Hello, and welcome back. It’s been a very long time. I could try and come up with some sort of excuse “I’ve been very busy”, “I haven’t had anything interesting to write”, “I’ve been having an out of body experience” but it would just be a half-hearted excuse when the truth was that I was being lazy and I had in fact forgotten what my log in details were. (Turns out that my password is not in fact “password”.)
This blog in the past centred on my search for the right career. They were all somewhat naïve and a little cringe-worthy for me to read back on so I thought it best to get rid of them and make way for some new stuff. They were also date and time stamped and so they disclosed just how long it’s been since I did anything on here!
A very quick catch up on things I wrote about previously and deleted:
The Law Students’ Network
This was very short lived networking group that I helped to set up. It was very commercially focused and didn’t really have much appeal for people like me who trained in public legal services and legal aid. Towards the end of my time the group started to really move away from where I would have liked it to be and started doing and saying things in a way that I didn’t want to associate with. Around the time that I left there was a mass exodus of original committee members. I know that a new committee did form but I never heard of any more events that were organised. I’m not aware that it’s still running; the website certainly no longer exists. It didn’t have a massive impact on my career but I never really expected it to.
My legal career
I did indeed pass my Legal Practice Course with a merit (68%) which I was very pleased with. It reinforced to me that I am not an idiot and I can hold my own in amongst the ‘clever people’.
Good exam results gave me the confidence to write unsolicited letters to law firms I wanted to work for telling them how great I am and how they can’t possibly continue without me. At first I felt uncomfortable but these letters produced quite a few good results so now I don’t care if it seems a little presumptuous. If people don’t like them then they can put it in the bin, but it just might be that it lands on their desk just when they were thinking about hiring someone new and it might save them the hassle of having to go out and find someone.
I’ve had two training contracts opportunities where I have come so near but no cigar. The first one I was in the final three candidates but I’m told that another candidate walked into the final interview and had the same personality and sense of humour as the head of the legal team and so the job was his practically on the spot. The other job I was in the final two but they decided to go with the other candidate because she was a legal executive and therefore they didn’t need to pay to put her through a training contract or incur any of the other related costs. Though I would have loved either job I felt that I couldn’t be too upset as there was nothing I could have done differently or improved in order to get the job.
I managed to secure two extended work experience placements. I know that they served their purpose by leading to paid work but it’s not an experience I’d like to repeat. Although I learnt a lot from some very experienced, very lovely people it is quite demoralising to see your work making money for someone else and not getting any benefit at all.
Thankfully unpaid work turned into paid work although I found that being paid didn’t make any difference to my attitude or approach to the jobs.
I’ve worked in both immigration and criminal litigation. There were times when I found things difficult to deal with. I sometimes found it hard not being able to talk about what I’d seen and heard but of course I wasn’t able to disclose privileged information. I suppose it’s probably best that I can’t discuss details of cases because if I told my friends and family about the details of my work they wouldn’t like what they heard.
Central Theatre Supplies
The most rewarding and most challenging job I’ve ever had was at Central Theatre Supplies. If I’d been able to I would have stayed forever but that wasn’t possible. I got involved in so much and in the last twelve months of my time there I was working more and more hours and taking work home with me just because I loved doing it. I left in February and since then I’ve only been back once to do half a day (unpaid) to cover holidays and it was a very strange experience, part of me loved being back but then I felt I’d gone back to square one with having to get over leaving in the first place.
I think the hardest part about it was no longer having any input into the future of the online shop. I spent so much time building it and improving it that I still get upset by the fact that it’s in very much the same state now as when I left it. It’s a mine of untapped potential but it’s going to die if no one keeps working on it. But it’s not up to me anymore.
My focus now is letting go of what’s gone on in the past and moving on; it’s difficult hearing other people discussing what’s going on there and not being involved but I need to accept it. I need to forget what’s gone on in the past and focus on finding happiness in the future.
The future
So that’s what I’ve been up to. I’ve finished my education and I’ve done as much unpaid work as one person can ever be expected to do. I’ve done jobs I’ve loved and ones I’ve hated and now it’s time for me to be looking for ways to improve my situation in order to have the future I want.
But it’s easier said than done…
