LinkedIn post triggers strong reaction
A paralegal’s advice against working in retail or hospitality for those seeking top graduate roles in law has sparked criticism from many legal professionals on LinkedIn.
The law grad argues in a recent LinkedIn post that retail and hospitality work “doesn’t teach you the important transferable skills”, and that instead, “you need to show basic tech and emailing skills” acquired through office work.
“If you are getting angry thinking ‘well I couldn’t land that job so had to work retail’ … the answer is you should have thought about the job before you started university,” they say. For those who don’t have an office role secured, “take a gap year — secure work experience and then go into education”.
The paralegal, who we have chosen not to name, concludes with: “At the end of the day it’s much easier to take a loan out and blame your lack of employment on studies.”
The full post, screenshotted below, now appears to have been deleted.
The advice hasn’t gone down well with lawyers and graduate recruiters alike.
Law firm associate, and legal LinkedInfluencer Jen Shipley hit back saying that “As someone who hires graduates into legal roles, for me it’s a green light when I see that a candidate has retail or hospitality experience”, before recounting how beneficial her own retail experience was.
Others who have questioned the advice include several associates and partners, senior barristers and judges, legal recruiters, and a host of current and future trainees.
Samantha Hope, Shoosmiths‘ head of emerging talent, said that she “wholeheartedly” disagreed but “well done on creating a clickbait post”. She continued: “Unfortunately these types of posts, that seek out to gain comments on clear controversy, might garner engagement, but you’ll gain very little respect.”
Another simply added that, “this is up there with the absolute worst advice I have ever seen”.
The paralegal declined to comment on the post’s reaction.
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