From Interview Nerves to Superstar Solicitor
A nervous candidate found her feet with interview guidance from Stonor Search
New job title: Newly Qualified Solicitor
Role Location: Reading
Sector: Banking
Location: Reading
Old job title: Trainee Solicitor
Consultant name: Ben Race
The Challenge
Our candidate had been to two interviews prior to her contacting Stonor Legal. Both interviews were unsuccessful, with feedback outlining that her nerves during the interviews prevented her from progressing to the next stage of the recruitment process, which made her lose confidence. During this time the candidate was seeking a permanent position as a lawyer due to her current firm not having enough work for to keep her on in a fee-earning capacity.
The Solution
Ben met with the candidate for a coffee and explained the process we adopt at Stonor Legal. She felt reassured to start applying for new opportunities through Stonor Search, which allowed Ben to quickly arrange three new interviews. The interviews were all arranged via the HR contact at the respective firm, all of whom kept us up to date on their current vacancies regularly.
Unfortunately, the first two interviews led to similar negative feedback but Ben went the extra mile to provide extensive interview coaching throughout the entire process. He worked on a number of different interview role-play scenarios, where he would ask challenging questions about the candidate's knowledge and experience. The responses were then analysed and Ben would provide constructive feedback as to how the answers could be improved.
The Result
It was a competitive interview process with two strong candidates. However, After implementing our consultant's advice, the candidate's third interview had a successful outcome. Our candidate was offered a position after a second interview with the firm, all within four weeks of meeting Ben. She was selected for the role as she had over six months relevant experience in insolvency related matters and this was a relatively junior position which made her ideal.
She has now completed her first appraisal having been at the firm for six months and has been offered a pay raise due to her excellent performance.
Candidate Testimonial
“Ben was the creme de la creme of recruiters! Within a few short hours of me sending him my CV, he contacted firms on my behalf and he was always really positive, supportive and patient whenever I spoke to him or met him. He was very committed to helping me to find the right job.”
Consultant Testimonial
“As Head of Legal, this was a particularly rewarding placement for me and I was personally delighted to secure an attractive offer above the market rate for our candidate. Interviews are an essential, yet daunting, feature of the modern hiring process and interview nerves can have a detrimental impact upon an individual's performance, and thus their chances of securing that dream job.
At Stonor Legal, we work very closely with each lawyer to ensure they fulfil their potential at every stage of their job application.
Our legally trained consultants have extensive experience in interview preparation and coaching. To-date, we have successfully placed both junior and senior lawyers into the most demanding global law firms where only the best get hired.