you do not know the name of the person you are sending it to.

 

[LegalQ]

Jessica,

Do you have any advice for applying to paralegal roles? Where would you suggest starting? Are there any agencies/websites you can recommend?

Thank you!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Jessica,

Do you have any advice for applying to paralegal roles? Where would you suggest starting? Are there any agencies/websites you can recommend?

Thank you!

Is this where you want a career as a paralegal or just an interim role while you secure a TC?

 

[azbwcy]

Any advice on this re as an interim role while trying to secure a TC would be super helpful!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Any advice on this re as an interim role while trying to secure a TC would be super helpful!

General roles or paralegal roles?

 

[azbwcy]

General roles or paralegal roles?

Ideally paralegal, but to be honest anything at this stage...

 

[Jessica Booker]

Ideally paralegal, but to be honest anything at this stage...

• If you are only looking for interim work, only apply for interim roles/jobs. Too many people will apply to permanent jobs and it will be pretty obvious that this isn't something you want to do long term. There is just very little point applying for those roles

• Set up job alerts on LinkedIn and if you are interested in law, then Law Gazette's job board too - to me these are the best sites rather than signing up to something like Reed or Indeed where you will just get bombarded with irrelevant jobs.

• Consider other roles within law firms: business development, CSR/pro bono teams, event Grad Rec can often take on junior/administrative roles on an interim basis. I have had part-time LPC students working in my Grad Rec teams before

• Consider signing up with a temp paralegal agency. I can't really recommend any as I haven't utlised one in ages and it will also depend on your location, but temp paralegal roles tend to be a good way of getting your foot in the door. I have seen many temp paralegals impress, then receive a paralegal fixed term contract, and then for those people to get training contracts either at the same firm or at a similar firm

• Think about utilising your particular unique skill set. If you have a fluency in a language, this will be a clear advantage in a role that requires that language skill. Sometimes paralegal roles may want someone with more of a tech or science background depending on the type of work you will be doing/the clients you will be working for. You can set up job alerts with key words that include these things - the more targetted you are, the better.

• Look at opportunities in in-house departments or in different types of legal services (like the role Alice mentioned in one of the threads the other day). Sometimes start-up companies won't post on major job boards, so this may require a bit more digging around or visiting their indiviudal websites if you have time.

• Follow the right people on LinkedIn - people tend to share and link opportunities that come up

 

[azbwcy]

• If you are only looking for interim work, only apply for interim roles/jobs. Too many people will apply to permanent jobs and it will be pretty obvious that this isn't something you want to do long term. There is just very little point applying for those roles

• Set up job alerts on LinkedIn and if you are interested in law, then Law Gazette's job board too - to me these are the best sites rather than signing up to something like Reed or Indeed where you will just get bombarded with irrelevant jobs.

• Consider other roles within law firms: business development, CSR/pro bono teams, event Grad Rec can often take on junior/administrative roles on an interim basis. I have had part-time LPC students working in my Grad Rec teams before

• Consider signing up with a temp paralegal agency. I can't really recommend any as I haven't utlised one in ages and it will also depend on your location, but temp paralegal roles tend to be a good way of getting your foot in the door. I have seen many temp paralegals impress, then receive a paralegal fixed term contract, and then for those people to get training contracts either at the same firm or at a similar firm

• Think about utilising your particular unique skill set. If you have a fluency in a language, this will be a clear advantage in a role that requires that language skill. Sometimes paralegal roles may want someone with more of a tech or science background depending on the type of work you will be doing/the clients you will be working for. You can set up job alerts with key words that include these things - the more targetted you are, the better.

• Look at opportunities in in-house departments or in different types of legal services (like the role Alice mentioned in one of the threads the other day). Sometimes start-up companies won't post on major job boards, so this may require a bit more digging around or visiting their indiviudal websites if you have time.

• Follow the right people on LinkedIn - people tend to share and link opportunities that come up

Thank you!

 

[IntrepidL]

Hi @Jessica Booker, I have a question regarding law firm mergers, particularly full financial integrations as I am not entirely sure what their benefits are. I have read online that the advantages include a more cohesive and collaborative culture.

Is this because the firms share a greater amount of work? For a trainee, what are the ramifications of working in a firm that has structured themselves in this way? Thank you!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica Booker, I have a question regarding law firm mergers, particularly full financial integrations as I am not entirely sure what their benefits are. I have read online that the advantages include a more cohesive and collaborative culture.

Is this because the firms share a greater amount of work? For a trainee, what are the ramifications of working in a firm that has structured themselves in this way? Thank you!

I am probably the worst person to ask this question! I am not very commercial minded at all and none of the firms I worked for went through mergers (they all happened sometime before or after I left).

