1. Tbh 99% of people that already have a training contract and paralegal are literally only doing it for the money and to bridge the time before they start their TC. So thanks for stating the obvious.
2. I know this is going to be controversial and trigger the people on this forum that have/are self funding the LPC but it's kinda true. All the people that I know that are self funding have been rejected multiple cycles and are getting desperate so they self fund which I think is a really bad idea. Not to say those that are getting rejected year after year won't make it. Plenty of success stories on this forum of people that have made it after multiple application cycles. However, people need to be realistic and face the truth. Although I really like the supportive environment of this forum, people need to be realistic with their future options and prospects.
Not everyone will share this view but sometimes you have to put yourself in the shoes of a recruiter, especially at firms where competition is fierce and places are limited. I can so see why some firms may think "what's wrong with them", especially if the individual has done multiple vacation schemes and cycles and fails to covert any of them into TC offers.
I am not one to encourage self funding but this is bad advice on a number of levels.
Vast majority of people who become solicitors will self fund their GDL and/or LPC.
Only a small minority of firms will sponsor the LPC. And even smaller minority sponsor both. So this idea that you are at a disadvantage of self funding is ridiculous and at best would only apply to the small number of commercial firms at the very top end of the market.
In days gone by firms who did sponsor might have had this attitude. But that's when their attitudes to diversity full stop we're pretty limited. The world of graduate recruitment has changed massively, even in the last 10 years and now much more objective information is considered rather than subjective views like how good a candidate you are based on if you self-funded or not.
The ONLY concern a recruiter should have when recruiting someone who has completed the LPC is what are they going to do with their time out (if that's relevant). Firm’s who sponsor typically recruit 2-3 years in advance, and there is always a thought that someone could qualify with another firm in that time. However, many people explain rationally what they would do.
Given that many firms who do sponsor are recruiting people who have self funded, there is clearly no issue in choosing to self fund in itself.
However, what you have to do before choosing to self fund (or not) is to ensure you are an eligible candidate in the first place (some self-funders wouldn't get past a A-level requirement filter, usually a high international student cohort that won’t secure visas) and that your CV has the basics to get you through an application process. You then need to continue to build your CV as anyone else would.
And this is where everyone goes wrong, whether they choose to self-fund or not. They either don’t have the basics on their application to start with or think that by doing something in particular, a golden ticket (whether it’s a paralegal job, LLM, LPC) to a TC will happen. There will be plenty of non-self funders working/travelling who are also not securing TCs. People like you are just not aware of them because they are not in your immediate circle of classmates.
There is nothing ”realistic” or ”truthful” about your post. It's just an opinion of view based as a small amount of experience and a short-sighted view.
