Hi everyone,
So I am an international student who studied at a Non- RG university (got a mid 2.1) and now doing my LLM at a top RG university. I am currently losing all hope in getting a TC as all the firms that sponsor visa tends to only hire Russel Group graduates. I have decent a-levels (A*, A*, A- when to a Non- RG due to financial reasons). I have close to two years of legal experience working back in my home country, it was an outsourcing firm, therefore I did work for UK law firms. Is there any hope of me getting a TC and is there any international students who didn't go RG that got a TC? Is there any other career paths a law student can go for and with firms that sponsor visa?
Would appreciate any help.
Hi there!
First of all, do not lose hope! I have the same exact background as you (international student, undergraduate at non-RG, LLM at RG) and managed to secure a TC at an international firm this year, but in my journey I have had those same thoughts as well: that I wasn't good enough and that I would never get a TC because I am an international student, etc.
Now, I don't know what stage in the application process you have reached, but don't be defeated by rejections. There's a myriad of reasons for why you are rejected, and some of those reasons may have nothing to do with the quality of your application or you as a candidate! You may write the perfect application and still be rejected. For example, it might be late in the day when your application was read, and the graduate recruitment is tired and may not have put in the same level of thought as earlier applications. Equally, you could write the worse application you think you have ever written and make it pass. Or perhaps during a vacation scheme, you are a great candidate in every aspect but you did not fit with the firm culturally, which is okay! My point is that you don't know why you got rejected, so there's no point in getting hung up.
What is far more important is to have perseverance and make micro-adjustments to your application/interview/work etc by asking those around you to help you improve. Based on what you've said about yourself, I personally think you're a good candidate, especially since you have legal work experience which can help you standout and gives you something unique to talk about (though it's more about how you talk about what you have done, rather than what you have done). I do think the success of any application will have an element of luck to it, but if you just keep applying, keep expanding/enhancing your skills, and keep making micro-adjustments, you will get through to a TC! There are people on TCLA who managed to secure a TC after trying six cycles, some got it on their first, some on their second, some on their fourth. Everyone runs on their own time, and your time will come so long as you don't give up! As a friend of mine once put it to me when I first got rejected: you have to continue to believe that you yourself are a good candidate, because if you don't, why would anybody else?
On your point about visa sponsorship, it is not true that firms which provide sponsorship visa only hire from RG. Basically, any international law firm operating in London can and will sponsor international candidates. Could an argument be made that it is more difficult to secure a TC due to firms having to sponsor us? Perhaps, though unlikely because as an associate from an MC firm who also came from an international background put it to me: visa sponsorship is the last thing firms which can sponsor students think about when deciding whether to hire you or not. After all, why would a firm bother going through the tedious process of obtaining a license to sponsor people if they don't intend on using it?
I don't know how many firms you apply to but there are plenty of international law firms in London, and it might be worthwhile to consider expanding your list of firms if it is narrow. After all, the more firms you apply to with quality applications, the more likely your chances of success. Who knows? Maybe the firm you end up doing a vacation scheme with, while it wasn't your first choice at the time, ends up becoming a firm you love.
As for your point on alternative career paths, you can also consider training in-house (i.e., within a company). Solicitor apprenticeship might be another option, though the solicitor graduate apprenticeship route might be more suitable. Or you could get a paralegal job at a firm for two or more years, pass the SQE, and ask the firm if they would consider taking you on as NQ. I do have to say that I don't know much about any of these options, and I don't know anyone that has tried the last option, so it might not even work.
My advice is to focus on securing a TC as I would guess these alternate paths are more difficult for an international candidate to embark on than just securing a TC. Although, to be fair, an international company would likely to provide visa sponsorship for training. However, I imagine it'd be pretty difficult in the other options.
I hope this helped!
