Maddie's storyI am Maddie, I'm 22 years old and I graduated a year ago from the University of Leeds (I can't believe it's been a year already!) with a BA in International Relations. My aim is to become a solicitor at a city law firm so in September I am starting a law conversion at BPP in London. I'm really looking forward to starting my journey into law, although it feels like a long-way off at the moment! Q: What are your top tips for graduates who are currently job hunting?A: My top tips would be: 1) Learn from your mistakes and rejections and keep moving forward. It can be hard to stay positive but it's a good test of your resilience and you'll only come out stronger in the end 2) Remember to have fun and look after yourself! 3) Don't feel like you have to rush into anything. Take your time, since time is on your side; go travelling, find a new hobby or start a little side hustle - you'll learn a lot along the way! Q: What advice can you give someone who is trying to make themselves stand out against other applicants in a job interview?A: The legal application cycle starts properly again in September, so until then I'm trying to make the most of all the online initiatives that have popped up during lockdown. InsideSherpa and Bright Network are good websites to check out if you're not sure where to start! I think by using this time productively and demonstrating that you're eager to learn will help you to have an advantage over many other applicants. Q: What is your day to day like now? How are you going to manage it when you start the law conversion?A: I have also used this time to set up my Instagram page @_gradutling, as I had felt pretty lost after graduating and thought others must feel the same way too. It's pushed me to be more creative and given me something to concentrate on every day, and I've really enjoyed doing it! Currently my days are pretty chilled. I try to divide my time between exercise, law stuff, and gradulting stuff, so every day I'll try to do a few hours of each. Sometimes it can feel like I'm not really getting anywhere, as I don't really have an end goal in sight, but knowing that everything I do is helping me to make progress motivates me to keep going. When I start my law conversion I am worried that it will be a lot to juggle as I'll be commuting into London as well and will have to focus on applications and getting work experience, but I think once I have a good routine, that will keep me going. I'm also aware that some things might have to give a little bit but that's alright, I'm just going to have to play it by ear and see how it goes!
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AuthorThe Blue Graduate is a career and wellbeing advice and guidance blog for students and graduates experiencing post-uni 'blues'. Archives
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