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My Training Contract Journey
- Thread starter j.s.cox
- Start date
Update:
It's been just over a month since my last update and I've been very busy!
Mentoring
This has really started to pick up and I am enjoying it a lot. At first I didn't feel qualified to be giving advice, but having talked to a few people I realised that I have learned so much through the past two cycles of applications. I have so much knowledge that I take for granted, but I know not everyone has had this privilege. Some people I have talked to remind me so much of myself, and it is exciting to be in a position to help them. To keep this thread useful for other forum members, I thought I could give a piece of advice each time I update this thread. I'll post it at the end of each update.
Personal Projects
I'm making real headway with BSL. It's such an expressive and useful language. Hopefully I'll be able to complete a qualification in it by the end of this year. If not, I'll still have managed to open my world a bit wider.
I am also teaching the children I nanny to crochet as they asked to learn. They each have a project they are working on which has encouraged me to pick up the habit again. I'm going to start making crochet toys again and donating them as it's something I really enjoy.
As a semi-professional rower, I am also preparing for a big racing season ahead. Training has amped up and I am excited to see what results I can produce this year with my teammates.
A Final Bit of Advice
For today's advice, I thought I would touch on mitigating circumstances. It seems like an almost insignifant part of the application process, but I know from experience the level of stress it can cause. Sometimes, you may have faced unimaginable difficulties that have deeply affected you, but you feel like you are apologising or making excuses when you write about your mitigating circumstances.
If you find yourself in this situation, I recommend treating the difficulties you have faced as impersonally as possible. Give an overview of your challenges and the impact they have had on your grades, rather than giving your personal life history. As a maximum, I would recommend spending no more than 100-200 words describing this. Sometimes this is not enough space to fully explain yourself. If this is the case, you are almost always able to phone up the Recruitment Team to discuss your circumstances further. This helps your mitigating circumstances appear like a factual account supporting your application.
You can also put a positive spin on mitigating circumstances by demonstrating the skills of resilience, determination, and adaptability you gained when overcoming or getting through those circumstances. This can be done on your main written application form if the style of the application form allows it. This enables you to thoroughly discuss your challenges, whilst demonstrating that you are an appealing candidate.
When I used the advice above (given to me by one of my mentors) in my applications, I also found that my confidence levels around applications changed. I realised that I would be an asset to any law firm that I joined, This attitude change really helped to improve my applications and overall performance during the recruitment process.
Thank you for following my journey!
It's been just over a month since my last update and I've been very busy!
Mentoring
This has really started to pick up and I am enjoying it a lot. At first I didn't feel qualified to be giving advice, but having talked to a few people I realised that I have learned so much through the past two cycles of applications. I have so much knowledge that I take for granted, but I know not everyone has had this privilege. Some people I have talked to remind me so much of myself, and it is exciting to be in a position to help them. To keep this thread useful for other forum members, I thought I could give a piece of advice each time I update this thread. I'll post it at the end of each update.
Personal Projects
I'm making real headway with BSL. It's such an expressive and useful language. Hopefully I'll be able to complete a qualification in it by the end of this year. If not, I'll still have managed to open my world a bit wider.
I am also teaching the children I nanny to crochet as they asked to learn. They each have a project they are working on which has encouraged me to pick up the habit again. I'm going to start making crochet toys again and donating them as it's something I really enjoy.
As a semi-professional rower, I am also preparing for a big racing season ahead. Training has amped up and I am excited to see what results I can produce this year with my teammates.
A Final Bit of Advice
For today's advice, I thought I would touch on mitigating circumstances. It seems like an almost insignifant part of the application process, but I know from experience the level of stress it can cause. Sometimes, you may have faced unimaginable difficulties that have deeply affected you, but you feel like you are apologising or making excuses when you write about your mitigating circumstances.
If you find yourself in this situation, I recommend treating the difficulties you have faced as impersonally as possible. Give an overview of your challenges and the impact they have had on your grades, rather than giving your personal life history. As a maximum, I would recommend spending no more than 100-200 words describing this. Sometimes this is not enough space to fully explain yourself. If this is the case, you are almost always able to phone up the Recruitment Team to discuss your circumstances further. This helps your mitigating circumstances appear like a factual account supporting your application.
You can also put a positive spin on mitigating circumstances by demonstrating the skills of resilience, determination, and adaptability you gained when overcoming or getting through those circumstances. This can be done on your main written application form if the style of the application form allows it. This enables you to thoroughly discuss your challenges, whilst demonstrating that you are an appealing candidate.
When I used the advice above (given to me by one of my mentors) in my applications, I also found that my confidence levels around applications changed. I realised that I would be an asset to any law firm that I joined, This attitude change really helped to improve my applications and overall performance during the recruitment process.
