Legal apprenticeship: any tips on trying to find a trainee solicitor job
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sammy25
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Hi, I had a first round interview with RDJ too and still heard nothing back, have you? How did you find the interview?
thegaffer83
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Nothing yet...Found it fine though.Only lasted about 10-15 mins i'd say.
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sammy25
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You reckon they will get back to people they not calling? Hate having to wait,my interview was about ten mins too and ok was a bit odd I thought! Im working as a legal assistant and its really tedious...just need to get started, was hoping for RDJ coz im from Cork but dont think its looking likely..
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The_Recruit
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Hi guys,
I am new to this forum - oh, what a plentiful resource it could have been for me, if only I had thought to look sooner.
Having been disappointed by the torturous interviews in some of the larger Dublin firms last year, this time around I decided to apply only to mid-sized firms, in the hope that there would be less hoops for me to jump through and a less confrontational interview experience. As it so happens, adopting that tactic this year could have proved to be quite an ill-advised one, since in the end I only got called for interview with one of the ten or so firms I applied to. To my great relief, after two rounds of interviews, I got an offer. (For obvious reasons, I do not want to mention the name of the firm that is hiring me here in the public forum, but I will gladly disclose it via private message.)
While obviously I can't give much advice as to what all firms are looking for in thier future trainees, it is my opinion that for the firm I interviewed with it was more a question of "personality fit" than "strong candidate on paper". I think having all my FE1s was important, since it meant that theoretically I could to start work tomorrow (and this was asked of me, in the hypothetical, in both interviews.)
If I had not been made an offer this time, I think I would have tried to get into a firm in London. And if that plan had failed, I think I would have looked at pursuing an LLM in London. Luckily, that won't be necessary (provided there's no great calamity between now and October).
Are all the offers out at this stage across the board? If anyone has any questions for me, I would be more than happy to share my thoughts/experiences with you. For those of you studying for your FE1s, best of luck! This economic depression will not last forever - that much is certain. So keep at it!
I am new to this forum - oh, what a plentiful resource it could have been for me, if only I had thought to look sooner.
Having been disappointed by the torturous interviews in some of the larger Dublin firms last year, this time around I decided to apply only to mid-sized firms, in the hope that there would be less hoops for me to jump through and a less confrontational interview experience. As it so happens, adopting that tactic this year could have proved to be quite an ill-advised one, since in the end I only got called for interview with one of the ten or so firms I applied to. To my great relief, after two rounds of interviews, I got an offer. (For obvious reasons, I do not want to mention the name of the firm that is hiring me here in the public forum, but I will gladly disclose it via private message.)
While obviously I can't give much advice as to what all firms are looking for in thier future trainees, it is my opinion that for the firm I interviewed with it was more a question of "personality fit" than "strong candidate on paper". I think having all my FE1s was important, since it meant that theoretically I could to start work tomorrow (and this was asked of me, in the hypothetical, in both interviews.)
If I had not been made an offer this time, I think I would have tried to get into a firm in London. And if that plan had failed, I think I would have looked at pursuing an LLM in London. Luckily, that won't be necessary (provided there's no great calamity between now and October).
Are all the offers out at this stage across the board? If anyone has any questions for me, I would be more than happy to share my thoughts/experiences with you. For those of you studying for your FE1s, best of luck! This economic depression will not last forever - that much is certain. So keep at it!
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The Recruit, can i ask you what sort of degree you have and whether you had legal experience. I have top degree and legal experience and everything and fe1's done and still not even one interview did i get totally disheartened by it all. also would you mind telling me by private message what firm you were successful with? did you apply to that firm last year??
by the way CONGRATS you must be so relieved to have something secured
by the way CONGRATS you must be so relieved to have something secured
Irishlawgirl
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The Recruit, can i ask you what sort of degree you have and whether you had legal experience. I have top degree and legal experience and everything and fe1's done and still not even one interview did i get totally disheartened by it all. also would you mind telling me by private message what firm you were successful with? did you apply to that firm last year??
by the way CONGRATS you must be so relieved to have something secured
I.M. I feel for you I really do - i'm in teh same boat and i've just about come to terms with having a good degree,all fe1's, two years experience (paralegal in top 4) further education... and zilch of an a'ship. When you say you didn't get an interview - did you mean get called for an interview or past it? Just curious - I didn't get called myself but I only applied to the top ten. Was planning on sending out cv's to everyone else but i'm pretty fed up and about as much in the mood for selling myself than I am in believing the economy will turn around in 2009!
Who do you (and others posting on this thread) consider to be 'the top ten'? Just out of curiosity.
(in my "still student " opinion and in roughly this order order)
Arthur Cox
McCann Fitz
A&L
MOP
W.Fry
BCM Hanby Wallace
Dillon Eustace
Eversheds
Mason Hayes Curran
Beachamps
I reckon your top 5 are right naturally enough (though not necessarily in that order. Having said that, those five are pretty much interchangeable).
Dillon Eustace and ODSE are considerably smaller than MH+C though. I think BCM is probably smaller than MH+C too.
Dillon Eustace and ODSE are considerably smaller than MH+C though. I think BCM is probably smaller than MH+C too.[/quote]
I wasnt aware of that at all. I just assumed that because MHC forfeited their recruitment procedure, they were smaller than DE and ODSE.
