Boris Ignachkov A top-tier law firm recruiter shares honest answers to the questions that you guys asked last week.
The anonymous graduate recruiter talks about application review, networking, mistakes, and work experience.
How did you get into graduate legal recruitment?
My legal career started when I was 18, working in the post room of a boutique firm in the city. I loved chatting to everyone as I dropped their post off and became particularly interested in the work that the HR team did.
I was offered an apprenticeship in their team and have been working on the graduate recruitment cycle ever since. I made the move from generalist HR to specialising in recruitment a few years after, and I have never looked back.
My favourite time of the working year is training contract offer day!
What will soyouwanttobeasolicitor focus on?
I’d like to give people an insight into the application process, because the stages we go through and what we’re looking for aren’t necessarily widely known.
I’ll post some key application dates soon, alongside more tips and information about different elements of the grad cycle.
My aim is to stay anonymous so that we can have real and honest conversations about what goes down with your application. I’m also happy to take any questions through the DMs on the page.
As the page evolves, I’d like to share some information on professional skills such as networking, time recording, business development and personal brand with some help from my legal network.
What is the best way to network with a graduate recruiter?
Not through LinkedIn! I love LinkedIn a lot, but I get messages from students all the time and there are only so many “how was your weekend?” messages that we have time to respond to. Feel free to connect on LinkedIn as we usually share key application info on our LinkedIns, but if you want to chat to us, please don’t send loads of messages.
I’m most responsive over email, you can find the graduate recruitment email address on a firm’s website on the grad pages.
The best way to get noticed by a recruiter is at a law fair or firm open day; I tend to remember people I’ve spoken to in person/on zoom.
After having a good conversation with a prospective applicant, I’ll make a note of their name and add it to the watchlist on our application portal. This means that I’ll get an email notification when that person applies to the firm and it’ll match my notes up to the application.
Ask good questions, be friendly and enthusiastic about the firm and you might end up on a watchlist!
How long do you spend on an application before making a decision on it?
Not as long as you might think. I know that sucks as you guys spend so much time on your applications, but we see thousands every year and to spend longer than about a minute at first sift would take too long. I’m all for spending an evening reading TC applications but there are only so many hours in the day/night!
When we first look at an application, we make sure you meet our minimum requirements (mitigating circumstances are considered) and that you have referenced elements specific to the firm.
The application will then be reviewed at another 2 stages at least, by different members of the graduate recruitment or HR team in more detail. At these stages, we tend to spend at least 5 minutes reading the application thoroughly.
It’s here that we’re checking the quality of your written questions, the research you’ve done on the firm, and your dedication to a career in law. The top applications we’ve reviewed will then be sent a Watson Glaser or equivalent.
What kinds of mistakes will make you reject an application?
Personally, I don’t discredit applications on spelling/grammatical errors, but I have worked with people that will immediately reject an application upon seeing a spelling mistake or misuse of punctuation – so be careful!
There’s also nothing worse than seeing “I’m applying to [name of wrong firm] because…” (it does happen!) when people are copying and pasting their answers. It’s also frustrating when applicants haven’t researched the firm and reference a practice area our firm doesn’t actually have…
I understand that applications take up a lot of your time, but you must make sure you tailor them to each firm you apply to.
How important are mitigating circumstances? Do you judge how genuine they are?
Mitigating circumstances are taken seriously, we don’t ask for them as a box checking exercise – we’re genuinely interested!
I will say now, there are limits with mitigating circumstances. Last year I saw “I didn’t go to private school” as a mitigating circumstance for 3 Ds at A-Level. Be mindful that the people reading your application may not have come from a place of privilege either, so don’t insult them!
On the flip side, I’ve seen a fair few applications with mitigating circumstances that have made me tear up a bit. If you have a genuine reason for not achieving your potential, please do outline this on your application – we do take them into account!
Are applicants with no legal experience or a gap in the CV at a disadvantage?
Legal work experience throughout the pandemic has been like gold dust, we know full well how difficult it has been to get work experience this year and last.
Whilst we’re looking for experience that aligns to the role that we hope to hire you to do, we’re also looking for potential.
I usually encourage applicants to add all of their work experience, be it in a cafe or as a child minder, as these roles develop skills that you can transfer to a legal career (not saying that some partners need babysitting…!). You should also include any volunteering at law clinics or your extra-curricular activities, such as mooting or debate society activities.
I wouldn’t say that those without legal experience are disadvantaged, but it is preferred. Professional services experience is highly regarded for most firms too.
I wouldn’t reject an application due to a gap on the CV, but if you do have one, it would be helpful to know what you were doing or if you had mitigating circumstances to explain this.
Good grades but no work experience or sub-par academics with legal work experience? Which applicant would you choose, solely on those parameters?
My preference is experience over grades every time. Maybe it’s because I didn’t go to university myself, but an applicant would need to be hitting the minimum grade requirements for us to be looking at the work experience anyway, so my focus would be on experience instead of the grades.
Ultimately, when we’re looking at an application, we’re looking to see if you could do the work that a trainee does. The best way to evidence this is by showcasing the responsibilities and tasks you’ve undertaken in previous roles, and aligning them to those of a trainee.
GCSE/A level grades or university grades, which ones are more important?
University grades are the most important, followed by A-Levels. I don’t pay much attention to GCSEs unless it’s down to the wire and we can’t choose between two candidates.