Nov
7
Three Trainee Tips
- Listen: It might sound obvious but one of the most important skills you can develop during your traineeship is the ability to listen effectively. Listen to the supervising lawyer when she’s giving you instructions and this will save you the embarrassment of having to ask her to repeat them down the line. Listen during training sessions and don’t just treat them as free buffet time away from your desk. Listen to the support staff when they have complaints and you can feed these back up to the more remote staff at senior levels who perhaps don’t have time to entertain queries like this they perceive as ‘trivial’. You have completed the Diploma and your Degree and you are now at the point in your career when you’re actually learning the most. You should listen to the people around you who have your best interest in heart and can offer the best practical and commercial advice to help you develop.
- Diarise: You learn from your mistakes and I learned this lesson the hard way. Throughout your traineeship you should keep a diary of all the deals you worked on and the work you carried out. This will help you inestimably when it comes to putting together an NQ CV. The minutiae of the £1 billion share issue you just slaved through the night for two weeks to make happen might seem infinitely memorable to you right now in post-completion. I guarantee you however that two, three years down the line you’ll forget just exactly what work you helped with and so you’ll unavoidably undervalue yourself on your CV. Keeping an accurate account of the types of work you have completed throughout your two years and a record of the exact detail of these deals (clients, values etc.) is a little work for a lot of reward. Trust me.
- Network: I cannot stress this enough: network, network, network. Make sure to take everyone’s card you work with or for and make sure you give them yours. Pick up with them on Linkedin or by e-mail at a future point. Of the 250-300 job applications I have completed this past year my best successes have come through picking up with a past contact. A Senior Associate in one of my old departments, for example, was able to canvas his own network to fish out some upcoming unadvertised positions that would suit me. These led to two interviews. Through another personal contact I was able to secure an interview for a position where the firm had only been considering offering an opportunity at that time. Get in touch with an agent, even at this early stage, and she will start to work for you. I can personally recommend Frasia Wright in Scotland. They will help compile and direct your NQ CV and be able to give you accurate information on the state of the current jobs market. Do not waste the connections and goodwill you’ve earned from the relationships you’ve worked on. You’ve worked hard to earn these and you deserve to reap some benefit from them.
