all right so you've worked incredibly hard and you've now bagged yourself a training contract
congratulations first of all before i start this video you've absolutely smashed it it's a cycle
where i've heard that only 18.3 percent do get a training contract and you're one of them i've
received so many messages from individuals lately from people who have got tc offers it just puts a
massive smile on my face every single time so that's what i want to start off my video with
with a little positive note if you're sat here wondering who is this girl congratulating us
i've never seen this girl before in my life my name is simranjeet kaur mann and i am a trainee
solicitor for a uk top 20 firm i make videos for aspiring solicitors i make vlogs about my life
about my journey to becoming a solicitor and beyond i also talk about random bits and bobs
here and there relating to personal development and current affairs that's essentially me
now let's jump straight into the video so if you're a bit like me i'm someone who
all my life i've had things that i needed to work on you know during school i had to work towards
my exams during uni i had to work towards my exams post uni i had to work towards a training contract
and then after i received my training contract i thought okay what now what do i do now so
this is a video for those of you who have secured your training contract and you're a little bit
unsure about what to do next first of all i just like to say relax and you may not need anyone to
tell you this but i wholeheartedly say when you start your training contract life becomes
busy busy as hell and i just think that time while you're waiting between now and your training
contract however long that should be there should be at least a period that you could do it for the
whole period you could do it for a select number of months within that period where you just
relax and you just chill the hell out that could mean traveling i know covert restrictions are
opening up a little bit so maybe you could go traveling for a little bit you could go on on a
staycation in the uk you could relax with family and friends whatever relaxing looks like to you
whatever good times fun times look like to you that could be reading a book it could be going
on a nature hike it could be going out it could be getting absolutely hammered so whatever that
looks like to you do it and do it as much as you can because you deserve it but if you're
someone who perhaps say your training contract is starting in like two years time you're thinking oh
god i've got two years now what do i do in that space then do carry on watching the first thing
i'd like to say is definitely consider paralegal roles so one company that i really recommend i've
recommended them in my previous videos before is flex legal flex on demand i think that's the name
flex on demand now but i'll double check it and basically they are a company that offers short
term paralegal vacancies from around two weeks to 12 months so say if you are someone who is looking
for a little bit of flexibility in your paralegal work say for example you only want to work for
a month and then you want to go on holiday and then you want to work for a month and then go on
holiday something like that flex does work out for you because you can put in your dates where you're
unavailable and during the dates that you are available they can try and send you work during
those periods so i feel like that's a bit of best of both worlds you get to obviously have your fun
times but not be bound to a firm where you know you have to take holidays and stuff like that to
be fair you may want to do that as well you know there's no harm in becoming a full-time paralegal
for a particular firm and you can obviously make the use of their holidays and just work
full-time for them that's also completely fine you can also work part-time as a paralegal
you could also perhaps even consider volunteering with the citizens advice bureau so getting
a bit of an insight into pro bono safe payment and getting paid isn't as important to you you want to
up your volunteering opportunities and experience then you can do that as well and one thing that
you can also do is once you gain your training contract offer you can email the firm that has
offered you the training contract and ask whether they have any paralegal vacancies going because
then they can or maybe offer you something and i would say there is such a big advantage to that
in that you already get an insight into the firm before you've even started you
are used to the firm's i.t systems which means that you could potentially miss some of the it
training at the start because you get so many different trainings and sessions at the start and
if you've been a paralegal with a firm before it could mean that you missed those because
you've already had the training when you were a paralegal and when you started with the firm
it also means that you're able to build your network in the firm a little bit earlier
i didn't paralegal with my firm before i started so don't feel like you know you're at massive
disadvantage if you don't i personally felt like when i started with my firm those who had
paralegaled at the firm before they started their training contract they just seemed to have a bit
of a head start before everyone whereas now i feel like it's a bit more of a level pegging everyone's
i guess up to speed with it and how the systems work and stuff but in the first couple of weeks
we could really i personally really felt the difference between those who paralegaled at
the firm before and those hadn't so that's definitely something to consider and if they don't
offer you a vacancy straight away it may be worth chasing up in six months to a year's time to see
whether that position's changed there are great advantages like i've mentioned to paralegaling
before you start your training contract no matter what firm you're at it gives you an
idea about how to work in the office it gives you an idea about drafting experience client contact
but again like i said it's not necessary you're not required to do paralegal work
before your training contract i just think it's something that helps it just gives you a bit more
awareness about how law firms operate another thing i guess for certain students is they will
have to do their lpc so those of you who have their training contracts before you did your
lpc you will have to do your lpc before you start your training contract that's exactly what i did
and for tips on the lpc just head over to my video above where i talk about everything i did to gain
a distinction on the lpc also there are some firms that offer internships to those who have had a
training contract offer from their firm so i know clifford chance for example they offer internships
for those future trainees who are joining their firm it's a really cool initiative and i feel
like every firm should perhaps adopt that firms can also organize things for you to do before
you start your training contract so a couple of months before i started my training contract
my firm gave us a couple of workshop sessions on personal brand and networking which i found really
useful before i started my training contract there are other firms out there for example
that do networking events they do socials pizza making cocktail making all of that kind of stuff
before the trainee starts so you're able to break the ice already with your cohort
so you're not too worried about meeting everyone for the first time on the first day another thing
you can do while you're waiting for your training contract to start is start building your network
don't just wait for your training contract to start for you to then start building your
professional network i think if you use this time to build the practice now then that's most useful
i talk a lot about reaching out to people on linkedin in one of my previous videos so
i won't repeat that here and you can watch that video via the link above within that
networking circle one thing that you can also do is see whether you can meet any members of
your cohort sooner you can arrange informal drink sessions or an activity like bowling for example
allows you to meet your cohort before you start so you're able to make those friendships and
it's just i guess it feels a lot better to know that you're starting a firm with other people
not just starting by yourself and the last and final thing last but definitely not least
is something that you may or may not decide to do obviously everything in this video is
based on your own decision and what you want to do in the years while you wait before your
training contract to start but this is one that i did and i most definitely do not regret it
and it's starting something that you wish you'd always started
so while i was actually looking for a training contract so this was before i had my offers
i made a list of everything i wanted to do once i'd gained a training contract offer
some of those things have not been completed like get a dog and all this kind of stuff then
i can't do that but they just weren't feasible but there were certain things on that list that
i am glad that i did and you know for one of those things was try and start my own i guess
side hustle side passion side business and this is my youtube channel and my content creation
one thing i also told myself that i didn't get a chance to do one thing i've always wanted to do
weirdly is be a barista like make coffee i don't know why i don't even drink coffee but that's one
thing that i told myself if i was to do any job in the world oh my laptop just went off
if i was to do any job in the world i'd want to do that i don't know why i never managed to do it but
if there is one thing in your life that you've always wanted to do just try and do it in that
moment because i feel like the gap between now and when you start your training contract it's
just a great time for you to not have to worry about career for once in your life
so you can do any career that you want that's that's kind of how i how i saw it you can also
start your own youtube channel start your own small business on instagram obviously not saying
that you have to do this if you just honestly want to use this time to just sloth out i don't blame
you i you know a lot of the time before i start my training contract i did the same and i'm really
glad that i used that time just to just decompress and relax so that's my biggest advice so those are
some things that i recommend that you can do while you're waiting for your training contract to start
of course there may be some things that other people did that i've not mentioned
here if you are one of those people and i've not mentioned anything that you've particularly done
mention it in the comments below and yeah we can all share ideas but thank you so much for watching
and again massive massive congratulations to you for securing that training contract