Ainu to ask you for advice?

[Tinabn]

Daughter- a paralegal- has just had her third contract not renewed, I am worried about her and for her, she thought this one might be on going now feels that she should look else where but doesn't think she can do anything. Has any one had experience of firms that can help graduates with new career paths?

What reasons have been given for not renewing her contract?

So is she a law graduate or does she have a degree in a different discipline? Has she done her LPC? what were her grades like if she is after a training contract?

She has a 2.1 in history from a Russell group uni and a merit in her law conversion. Don't know why this one ended, she talked to her father, who told me, but she had a huge knock in her first job, and had to rebuild her confidence bit by bit, she gets the positions but I think the job is a lot of admin and she is terrified of missing things so takes her time to get it right. She has suffered from anxiety and I fear this will now impact on her next move. She has been a counsellor at uni, can produce and direct plays from scratch but can't bring this success to her job. Love her so much!

She has been going for training contracts.

The problem may be that if she takes too long the firm cannot charge for all her time or if they work on fixed fee basis then if other people are quicker they are more cost effective. Also there are so many people after training contracts that some firms hire paralegals, offer training contracts to those they want and then don't renew contracts so that they can try out others for the following year's contracts.

Has she tried contacting legal departments in local authorities as they sometimes have training contracts available and although there msy be some time pressures they are generally not as tough as in private practice.

The degree and uni seem fine but it is a very competitive field and firms will look at earlier grades too eg. A levels.

At a medium sized regional they'd get over 250 applicants for 2 training contracts with a minimum requirement of AAB, 2.1 from RG or other 'good' uni.

I think she wants to get out of law but doesn't know what else to do, she got the idea in year 10, is there any where she could get career advice?

To be honest I think she probably needs to seek her own career advice, rather than you doing it for her. She's a grown woman and I'm not sure why she would still need help from her mum about her career decisions. Having you do this stuff for her might not be helping her if she needs to be a bit more assertive/mature/confident in the workplace. I don't mean that in a nasty way - I completely get that you want to help her and all parents want to see their kids happy whether they're kids or grown-ups - but it is something to think about. It's her career and she needs to be doing her own research if she wants a career change.

Also, you don't work with her and a parent can't really be objective about how their child might perform at work. Did she ask for feedback? Did she ever have appraisals or reviews with her manager?

One thing I would say is that if she was on a fixed-term contract, it could just be that they don't need her any more. Fixed-term contracts are just that: fixed term. They may not have a budget to make it a permanent role or they may not have enough work for her to continue. Or, if she was on a trainee/apprentice salary or something, maybe they would rather take on another trainee on a lower wage than have to take on a fully trained paralegal at a fully trained paralegal's salary. Some companies do behave badly and just keep taking on trainee after trainee on FTCs rather than ever giving permanent roles, which is shitty.

However, if she really doesn't enjoy law but is great at other things - you mentioned directing and writing plays, for instance - maybe she'd be better off looking for a role in the arts sector, even if it's just an admin role, where she'd be in an environment she enjoys more, or aiming for a more creative career like journalism or PR or advertising where she might eventually get to use her writing skills. The fact that she has a law degree rather than, say, English wouldn't necessarily be a barrier.

Totally Agree Pollyflint, if she knew I was doing this she wouldn't need career advice as she would be in jail for my murder! She is coming home for the weekend and so I am posting for advice for me so I can help if asked. Law is a difficult profession to get into, the pay is terrible lower down on the ladder but all the family have been in education since the beginning of the world so we can't really discuss other careers

Has she considered a career working in policy or campaigning in the charity sector? I've had quite a few colleagues in these roles who have law degrees (or a degree in another subject followed by a law conversion). (I'm a university drop out and worked my way up starting from an admin role). I would think a degree in history and a law conversion would have lots of good transferable skills, especially when it came to absorbing policy documents, keeping up to date with what's happening in parliament or thinking of campaigning strategies.

Is their an issue or cause she's passionate about? For example, disability rights, health equality, children's rights etc? If so, she could take a look at Charity Job website and look at the job descriptions for Policy Officers, Parliamentary Officers, Campaign Officers etc. See if she likes the idea of working in those roles. She may need to start off as an assistant and work her way up though, but it could be a rewarding career (though not particularly financially rewarding - it is the charity sector!).

Another idea would be to look at the website workforanmp (or something like that) if she's interested in working as a parliamentary researcher. Again, history and law would be good skills to have for this.

Thanks everyone for your help.