Industry Guide Part 1: Legal

Why would you want to work in the Legal sector?

A career in the legal profession is not all about pacing up and down packed courtrooms, delivering dramatic speeches that would guarantee your place in the World’s Greatest Orators of all Time list and make even the great Sir Laurence Olivier in his heyday bow down to you in admiration. And then when you have finished banging the world to rights you slip off and enjoy your cognac and cigar. Alright this may happen on that rarest of occasions but in the main, a legal career is much more routine that that, even at the higher echelons of the legal tree.

Industry Guides

In the wake of last week’s ‘A’ level results and today’s GCSE’s results many students will be deliberating their future direction. With some 200,000 students expected to miss out on a place at university this year and an increasing number of school leavers feeling relatively despondent and uncertain of their career prospects – even if they choose to continue with their education, many people will be re-evaluating their career choices and may even be re-considering what other options may be open to them.

Last year I was commissioned by Monster (Europe) to produce a series of some 30+ careers eBooks covering a wide range of industry sectors. So, with their permission, I will be serialising these on this blog over the next few weeks – the intention of which is to give job seekers an insight into different sectors and an understanding of how they can get their foot in the door of some of the most sought-after professions - irrespective of whether they have a university degree or not.

Paul

Are you getting the recognition you deserve at work?

When Ian Brown penned the lyrics to the Stone Roses’ atmospheric anthem I Wanna Be Adored, he was writing about how some people crave recognition and attention for everything that they do. Although we don’t all have delusions of grandeur or expect to be have lashings of praise thrust upon us for the work that we do, it wouldn’t hurt if our bosses gave us the recognition that we deserve, would it? After all, how often do you stay late at work to ensure that a project is completed on time, never miss a deadline and aren’t afraid to get your hands dirty to successfully finish even the worse jobs yet your boss barely gives any thought to saying “Well done” or “Thank you”?

How the UK works versus the rest of the world

With more than half of British workers claiming they have experienced symptoms of overwork and a further 4 million already working over 48 hours each week, the work-related stress and long-hours culture has encroached our society. But if you think that we have it bad in the UK, spare a thought for some of our colleagues around the world. 

This article looks at how the UK’s working culture compares to that of other nations and after reading, you may just find that we actually have very little to moan about.

 

Are you being unrealistic about your job search?

Throughout the application and interview process you have remained positive and confident that it will only be a matter of time before you get that all-important job offer. Instead, you get the dreaded ‘thanks but no thanks’ letter informing you that, ‘on this occasion’, your application has not been successful. And now you find yourself continuing to send off more applications to newly advertised jobs. But, stop. If your CV is winning interviews but you aren’t getting offers – or perhaps your application never gets that far – then take a step back and consider the reason why; you may; find that you are applying for positions where you don’t match the requirements.

Making waves in the desert

Log onto any of the jobs sites for journalists and you will be awash with a plethora of recruitment adverts attempting to lure you away from the UK to ply your trade in the UAE, with the promise of creative freedom, ultra-modern surroundings and of course, tax-free income. But is it really all it’s cracked up to be, and can the likes of Dubai and Abu Dhabi really live up to the expectations of ambitious hacks?

Here we will look at the two regions in the UAE that are pulling out all the stops to seduce British journalists: Dubai and Abu Dhabi. 

Daily gripe: Graduates want to work, not train

The results of the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) bi-annual survey released yesterday highlight what many commentators have been saying for several months: there simply aren’t enough graduate jobs around. While the survey reveals that there are some 69 graduates applying for each position, this compounded by the fact that – like it or not – graduates are by-and-large simply ill-equipped with the skills needed to ‘make it’ in today’s working environment.

At risk of being shunned by my peers on this one, let me explain where I’m coming from.

When the boss is on holiday: How to cope?

When Gordon Brown took his annual leave he left three senior Cabinet members to take of the country in his absence. It’s a scene oft repeated throughout the UK and none more so than at this time of year as our airports play centre stage for a mass exodus of millions of people escaping in earnest for their summer holiday. As the boss takes time off to recharge their batteries – soaking up the sun while holidaying at some exclusive resort, sipping a glass or two of Château Margaux or some other fine wine considered too valuable for their owners ever to uncork – their deputy steps up to the plate and assumes responsibility for the ensuing two weeks. But while the cat’s away, the mice won’t have too much time to play – especially in today’s ever-increasing no-room-for-error workplace. 

Daily gripe: Why Twitter is NOT a numbers game

For any forward-thinking business Twitter is unquestionably a must, irrespective of whether your customers are from the B2B or B2C sectors. It is the fastest growing and leading microblogging site being used today and over the course of a year, registered Twitter accounts have grown more than 1,500%. But my gripe is the number of tweets I see every day from people offering tactics to increase the number of followers I’m getting or boast that they now have 1,000 people following them – you’re all missing the whole darn point of social media!!

Career self-sabotage: it’s in your hands

In his book, Blink, Malcolm Gladwell said that “decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as decisions made cautiously and deliberately”. Indeed, the job for life culture has long gone and today people are losing their jobs in banking, sales and the public sector service following re-structuring or budgetary cuts in public spending. In fact, more than half a million British workers will be ‘let go’ from their jobs every year. But, despite this air of uncertainty in the job market, many people are continuing to put their jobs in jeopardy without realising it. So, what are the things that you need to avoid in order to disaster-proof your career?