The battle for the best trainees is relentless. Firms spend a small fortune touring around Oxbridge and the Russell Group universities trying to woo the best graduates. They talk about what a supportive firm they are and how they will provide them with the training and guidance they need to become skilled, rounded lawyers. The message is clear: there’s no question that you’ll want to stay with us upon qualification and we’ll want to keep you.
For many trainee solicitors, this is exactly what happens, and they can look forward to progressing through the ranks as they transition from trainee to NQ solicitor.
Inevitably though, some aren’t kept on. At the end of their training period, they are not offered a position at their firm and need to look elsewhere to take the next step in their career. This may not always be a reflection on the NQs themselves. When you consider the fact that many firms take on several dozen or more trainees, plus the changes that may have taken place in the years between first offering training contracts and qualification – at the firm, in certain legal sectors and the wider economy, for example – this is hardly surprising. While it is noble for firms to try for a perfect retention score, it isn’t always realistic.
When the legal press announces the retention scores each spring and autumn, it is hard not to wonder what happens next to those NQs who are looking for a new role. As recruiters, we’ve always been curious about what law firms do to help those NQs who are, for whatever reason, moving upon qualification. What support and advice have they received to find a new position, either within the law or outside it?
As a result, we carried out a survey of final seat trainees and newly qualified solicitors on our online recruitment platform, NQSolicitors.com. The results make interesting reading for us and not such happy reading for law firms keen to press their credentials to prospective trainees.
Below is a summary of the headline results
The full results are available here.
- Only 30% of trainees have/had a back-up plan if they don’t secure an NQ role at their training firm, with 46% having one ‘to some degree’ and 24% having no plan at all.
- More than half (53%) said their firm offered no support at all to trainees who didn’t secure an NQ position. This is an alarming statistic and shows that many firms are discarding these trainees without any help. Some firms did offer support, and this is contrasted with the assistance these trainees would have liked to have received, as follows:
- 72% of trainees felt that their firm should have provided at least some of this support to NQs who were not retained, compared to 28% who thought it didn’t need to. This indicates that the vast majority of trainees feel firms are letting down trainees who aren’t kept on.
- Interestingly though, only 30% said the availability of this type of support would have made a difference when deciding which firm to train at. This may show prospective trainees’ confidence (in some cases misplaced) when applying for jobs (i.e. that they were sure they’d be kept on).
- When asked how much they wanted to remain with their training firm upon qualification, 21% were unequivocal in saying that they did, 43% said ‘highly’, 17% said they did to a degree, with only 8% saying they were unsure and 11% ‘not at all’. This is a big thumbs-up for firms, with the vast majority indicating a desire or willingness to stay on at their training firm.
- However, only 15% were absolutely confident they would be kept on in their preferred practice area, 39% were highly confident, 22% confident to a degree, 19% unsure and 6% not confident at all.
- When asked what was more important, staying with their training firm or qualifying into their preferred practice area, only 5% said staying at the firm trumped their preferred practice area. 73% percent placed more importance on their practice area and 22% gave them equal priority.
Our conclusion is that firms should be doing more to help trainees who aren’t retained on qualification.
We question, though, whether there is an even bigger issue at play here. As we said, firms pride themselves on the rounded lawyers their training produces. But surely many of the skills trainees claim to want help with are ones they should have acquired as part of their training programme? If their training was really as rounded as firms claim, surely NQs would have the confidence and know-how they need to land their next role.
Soft skills such as making a good impression at an interview, the ability to network (online in the case of LinkedIn) are surely ones they should have already acquired. Are some firms letting down all their trainees by not giving quite the rounded training they claim?
We’re keen to hear your views on this topic. Whether you’ve undertaken a training contract or have been responsible for ensuring the welfare of trainee solicitors, please do leave a comment.