I am still at university. What should I be doing during the summer holidays in order to look good when I come to apply for a training contract?
You don’t mention which year you’re in at university, but make sure that you’re aware of training contract application and pupillage deadlines. Even if you’re some way off making applications, it’s a good opportunity to become familiar with the two-years-in-advance application timetable followed by many law firms and a few sets of barristers’ chambers.
Even if you’re not at the stage of making applications yet, use the time to make sure your CV is up to date: you never know when someone will offer to look at it for you. Review what qualifications, skills and experience you can currently show, and identify what legal employers will be looking for. For example, strong academics, relevant work experience, commercial awareness, teamwork, initiative, leadership, communication. Do you need to bolster your CV in any of these areas? If so, now’s the time to do it.
Use the summer break to gain relevant work experience. Having work experience on your CV is vital: we estimate that around 90 per cent of students who have secured training contracts also have some form of work experience on their CV. Employers want to see that you are committed to law and have an awareness of what a career in law would mean. In addition to helping you make strong applications, it also gives you something to talk about at interviews.
If you’re having trouble securing work experience, use the break to start networking. This isn’t necessarily as daunting as it may sound: see our previous response on this. If hands-on contact with the profession is still hard to come by, why not sit in on court hearings: it’s easy to do and particularly useful if you’re interested in advocacy.
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At the very least, keep up to date with national and legal news; again, easy to do and can be accessed online. On a more prosaic note, unless you obtain sponsorship, pursuing a career in law can be a costly exercise, so many students spend the summer holidays working in order to finance their future career. And don’t forget: once you start working the long summer holidays you get to enjoy now will become a thing of the past, so make sure you enjoy them while you can.