Thank you for following my journey!
Update
It's been a moment!
Mentoring
As well as the individual mentees I had taken on, I joined "The Mentors Collective" initiative or TMC for short. It's a really fantastic initiative which I very much recommend. There is a document which outlines the names of all the mentors, their experiences, strengths, and weaknesses. It also has a link to their availability for mentoring sessions. It is then up to the group of mentees to book a slot with a mentor who will best serve them. This means that I have been able to help more people than I thought possible. Some mentees have booked regular sessions with me, whilst others have booked a one-off sessions to help them go over specific issues and difficulties they are having. So far, I have helped a few mentees who have gone on to achieve some of their goals:I
Nannying (plus some advice)
I've found this to be incredibly useful to my personal development. Whilst I had babysat before this year, I had never had to look after children for this amount of time before. I work every afternoon with them and I completely underestimated the level of responsibility that I would gain doing this job. To be honest, it's more than a job. These kids are so important to me and they have taught me adaptability, resilience, and patience among other skills. These are such transferrable skills, and I really believe they will help me when I start working at NRF. To anyone who thinks that their current job is completely irrelevant to legal sphere, I would urge you to examine the transferable skills you have gained.
Next Year...
Next year is going to be intense. I was lucky enough to be accepted into Leander Club, the feeder rowing club for the GB Rowing Team. I'm excited to see what I can do here and how I can improve on my rowing journey! I am also doing my CCP (masters) at BPP Holborn (the SQE1&2 with a dissertation). It's going to require some travelling, but NRF have been fantastic at helping me arrange my study timetable so that I can realistically row and study.
I have been following the SQE forum on TCLA and realised that BPP won't teach all the subjects assessed on the SQE as they expect you to know it all already. Whilst I did study them on my PGDL, I realised that I need to do a lot of revision before my course starts in September. I have already created a revision plan and have started consolidating my notes. Due to the paid work I have done this year (nannying plus some admin jobs) and the fact that I have been able to live at home with minimal outgoing costs, I am lucky enough to be able to purchase several different revision materials. I think I will see which ones I find useful and do reviews of them to help other people. Once I have finished my SQE, I will also be happy to share all the notes I used. Hopefully this will be useful to others on this journey.
Thank you for following my journey!
It's been a moment!
Mentoring
As well as the individual mentees I had taken on, I joined "The Mentors Collective" initiative or TMC for short. It's a really fantastic initiative which I very much recommend. There is a document which outlines the names of all the mentors, their experiences, strengths, and weaknesses. It also has a link to their availability for mentoring sessions. It is then up to the group of mentees to book a slot with a mentor who will best serve them. This means that I have been able to help more people than I thought possible. Some mentees have booked regular sessions with me, whilst others have booked a one-off sessions to help them go over specific issues and difficulties they are having. So far, I have helped a few mentees who have gone on to achieve some of their goals:I
- One person got a vac scheme at Slaughter and May which they converted into a training contract.
- One person got a vac scheme at Mishcon de Reya which they converted into a training contract. They were even offered an early start this September over other people who applied to start earlier.
- One person got two vac schemes, one at Womble Bond Dickenson, and one at Bevan Brittain. They are waiting to hear back about whether they managed to convert to a training contract at either firm.
Nannying (plus some advice)
I've found this to be incredibly useful to my personal development. Whilst I had babysat before this year, I had never had to look after children for this amount of time before. I work every afternoon with them and I completely underestimated the level of responsibility that I would gain doing this job. To be honest, it's more than a job. These kids are so important to me and they have taught me adaptability, resilience, and patience among other skills. These are such transferrable skills, and I really believe they will help me when I start working at NRF. To anyone who thinks that their current job is completely irrelevant to legal sphere, I would urge you to examine the transferable skills you have gained.
Next Year...
Next year is going to be intense. I was lucky enough to be accepted into Leander Club, the feeder rowing club for the GB Rowing Team. I'm excited to see what I can do here and how I can improve on my rowing journey! I am also doing my CCP (masters) at BPP Holborn (the SQE1&2 with a dissertation). It's going to require some travelling, but NRF have been fantastic at helping me arrange my study timetable so that I can realistically row and study.
I have been following the SQE forum on TCLA and realised that BPP won't teach all the subjects assessed on the SQE as they expect you to know it all already. Whilst I did study them on my PGDL, I realised that I need to do a lot of revision before my course starts in September. I have already created a revision plan and have started consolidating my notes. Due to the paid work I have done this year (nannying plus some admin jobs) and the fact that I have been able to live at home with minimal outgoing costs, I am lucky enough to be able to purchase several different revision materials. I think I will see which ones I find useful and do reviews of them to help other people. Once I have finished my SQE, I will also be happy to share all the notes I used. Hopefully this will be useful to others on this journey.