@Jaysen @Alice G - any thoughts on this one?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica,

I would appreciate any advice on answering questions about 'activities, interests and extracurricular etc'?

I'm not sure if it's a good idea to discuss my 'actual' interests/hobbies as it's hard to relate to the firm's competencies (i do arty stuff and generally anything that I get to use my hands to create something, which 100% is working alone.)

Or
Whether I should be discussing something like part-time pro bono work, as it's easier to relate back to the various skills the firm may be looking for and shows some commitment to law? e.g. research, organisational, problem-solving skills etc

why can’t you mention both?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thanks for your reply!

I usually run over the word count just explaining the skills I developed doing pro bono, so the most I could do is squeeze art activities in just one sentence. But at the same time (I am probably overthinking this) I'm not sure if activities where you work alone are looked down at all as there are no positions of responsibility or general trainee competencies involved?

you don’t need to explain the competencies developed - your reader is intelligent, in most cases they can infer what skills you would have developed. It’s only going to be the unusual that might need explaining - but even then I think it can be done in a super concise manner way which wouldn't take up 300 words.

Doing things on your own isn’t looked down upon.

Generally you want to demonstrate as many strings to your bow as possible.

 

[Jessica Booker]

That makes sense thank you Jessica!

Reading back my poor typing I am glad you made sense of it! Reading it back I can’t

 

[Hermes123]

Yes - it’s yours faithfully where you do not know the name of the person you are sending it to.

I expected the answer, though just wanted to reconfirm. Strangely enough, I received feedback on a written application, which said "wrong use of sincerely/faithully", despite me having applied "faithully" correctly (as outlined in my initial post: "Dear Graduate Recruitment Team"...).

 

[Jessica Booker]

I expected the answer, though just wanted to reconfirm. Strangely enough, I received feedback on a written application, which said "wrong use of sincerely/faithully", despite me having applied "faithully" correctly (as outlined in my initial post: "Dear Graduate Recruitment Team"...).

It is a bit of a grey area (I had to look it up to check what it was). I suspect it is one of those things where some people would argue one way, and other people the other.

As I understand it, as you are not naming an individual person by their personal name, it’s faithfully. But happy for people to tell me if it’s different - the person who reviewed your application could be right!

@Jaysen / @Alice G - thoughts on this one?

 

[IntrepidL]

Hi @Jessica, for the interview question - "What is the best team you've been in?" or 'What makes a good team, and why is this important?" - should this be answered using the STAR approach? I find that certain questions may not necessitate a whole STAR approach regarding your experiences as it might not be answering the question explicitly.

However, I am not sure. Was wondering what are your thoughts on this.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica, for the interview question - "What is the best team you've been in?" or 'What makes a good team, and why is this important?" - should this be answered using the STAR approach? I find that certain questions may not necessitate a whole STAR approach regarding your experiences as it might not be answering the question explicitly.

However, I am not sure. Was wondering what are your thoughts on this.

The first example could be framed with a bit of STAR as it is asking you to explain a past example. But they really want to find out why you think the team worked well rather than how you contributed to the team.

The second example isn’t a competency question, so STAR isn’t appropriate. It is just asking you to analyse what makes a good team and why it’s important.

STAR is only appropriate if they are asking you to explain an example of when you have done something.

 

[IntrepidL]

The first example could be framed with a bit of STAR as it is asking you to explain a past example. But they really want to find out why you think the team worked well rather than how you contributed to the team.

The second example isn’t a competency question, so STAR isn’t appropriate. It is just asking you to analyse what makes a good team and why it’s important.

STAR is only appropriate if they are asking you to explain an example of when you have done something.

Ah, thank you!

 

[Jaysen]

It is a bit of a grey area (I had to look it up to check what it was). I suspect it is one of those things where some people would argue one way, and other people the other.

As I understand it, as you are not naming an individual person by their personal name, it’s faithfully. But happy for people to tell me if it’s different - the person who reviewed your application could be right!

@Jaysen / @Alice G - thoughts on this one?

Agreed. I’ve always advised to go by ‘yours sincerely’ if the recipient is being named. Otherwise I advise using ‘yours faithfully’ where the name is not being used. As fair as I’m aware, that’s the traditional practice in the UK.

 

[Alice G]

Agreed. I’ve always advised to go by ‘yours sincerely’ if the recipient is being named. Otherwise I advise using ‘yours faithfully’ where the name is not being used. As fair as I’m aware, that’s the traditional practice in the UK.

This was my approach! one thing I’d highlight too is you capitalise the ‘Y’ but don’t capitalise the ‘f’ or ‘s’. It’s a very common and easy mistake to make to capitalise the second word and something I’ve seen a few times.