Does anyone hate being a trainee?

[crisp]

I am dreading work tomorrow.

I have 6 months left and have been told that I am not doing great at work.

Its like every thing I go to do I encounter problems or it takes much longer than I anticipate and I end up really under pressure to cope with the rest of my work. My employer tells me I am not where the other trainees have been at this point of training.
I find it hard asking as it is implied that I should know or research. I feel I have not got the time to research and sometimes I don't get the answers I need.

I get so stressed at work and don't always remember stuff or use my initiative as I should as I am so caught up in stress. I get emotional at work about the work.

Of course if I admit this to my employer, then this would make me look even more stupid.

Does anyone else feel like this and have managed to sort themselves out?
What strategies could I adopt?

Aargh, what a lovely weekend and now the blues about work are hitting me!!!

[sumoking]

Okay

do this.

1. Make a to do list - every morning make a new one even if yesterday's had 10 things on and you got 2 done put them back in but still do it. Work to do in a case managment system is just too big to work effectively.

2. Do one job at a time and finish it - don't get halfway through and jump to something else

3. Keep a note of your time - it will let you see where things take too long

4. Ignore bleeps - turn your email on at set times check it and then close it

5. Prioritise your activities - deal with urgent first

6. Seek help - if you do not know what you are doing ask, maybe not your boss but other solicitors - previous trainees etc

The stress is the easy part to deal with. Join your local gym go for an 30-60 mins after work daily.

If you are working in litigation then it is simply a fact of life that you stop sleeping and get quite wound up. It takes time to learn to cope with it.

Let us know how you get on and if this is of any help.

sumoking's advice is solid and has also been delivered very considerately, are you feeling alright sumoking?

[f1grainne]

What sumo said - particularly about the to-do list and not checking your email.

As someone who is very easily distracted, I find it helps to turn the screen off for a few minutes at a time if there is a letter I need to dictate with a clear mind, so there is nothing to look at and I don't click on the IE button, which is sort of an automatic reflex with me whenever I have a blank moment...

[sumoking]

Originally Posted by bnoc

sumoking's advice is solid and has also been delivered very considerately, are you feeling alright sumoking?

No

thinking I might have some sort of bug

although when i described the symptoms to a colleague they suggested that it might just be happiness

I did have a fairly pleasant weekend and I slept last night

hopefully it should clear up by lunch time

[crisp]

You are correct sumoking - its litigation.

I kinda have ideas of what to do with files but don't know whether I can actually proceed with them by letter or suggesting client takes XYZ course of action and multiply that by 50 (i have some tricky files with different types of court applications stemming from the original) and its a daily uphill battle.

I feel that everytime I have a query, it would just be senseless to go ask as there are so many little niggly things I need anwers on!! If I do go ahead, I may be wasting mine and the client's time. So many tough judgement calls, I feel.

I sometimes hate this job so flipping much.

[Pen73669]

Originally Posted by crisp

You are correct sumoking - its litigation.

I kinda have ideas of what to do with files but don't know whether I can actually proceed with them by letter or suggesting client takes XYZ course of action and multiply that by 50 (i have some tricky files with different types of court applications stemming from the original) and its a daily uphill battle.

I feel that everytime I have a query, it would just be senseless to go ask as there are so many little niggly things I need anwers on!! If I do go ahead, I may be wasting mine and the client's time. So many tough judgement calls, I feel.

I sometimes hate this job so flipping much.

Aren't you a trainee? You shouldn't be making decisions like this - surely you should be discussing what course of action you think is best with your supervisor? Your a trainee your there to learn!! You should use your initiative to think of pragmatic solutions for your clients but these should be run by your supervisor before it's done!! I tend to think about how I'd progress the case and what I'd need to do e.g. letter, court application and then run this past my supervisor. I do all the leg work but my supervisor oks it before it goes anywhere!

You shouldn't be sending things out/making court applications if you don't know what your doing!! If something goes wrong then your firm could be liable for professional negligence. Also you're covered by the Code of Conduct as a trainee and this says you shouldn't act if you do not have enough competence. I think the important point is that as a trainee you should have support and supervision.

My supervisor asways tells me to ask questions - even if they seem stupid (and believe me when I first started some of them were very stupid! but what I learnt in the first month with stupid questions means I haven't spent the next yr wondering how it all works. Your only a trainee for two years once you qualify people won't take so kindly to a million Qs.

[jsrsolutions]

Hi,
I can understand how you are feeling i too hate too be trainee once i was joined one art work shop as trainee portrait painter & you can't imagine how they behave with trainees there then we all stood up and complaint against them. Then they come to know that trainees are also human beings.

The work shop new team then and i got internship then

[sumoking]

Originally Posted by crisp

Its litigation.

I kinda have ideas of what to do with files but don't know whether I can actually proceed with them by letter or suggesting client takes XYZ course of action and multiply that by 50 (i have some tricky files with different types of court applications stemming from the original) and its a daily uphill battle.

So many tough judgement calls, I feel.

That's the problem with litigation. Litigation is getting it right, saying it right and winning--all with a gun to your head

it is a lot judgment (it's also a lot trawling through the white book) and you only get that through experience.

But it is judgment on how to advise the client. The client makes the decision you just have to tell the consequences.

Just go through your files.

Do a note on the brief facts and where the file is up to issues agreeed and issues disputed and then each of the options going forward, figure out which option you like best and why and why you do not like the others.

Then schedule a review meeting with your supervisor to see what he thinks.

If neither you nor your boss is too sure on the best plan you can always punt it out for counsels opinion and let their profession indemnity insurance take the strain.

Then discuss with client and see how they want to proceed.

Applications are simple, they might seem daunting but they are not, once you have done one you have done them all, that's why you let trainees cut their teeth on them.

[Ganymede]

I work in litigation so if you want I'll have your TC if you hate it that much!