"Well, of course, we do have some students who flourish in the sixth form, but until you do, you may want to re-consider your university and career choices…”.
These were the words of the assistant head at my former school in my interview for a place in the sixth form when I told him I wanted to go into law. The same words which still rang in my head the day I received a phone call that I had been given a training contract offer from an elite US law firm. (Would like to take this opportunity to thank Jaysen and the rest of the team at the Corporate Law Academy yet again).
Of course, I was elated and have accepted – after all, it was everything I had been working for, for the past 5 years, and is with a dream firm of mine. But one of the more unexpected feelings that I wake up with every morning now is humility and gratefulness. Which is why when Jaysen asked me to write a short motivational piece I happily obliged.
Given that it is the time of the year when training contract offers are being given out, being rejected can be (excuse the language) a bit shit to say the least. As there is more than enough content on this site alone on application and interview technique, I thought I’d share a bit about my journey and my two cents on the bits that not everyone talks about and I too often found myself wishing someone had told me earlier – in the hope that this provides some sort of inspiration to at least someone out there.
My family moved to the U.K from a developing country when I was still a toddler. My father died when I was six years old and so we grew up on benefits, for the majority of my school years anyway. It wasn’t until my one of my elder siblings graduated from university and began working that things got a little brighter. For the most part though, life was pretty shit. Growing up in a really bad area my neighbours don’t speak English, there are extremely high levels of unemployment and low levels of higher education and I’ve been mugged more times than I can remember, and at knifepoint, to mention a few.
Before this turns into a woe is me story, I’ll talk about the first thing I believe was key to my success, something everyone should focus on and is actually my answer to the dreaded interview question ‘What is your greatest strength?’ – being so motivated/driven it translates to an absurd work ethic.
Somehow, I did get into a good school, but still with little guidance I could have done a lot better and it wasn’t until just before A-levels I began to focus on turning myself around with the support of the one teacher I did have. But of course, during my first year of AS it was to no avail and I got B, B, C and a D in my four subjects. The next year I got an A*, A, B in the three I chose to continue.
I still maintain that hard work was the key for such a turnaround. In fact, when I did get into a top 10 university and felt like I didn’t belong, I realised it was one of the things I did know how to do – work hard. I proceeded to do so and rationalised it to myself and everyone I’ve had the pleasure of mentoring, this way: the only thing you can control is how hard you work; you can’t control what will come up on your exam paper, in the assessment centre or the interview or the marking or review of anything.
Whether you believe in luck (and a bit of all success is), God, fate or whatever else focus on what you can control. I’ve found this to be a way of minimising regret as well, because hey you don’t want to receive the result of anything and think I wish I had worked just a little harder on that. If you put in 110% into your efforts if something doesn’t work out I’ve always found that I was ok with it, purely for this reason. I stuck with this mantra throughout university and hey, it’s paid off so far.
What I didn’t mention though were the mental health issues I’ve had in the past, one of which is particularly relevant to what most will naturally feel during applications. After getting quite bad AS grades I began to doubt myself and combined with the pressure of wanting to achieve my goals and familial responsibilities I began to develop an anxiety disorder, which continued throughout the early stages of university. So how do you deal with the constant pit in your stomach? Outside of visiting the GP and related healthcare professionals, developing a level of emotional intelligence, medication, meditation etc what I can and do recommend to others is to have patience. God damn, the best piece of advice I ever received, which ties into the hard work idea, was from a trainee at
Herbert Smith Freehills, who told me to just be patient.
“I can tell you’re good enough, and you will get a training contract, I know it. When? I don’t know. I got a training contract whilst at university, but my best friend has only just got one – she applied for four years straight”. I’ve mulled over these words since and I believe they provide a certain level of tranquillity. Whatever goals I’ve set myself since, and whatever goals you may have for yourself (including getting a training contract), if you want it badly enough you will get it – just be patient.
In summary, 1. focus on what you can control (how hard you work) to minimise regret and anxiety and 2. be patient. I don’t know everything, nor do I profess to, but I do know that the above two principles have helped me through the hardest of times. It’s easy to get bogged down on what others are doing and have achieved and then comparing yourself to them and then stressing and so on and so forth.
Hopefully, this has been of some inspiration to someone, and some help as well. Just know this, you will get whatever you want if you put in 110%, be it now or later. If I got a training contract, anyone can.
P.S. In the meantime, try and enjoy whatever stage of your life you are at (college/university/post-grad), if I could do it all again I would definitely try and enjoy the process a bit more, even if some factors were outside of my control.
Also, read more damn it. One of the other things I am really big on is self-development, as that’s one of the other few things you can control, and when I had little guidance books provided one source of that. If anyone would like, I’d be more than happy to provide some recommendations or a reading list.
