Track Changes: How Two Career Changers Leapt to Law

As a 20-year-old student, securing a training contract can be an uphill struggle; as a 30-year-old career changer, it often seems like there's a mountain to climb. Two mature trainees tell us how they made the ascent and why the view from the top is mighty fine.

Career change. Two little words which can be said in a flash, but more often than not take years of blood, sweat and getting over rejection to put into action - especially when it comes to the legal profession.

"People do ask me why on earth I chose law at this stage of life," comments Gavin Hadfield, who embarked on the GDL at the age of 33. "They all want to know why you were mad enough to do it."

"It was incredibly difficult," affirms Kathryn White, who at a similar stage of life combined a change in career with a change of country and raising a young family. "Every nap and every evening, every weekend when my husband was around, and every holiday - my law books were never far from my side."

Yet in these two cases, the hard work paid off. Gavin is now a second-year trainee at magic circle firm Clifford Chance. Kathryn, meanwhile, is a trainee at Mills & Reeve, a top 50 firm that regularly features in LawCareers.Net's Training & Recruitment Awards. Both have proved that being over the age of 30 does not put you past your sell-by date. Yet neither will deny that tackling the application process and starting on the bottom rung of the profession hold very real challenges for the mature student and career changer.

We're Going Through Changes

Unusually, Gavin's transformation into a solicitor happened almost by accident. A successful recording studio manager and commercial property owner with a sideline in IT contracting, Gavin nevertheless wanted to forge new career paths and saw the GDL as a way to add legal capability to his portfolio of business skills. "I took the course part-time with no real intention of becoming a lawyer. But then the other kids were applying for jobs and I realised I could apply to be a solicitor too. Before I knew it I was down the slippery slope of a full-on career change."

Although Gavin emphasises that most mature students find it difficult to last the course unless 100% committed from the outset, there were advantages to hurtling solicitor-wards unintentionally - specifically that, by the time he knew what was happening, the momentum had already taken him some way up the applications mountain on the other side. However, job hunting while adjusting back to study was still tough - and Gavin contends that part-time courses, far from being an easy option, require a discipline and dedication that is not easily combined with a typical student lifestyle.

Kathryn, by contrast, had nursed an ambition to pursue law since working as a legal secretary after university in the United States and saw the whole process looming up ahead in its entirety. A single mum at the time, she decided not to take the challenge on at that stage and instead to teach high school history and social studies, a job she loved and which in the States takes in Constitutional and court issues. Then her circumstances changed; she married an Englishman who - living up to the stereotype - started pining for the old country when his football team was promoted. Demonstrating adept negotiation skills, Kathryn struck a deal - she would follow her hubby to England, but in return she got to go to law school. "I'd already been thinking about it in the States, but I realised the process was shorter in the UK, although the education is just as good," she explains. "I was 32 at the time, and I guess I thought I was getting to the point where I was either going to do it now or not at all."

Balancing the Books

Funding additional years of study often presents unique difficulties for career changers, especially when there's a family to support and mortgage payments to keep up with. Gavin's property investments meant that he knew he'd keep his head above water, yet he also delayed starting a family until the training contract was in the bag. Coming from the States, Kathryn became a wily shopper when she found out that most GDL providers wanted to charge her their full international fees, despite the fact that she was soon to have permanent leave to remain in the United Kingdom. The College of Law was an exception, offering her the home rate for its distance learning course, which for the first year she self-funded through student loans and the help of family and friends. "But I definitely knew that I wanted a training contract with a firm that offered sponsorship - I would say that was one of the determining factors for me."

Taking Aim

Not that Kathryn expected a training contract complete with course fees and living allowance to fall into her lap. "I learnt very quickly that it's very competitive. It's not just like applying for a job as a secretary."