Thank you for following my journey!
Update:
SQE 1:
I took the SQE 1 in January 2024 and I'm pleased to say that I passed in the 1st quintile! I must say that it was one of the toughest exams and exam preparation periods I have ever experienced. I was absolutely convinced that I had failed. I don't think that the BPP preparation materials were very good, but I do think that having done the PGDL set me up very well in the exam. I think those who had done a law degree instead found the style of questions and revision a little more difficult to get their heads around. I definitely felt more stress for these sets of exams than any others I've ever done and half the battle was just being able to concentrate for full time. By the 4th hour, trying to absorb what the questions were saying and the meanings of each possible answer was very taxing for me. Mainly, I'm pleased I passed because the idea of taking the exam again makes me feel a bit unwell, not to mention that I could have lost my TC if I failed! My advice for people taking the exams:
Rowing:
Rowing at Leander has been absolutely incredible. I don't think I'd ever get the experiences that I've had at this club anywhere else. I'm looking forward to the summer racing season, but I have to admit that it has been very difficult to balance full-time rowing with full-time education. Luckily my firm has been very supportive with helping me to arrange classes to be mainly in the afternoon. It means that I can row from 7am-12:30pm and then go straight to London for classes. I end up getting home at around 8pm, so I've had to be strict with my work timetable and scheduled time off to ensure that I don't burn out. Ultimately I believe this will help me develop my organisational skills in my career, but for now it is pretty exhausting.
Mentoring:
I have been really conscious of continuing this despite my busy schedule. I have found it so rewarding to see how I've been able to help people. Whether they have secured positions or not, the best part of this volunteering experience is seeing how people have developed and improved throughout the application process. The legal applications process is already inaccessible and I'd argue that the SQE (despite its aims) is also inaccessible. I really love being able to help improve the accessibility of a legal career.
Thank you for following my journey!
SQE 1:
I took the SQE 1 in January 2024 and I'm pleased to say that I passed in the 1st quintile! I must say that it was one of the toughest exams and exam preparation periods I have ever experienced. I was absolutely convinced that I had failed. I don't think that the BPP preparation materials were very good, but I do think that having done the PGDL set me up very well in the exam. I think those who had done a law degree instead found the style of questions and revision a little more difficult to get their heads around. I definitely felt more stress for these sets of exams than any others I've ever done and half the battle was just being able to concentrate for full time. By the 4th hour, trying to absorb what the questions were saying and the meanings of each possible answer was very taxing for me. Mainly, I'm pleased I passed because the idea of taking the exam again makes me feel a bit unwell, not to mention that I could have lost my TC if I failed! My advice for people taking the exams:
- Get the Revise SQE books. These were instrumental in my success and more thoroughly (yet also more succintly) explained the principles we needed to know for the exam better than any other materials I came across. They were also significantly cheaper than many other materials. I think you could probably self-study with these books and pass the SQE 1.
- Figure out what revision method works for you and don't worry about how other people are doing their revision. I know that a lot of people spent a lot of time going over flashcards and notes, but personally I found doing hundreds of practice questions far more useful and efficient for my revision. Neither method is wrong and in an exam as hard as this, it's not worth changing your preferred study method because someone else says so.
- At least once before the exam, practice a full practice paper to get used to the timings as this is half the battle with this exam. Again, I recommend the Revise SQE exam preparation papers as these not only simulated the questions in the exam most accurately, they also had a full explanation of why each answer was correct. They also cross-referenced each question to the place you could restudy the information in the main Revise SQE books. The other good source was the QLTS practice papers, but be aware that these questions are a bit harder than the exam and they may not allow you access to the FLK 2 exam without being on their course.
Rowing:
Rowing at Leander has been absolutely incredible. I don't think I'd ever get the experiences that I've had at this club anywhere else. I'm looking forward to the summer racing season, but I have to admit that it has been very difficult to balance full-time rowing with full-time education. Luckily my firm has been very supportive with helping me to arrange classes to be mainly in the afternoon. It means that I can row from 7am-12:30pm and then go straight to London for classes. I end up getting home at around 8pm, so I've had to be strict with my work timetable and scheduled time off to ensure that I don't burn out. Ultimately I believe this will help me develop my organisational skills in my career, but for now it is pretty exhausting.
Mentoring:
I have been really conscious of continuing this despite my busy schedule. I have found it so rewarding to see how I've been able to help people. Whether they have secured positions or not, the best part of this volunteering experience is seeing how people have developed and improved throughout the application process. The legal applications process is already inaccessible and I'd argue that the SQE (despite its aims) is also inaccessible. I really love being able to help improve the accessibility of a legal career.
Thank you for following my journey!
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