What criteria are we using to differentiate? Size of workforce, profitability, ranking in legall 500/chambers europe/lexis nexis? Or perhaps a combination of everything? How would you list the top 10?
btw this is an interesting article [broken link removed]. I know it dates back to 2005 (peak of boom) but the appropriation of revenues (though maybe not the level!!) cannot be drastically different from what it is at the moment..
I wasnt aware of that at all. I just assumed that because MHC forfeited their recruitment procedure, they were smaller than DE and ODSE.
What criteria are we using to differentiate? Size of workforce, profitability, ranking in legall 500/chambers europe/lexis nexis? Or perhaps a combination of everything? How would you list the top 10?
btw this is an interesting article [broken link removed]. I know it dates back to 2005 (peak of boom) but the appropriation of revenues (though maybe not the level!!) cannot be drastically different from what it is at the moment..
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The_Recruit
Guest
The Recruit, can i ask you what sort of degree you have and whether you had legal experience. I have top degree and legal experience and everything and fe1's done and still not even one interview did i get totally disheartened by it all. also would you mind telling me by private message what firm you were successful with? did you apply to that firm last year??
by the way CONGRATS you must be so relieved to have something secured
Thanks.
To answer your questions, I have a BCL (2.1 from UCD) completed 3-5 years ago, and a first class masters (non-law). I have some relevant financial experience, but not specifically "law office" experience (and what little I do have doesn't add up to years either). The interviews went very well, and I'm sure that's the only reason I got the job. I probably should add, I am 26 now so perhaps firms are looking for slightly older candidates? I cannot say!
The impression I am getting at the moment is that there were very few traineeships up for grabs this year - so I was exceptionally lucky to get one. (To answer your question, L.M., I did not apply to the firm in question last year.) However, I don't think I have any wonderful skills that others are lacking. I cannot explain why I got the traineeship over other candidates. I guess law firms must be inundated with very highly qualified candidates, so getting called for interview might just be a question of luck of the draw. I understand how frustrating it must be for some of you to have worked so hard in college, and getting your FE1s and relevant work experience, then only to be rejected without so much as a chance to prove yourself at interview. In fact, getting the interview in the first place seems to be an achievement.
Why are some of you not even getting first round interviews? I have no idea - and I can hardly profess to be an expert, since I only got one interview out of all the applications I sent out. As with any job (and especially one in the professions), everything in your application documents needs to be 100% perfect: no stray commas or missing apostrophes. Cover letters should be clear and "to the point", and definitely no more than three medium-sized paragraphs in length.
As disheartening as it is, at the end of the day you have to play the numbers game. By this I mean that there are a certain limited number of law firms in Ireland, each with a certain limited number of traineeships on offer each year. The more applications you put in, the higher your chances of getting an interview. Maybe someone can help work out the statistics/probability of getting a traineeship... Does the Law Society release the numbers of candidates who pass the FE1s each year? Is there any way of knowing roughly how many people there are interested in getting a traineeship? I think that would be very helpful to know.
"Does the Law Society release the numbers of candidates who pass the FE1s each year? Is there any way of knowing roughly how many people there are interested in getting a traineeship? I think that would be very helpful to know."
That is a statistic I certainly would rather NOT know, I believe same would shock us all. Not that the Law Soc would ever want to release such a figure anyway....hardly in their interest to do so, in my view.
That is a statistic I certainly would rather NOT know, I believe same would shock us all. Not that the Law Soc would ever want to release such a figure anyway....hardly in their interest to do so, in my view.
The recruit thanks for answering my queries, i have no idea where im going wrong guess im lucky i have a job to keep me occupied in the meantime. congrats tho again on securing it i'd love to feel the relief you must be feeling!!
Irish law girl i applied to 17 big places including all the ones listed above and only got one interview which i attended last june.....an interview i only got a rejection from the last day! A firm who completely wasted my time since last march and who gave me false hope since then that i would get a training contract with them. I dont know where to go from here i was contemplating applying for the summer internships but than whats the point seen as they don't think im good enough for interview for training contract
Wish someone would of told me how hard this was before i embarked on this career choice. My biggest flaw i think is having no connections in the legal world.
Irish law girl i applied to 17 big places including all the ones listed above and only got one interview which i attended last june.....an interview i only got a rejection from the last day! A firm who completely wasted my time since last march and who gave me false hope since then that i would get a training contract with them. I dont know where to go from here i was contemplating applying for the summer internships but than whats the point seen as they don't think im good enough for interview for training contract
Wish someone would of told me how hard this was before i embarked on this career choice. My biggest flaw i think is having no connections in the legal world.
Irishlawgirl
Registered User
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what??! Cannot imagine what that was like!?! Janey - sometimes I really have to remind myself to cop on and stop feeling sorry for myself! I think sometimes, as i'm a bit older (26) and don't know anyone really in the same boat that I think i'm the ONLY person who's gotten a raw deal! Silver lining-i'm in a job.
As for the question above - who did I consider to be the top ten - same as noted above to be honest. I know three or four bounce between top 15 positions - doesn't really matter really, it's just they have more of a structure to interviews and telling people to PFO!! Ha!
thegaffer83
Registered User
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The PFOs are starting to feel a bit more biting...GFYs??