Of course, the fierce scrum of the training contract race is something which all candidates have to face, whatever their age. But to a career changer, daring to leap from one ladder to another while juggling work, study and family responsibilities, it can be especially frustrating when firms don't appear to give due recognition to past achievements. UK age discrimination legislation came into effect last year, so gone are the days when Kathryn came across application forms informing those over 30 that they need not apply. Nevertheless, large City and prestigious international firms often have a taste for premium, old university candidates, enforcing stringent personal and academic criteria that they're not easily persuaded to trade in for alternative work histories or sacrifices made in studying. "I was applying to firms that were never going to recognise what I was bringing to them," believes Kathryn, who emphasises that mature applicants need to start by replacing wishful thinking with a realistic view of the marketplace. "Which is not to say that if you're not an Oxbridge or old university candidate you shouldn't apply to a top 50 firm. Mills & Reeve is a top 50 recruiter and I didn't go to Oxbridge. But in terms of making really savvy applications your chances are reduced."

Indeed, Gavin, as a magic circle trainee, is regarded as something of an exotic creature among his former law school comrades - although he's also proof positive that making it into the big league is possible for those of a certain age. Kathryn too has come across both a career-changing China academic and a former City accountant who offered skill sets major corporate and international firms found desirable. In her experience, however, the canny career changer with a more humble professional biography is often rewarded for considering other options. Small and regional firms, keen to retain staff, look for candidates committed to the local area - which is where the presumed stability of a mature applicant comes into its own. "If you play on that, that's what they really want," argues Kathryn. "They are desperate for their people to stay with them. Mature candidates and those with families - we are the right people to be targeting those firms because, nine times out of 10, we don't want to leave or pull our kids out of school. There's a lot of incentive to stick around."

Applying Yourself

"The most painful thing in the entire..." is how Gavin started to describe the form-filling stage of the application process, before his voiced trailed off to an ellipsis of boxes asking for societies joined at university, GCSE grades and other details of unclear relevance to mature candidates . "A lot of my application form looked blank to me," remembers Kathryn, describing her first few attempts to fit her US qualifications and professional experience to the questions provided. "But you can't leave blanks. One of my main things is that if you are in doubt and unsure, you have to ask. And the HR people I've spoken to are more than happy to help if it's going to get them a good, clean, readable application."

Sometimes it's merely a question of providing an estimated UK equivalent for foreign exams or not being put off in changing the default option on an online application form from GCSE to O-level. For other questions, a bit more effort is required. "We have a lot of life history," advises Kathryn, "so you should be making use of those freedom of thought spaces to explain your unusual circumstances."

One invaluable tip for any applicant is to try to get your face known to a recruiter before submitting your application. "This is where events like LawCareers.Net's Basic Training are really useful," enthuses Kathryn, who spoke at the Cambridge event. Many top firms have a preferred inbox that automatically siphons off applications the recruiter has noted he or she is eager to receive. Impressing in person, therefore, could see you bypass the bulk folder in an instant.

Interviews, meanwhile, are also unlikely to be stress-free, but career changers - with their wealth of real world experience and considered determination to pursue law - are perhaps more able to handle the pressure than most. As Gavin aptly summarises: "Doing the interview was the easiest bit. Getting to the interview was the killer."

Starting Work

There's one other important thing that our two career changers suggest those keen to follow them take onboard and that's the reality of working for partners and associates who are the same age as you - or younger. Kathryn has surveyed a number of mature trainees on the matter. "We all agree that it's quite difficult to be in the world of work for a while, particularly if you've been managing your own workload and other people, and then to get managed - to have every letter and email that you send out checked and amended." Gavin hasn't found the situation a problem, but notes that it does give rise to an interesting dynamic. "You're obviously the office junior on a work level and have to act like that, but on a personal level you're kind of their equal, so it's trying to judge in your own mind how to behave in certain situations."

But while, as Kathryn says, you must be prepared to "check your cynicism in at the door", there is a flip side to learning the ropes all over again. "It's your last opportunity to be young and not wholly responsible for what's going across your desk," she says. "There is a sort of freedom in knowing that, everything you do, the ultimate responsibility lies with someone else." And making the effort to mix with younger colleagues could see you invited to some good parties too!

