NQ jobs - I thought Id done the hard bit

[jonotheeagle]

There don't appear to be too many NQ positions out there

Myself and the other trainee at my firm have been told because of the credit crunch etc, there wont be any NQ positions for us. Fine, I didn't necessarily want to stay on anyway, but there dont appear to be NQ vacancies anywhere. I'd lke to qualify into either Family or Private Client
and wouldnt mind starting an NQ role somewhere towards the beginning of October, so I guess I still have a bit of time, but to be honest the whole NQ landscape is looking pretty bleak at the moment.

Anyone else having a similar struggle?

[cosy]

It is really bad at the moment. At least you have until October, I qualify end of July. I am very worried. There is nothing out there. Whats worse is my experience is in conveyancing and the market is terrible for that. My other is in PI and my experience is not really good enough. I never thought it was gonna be like this!

I don't intend to stay with my current firm upon qualification so I hope it improves by this time next year (I qualify in July 2009).

[carpediem]

Yeah its been pretty bad at the moment. I qualified in sept last year just as the credit crunch started, been with about 5 recruitment agencies since then and only just got a new job last week, which I had to take a pay cut for.

As the credit crunch has hit, think firms have first tried to move staff around rather than make redundancies and then as its got worse, no one's setting on until they know how bad its going to get.

On top of that its a spiral cos the less jobs there are, the more candidates go for them.

Fingers crossed in hte next year or so things will pick up again.

[iwanabealawyer12345678]

This is very worrying, I couldn't survive without a job!

Carpedium, do you mind me asking what area you qualified into?

And what did you you do in the interim period (ie September - June)?

Sorry for all the questions, I am just worried that I am going to be in the same boat soon, so any advice from someone who has gone through a similar experience would be great .

PS, glad it all worked out for you in the end

[carpediem]

I qualified in litigation and was looking for civil/comm/criminal litigation in the Yorkshire area for a high street/ medium sized firms.

I was lucky in so far as the firm I trained with kept me on post qual so managed to gain a lot more Lit experience while looking.

[sumoking]

this was a big problem during the last major downturn at the start of the ninties.

however

on the upside when the economy picked up firms couldn't get people fast enough and there was a trainee shortage so while it is hard now if you can tough it out it should be worth it in the long run.

scant help to someone facing imminent redundancy i grant you.