We made it to January 2021! – What have we learnt?

Greetings!

This new year is the most exciting of times. We are all hopeful that the worst of the pandemic is behind us and we are looking forward to a 2021 offering more growth and stability!
However, before we move on it is worth reflecting on what 2020 gave us and what we can learn.

This month: The good, the bad and the ugly of 2020

The Good – home working and flexibility. I sincerely hope that as we move forward we keep the enormous positives of homeworking. The pandemic proved that we can work from home , be productive and still hit targets. Lots of firms I have spoken to are intending to continue to incorporate homeworking moving forward, I hope they do!
Video calling has become the norm. We have commissioned a full online interview platform which allows us to record interviews and send them to firms. Better than that the ‘interviews’ can be solo interviews where you answer questions and record yourself, only sending the recording back to us when you are happy with it! We know this really speeds up the process, essentially replacing first interview. It means you don’t need to book time off work for that first interview and by second interview you have a 70% chance of getting the job which is a far better use of your time!
The Bad (ish) – salaries in 2020 tended to be reserved, mainly they were being matched or a moderate uplift, people were moving for purpose rather than money, some NQs were unfortunately not getting the usual NQ rate but were feeling obliged to take the roles. Hopefully, this will be rectified in 2021.
The Ugly – unfortunately, there were two terrible practices that I heard about in 2020. Firstly, third parties offering work experience that then they ask people to pay for. Shamefully taking advantage of juniors who were desperate to get a foot on the legal work experience ladder. Luckily I alerted the JLD to this issue and they have warned others about this which is great.
Secondly, other ‘agencies’ acting badly, sending CVs that they find to multiple firms without consent; thereby ruining any chance of an organised market exploration by someone like us who agrees with you which firms to send your CV to. (Never mind the GDPR implications!) We saw this happen unexpectedly to individuals right up to partner level. Again, our video platform helps to eliminate this by providing a date and time stamp to conversations where we gain your permission to work with you and to explore opportunities with a particular firm. We hope that helps to eliminate bad practice and at least prove that the fault lies with the third parties not with the individuals who are often sadly unaware. From your side please be careful who you send your CV out to and where you put it online!