A Change Would Do You Good?

For Kathryn and Gavin, it's been a long, hard slog - but worth it. Gavin sights his stint in corporate as the highlight of his training so far, particularly the work he's done on big ticket M&A deals. "I found that very interesting - as much from a commercial point of view of how the deal is structured for business reasons as the legal rationale." Kathryn, meanwhile, describes her construction seat as "brilliant", particularly the week she spent at the technology and construction court in London on a "fabulous programme" with Mr Justice Rupert Jackson.

Although there were - and almost certainly still are - issues with the lack of help and advice specifically geared to mature candidates, Gavin feels the applications process is essentially a level playing field. Like all candidates, career changers need to be committed and play to their strengths, "showing maturity but not being dominant, and demonstrating commercial awareness that younger people may not have". Kathryn reiterates those sentiments and reminds us that firms are finding it increasingly important to prove to clients that they are non-discriminatory - that mature applicants are perfectly placed to help them walk the diversity walk.

"If you talk to the people who have successfully done it, it's not rocket science," she concludes on the secret to career changing. "It's very crafty marketing of yourself to the right people."

Kathryn's Top 10 Tips on Getting a Training Contract

Target the right firms
Aim high, but be realistic - and remember that one of the main things regional practices look for in candidates is stability, which gives those who emphasise their connection to the area an advantage. Remember also that some firms are willing to take on prospective trainees as paralegals first, which can be a good option for career changers.

Go to the right university and law school
Prestige and fees play their parts - Gavin, for instance, headed straight for BPP's City LPC - but you should also look at learning options. "I didn't realise at the time how difficult distance learning is," says Kathryn, and yet it was one way of fitting the GDL around family life. Note also that less well-known regional colleges can be a good choice for those keen on firms local to the provider.

Do well at law school
"Aim for a distinction," advises Kathryn, "be happy with a commendation - especially if you have kids or a job or both - and re-evaluate things if you get a straight pass. It sounds harsh, but it's reality." Try also to participate in any extra-curricular activities on offer. "Law firms worry that mature applicants are old dogs who can't learn new tricks. Show them that you are willing to take on new challenges, learn new things and muck in with the youngsters."

Get yourself recognised
You need to get your name on that preferred inbox list, but there are ways and means. "It's kind of intimidating just to call someone up and say I'd like to have a chat with you. But when you're at an event like LawCareers.Net's Basic Training, they're standing there waiting to talk to you, so that's the ideal opportunity for a mature student to get in there and get their face recognised."

Know the application deadlines
Make sure you apply before the deadline date! But if you do miss a deadline for a firm you're really keen on, keep checking their website - sometimes circumstances do change.

Follow application directions
"Don't think that because you are older and your credentials and experience are non-standard that the rules don't apply to you," warns Kathryn. "Make your qualifications fit. They will bin your CV without looking at it if you don't."

Send out practice applications
Inevitably, you learn by doing, and your first applications may not be as good as your final ones. Therefore, start by applying to a few firms lower down your list and leave your favourites till last.

Do not blow the interview
Be prepared to answer the two questions almost all career changers face: why the change and how will you feel being supervised by people younger than yourself? As goes for any interviewee, it is important to convey as much energy, enthusiasm and openness as possible.

Mind your manners
Don't underestimate the power of a follow-up email or thank you card after an interview, letting the recruiter know you're grateful for the opportunity. "Taking this extra step shows enthusiasm and good client care skills, which are vital for ambitious law firms in the 21st century," Kathryn comments. On the other hand, bugging recruiters for a decision is unlikely to go down well.

Always be prepared
"You never know who you'll meet at your son's sixth birthday party or while sitting on a train," says Kathryn. "Always look presentable and follow up every lead. A girl on my LPC met a guy on a train who was a partner at a firm and this contact eventually led to an interview. It does happen."