DO YOU HAVE THE KEY SKILLS EVERY RECRUITER WANTS?
businesses’ motives for acting the way they do. If you cannot understand the motivations, goals and constraints of your clients (be they corporations, small businesses or individuals), your advice on how they should act will be worthless. Furthermore, the place where you will practise law is a business – be it a multinational corporation making megabucks or a struggling high-street firm doing its best in straitened circumstances. Your role within it will have a direct relationship to how it achieves its goals as a business. How to demonstrate : Talk about real- life business scenarios in which you have been involved and have observed, no matter how junior or peripheral you were; it’s all about insight and analysis. Demonstrate that you have followed commercial and business stories in the press over a protracted period and can construct a narrative about why a business or sector is expanding/contracting/changing. Work experience Chances are that you already have many of the above skills; the tough part is coming up with the evidence for them. Most of the examples above are drawn from the academic and extracurricular fields. However, the richest pickings may well come from the work and work experience you have completed. Take the work you have done and make a note of all the tasks, challenges and achievements associated with it and marry these up to the skills we have described above. This is your key evidence and the way you present it is, in all likelihood, the difference between success and failure, so don’t be shy about spelling it out. Presenting yourself as a credible candidate is not at all dissimilar to a piece of academic or legal research. Determine your goal (finding a career in law); take a body of material (you and your life); analyse it against a set of criteria (the skills that employers seek); and present your findings clearly and economically (make an application).
Tread softly ‘Soft’ or ‘people’ skills are as crucial to establishing a legal career as top qualifications and intelligence. Lawyers need to win clients and keep them, while they also need to accumulate useful contacts and nurture positive relationships with their colleagues and management. Here are just a few of the skills that you can’t demonstrate in a written exam, but will need to possess: • Creating a good first impression – you will go through many introductions as you pursue your legal career and will need to get off to the best possible start. Not all people enjoy having to speak to strangers, but approaching the situation in the right frame of mind can help you to overcome any nerves. When you first meet someone, make eye contact and smile as you are introduced. If you’re in a group conversation, make sure that you make eye contact with everyone for a moment each when you are speaking, to include them in what you are saying. • Empathy – negotiation, conflict resolution and the ability to convince others of your argument’s merits are essential skills in both lawyering and civilian life, and all require empathy. In short, they are good for your career prospects and general happiness. If you are treated unreasonably or inconsiderately by a colleague or client, try not to get angry and instead consider the pressures that might be causing that person’s behaviour. This doesn’t mean that you should accept sustained bad treatment, but you may find a more effective resolution through a sympathetic, reasoned response than by drawing battle lines yourself.
Most employers want broadly the same thing in their employees – a set of skills that help to form a perfect legal professional • Attitude – an outgoing, positive approach will also help you to forge friendships, which are a great part of working life for their own sake, but can also help to advance your professional aims. You are much more likely to enjoy a happy and collegiate working life, as well as access to exciting opportunities, if you are a well-liked and respected colleague. Show a willingness to take part in social events and other activities, which proves that you are not just there to take home your pay, and that you are committed, enthusiastic and not boring (this is key).
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