Friday, May 1, 2009

Tips for Law Graduates Getting a Legal Job

More and more people are graduating from university Spider-Man model a degree in law & looking for legal jobs. As a consequence its worth thinking about what legal job you would like after you graduate and how well prepared you are. Weve put together 10 top tips to get a graduate legal job.

1. Gain some work experience Captain Midnight it can be really hard to get legal work experience, sometime legal firms have more applicants for work experience than they do for trainee positions. Dont let the high level of competition put you off. Either apply to more law firms or broaden your search to other similar businesses. Your local council, an entertainment company or estate agents are other business which would welcome high quality work experience candidates which will Creature from the Black Lagoon model you later on in your law career.

2. Think about what area you would like to specialise in as you progress through your course, try to decide which areas youd like to specialise in as soon as you feel comfortable doing so. Having a clear idea of what you would like to do post-university will help you in your search.

3. Join Societies unfortunately just having a good degree is not enough to land the perfect legal job. Get involved in Rubiks Cube societies & other extra-curricular activities. It shows youre a well rounded individual and will give the opportunities to hone some of the skills which will make you a stronger applicant.

4. Polish your CV too many students leave their CV until they graduate; this can put real pressure on you to get the document right. Its best to start work on your CV early on at university. Then you can quickly update the document whenever you achieve something new. A few minutes working on your CV every month will mean by the time you graduate you will have a professional and comprehensive Incredible Hulk to send to potential employers.

5. Read the industry press by reading the legal specialist press you will learn about the major firms who may be recruiting in the future. Also it can keep you up to date with any industry specific news, this kind of information will help you seem informed and in touch in any work experience or job interviews.

6. Visit your careers service most university have well qualified career services. They can usually help you with interview techniques and often can often put you in touch with local companies who would be ideal to contact for work experience.

7. Improve your communication skills working for a student newspaper or radio station can help you learn to improve your ability to communicate with people. These skills are valued highly by employers in all industries not just law.

8. Visit Local Courts you might have to spend time in local courts as part of your course but try and spend as much time there as you can arrange. It will help you get comfortable with the environment and might help you network with potential employers.

9. Learn a Language a second language is a great skill and can be really helpful in lots of legal jobs. It can provide a break from you law studies but also set you apart from other candidates when applying for jobs.

10. Work Hard with so many people graduating from university with law and other degrees it is becoming increasingly important to graduate with a good grade. While lots of other factors can help you get a law job your degree is still the most important.

Robert Proctor is part of Legal Week Jobs, a website specialising in href="legalweek.com/JobsByCategory/sVacancyTypeIDs/506/GraduateTrainee.html">Graduate legal jobs including legal secretary, solicitor & paralegal jobsgraduate

For more information please visit href="legalweek.com/jobs/Home.aspx">Legal Week Jobs

Car Insurance - Zzzzzz

For the past week I have been embroiled in the cantankerous struggle of renewing my car insurance. And it's taken its toll.

Until recently, I had always been content with the insomnia-related tradition of counting sheep. To help me get to sleep at night, I would imagine those fluffy blighters in donate car to charity range of dozy scenarios, maybe a dreamy summer's meadow for instance, or hurdling over a Zorro playset bar gate in an orderly, soothing, drowsy, manner...It never failed.

But now I can't seem to summon such innocent imagery, especially after a long day spent seeking car insurance advice from brokers, friends, my wife and my two-year-old son - whom all seem to have different, and W S Kimball Champions ideas for how and where I can get a good deal. Now when I'm trying to switch-off, instead of those fluffy harmless icons of springtime, all I can seem to picture is a constant stream of balding men dressed in pin-stripe suits, sitting in small mahogany-panelled offices, and looking back at me with a cold Hercule Poirot stare.

And unlike the gentle baaa-ing and lullaby score I had mastered in my head, all I can hear now is a garbled conversation of statistics, prices, indecipherable jargon and insulting presumptions about my driving capabilities.

But Watchmen comic gets worse. If I try to block it out, or strive to return to the summer meadow; with the buttercups, the babbling brook and the five bar gate - I do manage to succeed for a brief hopeful moment. Then the brokers arrive. It's an invasion. They storm the scene riding in the backs of black cabs, kicking down the gate, climbing out of the ground like the undead, and shooing away my sleep-aids with a quick wave of their canes and stern shouts of "exclusive" offers.

From here there is no escape, and a nightmarish scene of impersonation ensues. The brokers are baaa-ing now. They're not quite on all fours, but they are frolicking around the place, chewing on the grass, jumping the gate...trying to act normal. This once peaceful respite of my soul has been taken over and can never be reclaimed. At least, not until this issue of my car insurance is resolved.

It's beyond a simple irritation now. I've been forced to accept that a decisive best foot forward is needed, and soon. Not only is it an obligation to the laws of this country, as well as all the other good-natured drivers on the road, but Mr. Mxyzptlk because I owe it to my sense of well-being. And most of all...I owe it to the sheep.

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