Early Careers Advisor

Watson Farley & Williams is an international law firm advising on complex disputes and transactions through local knowledge and an integrated international network.  We have a strong sector focus, combining our technical excellence with deep industry knowledge across Energy, Transport and associated Infrastructure.

The firm has achieved rapid expansion and year-on-year growth owed almost entirely to a focused strategy, strong leadership and the quality of its people.  The next stage in the firm’s growth plan is to achieve full-service strength within core sectors across the global platform.

We strive for excellence in all that we do and view investment in our people as key to achieving our business goals and values, which rest on developing deep and long-lasting relationships externally and internally through respect, sharing, communication and integrity.

Our global practice is integrated across our offices in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and North America delivering consistently high levels of service across borders and locally through a deep understanding of local business customs and culture.

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace to attract and retain the most talented people from all backgrounds and cultures.  We believe in celebrating difference and that people from any background can rise to the top, ensuring opportunities to develop and progress are available for all.

The Early Careers Advisor will work with the Senior Early Careers Advisor and the Head of Talent Acquisition to ensure the smooth running of the full trainee lifecycle, including marketing and candidate attraction, recruitment and assessment, overseeing the future trainee engagement programme, welfare and supervision of trainees during the training contract, overseeing the process for international secondments and assisting with the qualification and admission process.  The Early Careers Advisor will also support in the implementation of a new Solicitor Apprenticeship programme.

Egil Blindheim- Senior Early Careers Advisor

Jessica Reddington-Hickey- Head of Talent Acquisition

Marketing:

• Oversee all arrangements for Open Days, law fairs and other external recruitment events, including virtual events for prospective trainee and Solicitor Apprentice candidates;
• Develop relationships with university careers services and societies alongside the Senior Early Careers Advisor;
• Book law fairs and other key outreach events with our target universities
• Organise the purchasing of merchandise on an annual basis in line with the firm’s sustainability commitments
• Co-ordinate a comms plan for social media accounts and update the Early Careers website when required;
• Liaise with partner organisations in relation to campaign planning (e.g., Bright Network, Chambers Student).

Recruitment:

• Assist with assessments for open days, vacation schemes, training contracts and Solicitor Apprenticeships;
• Assist with making offers to successful candidates and conduct feedback calls with unsuccessful candidates;
• Run annual reports to track D&I stats, liaising with the Responsible Business team;
• Support the Senior Early Careers Advisor in the design of the recruitment process for the Solicitor Apprenticeship programme.

Vacation Schemes and Work Experience Scheme:

• Organise and facilitate the full programme of events for the Vacation Schemes;
• Support the HR team in the running of our Leap Into Lawwork experience scheme for 16-18 year olds.
• Build a talent pool from the firm’s Forage programme, and plan regular emails about opportunities.

New Joiner Preparation:

• Liaise with the immigration team and external immigration advisors in relation to trainee-related visa applications;
• Support the wider team with co-ordinating new joiner paperwork and processes, as required.

Future Hires:

• Be the first point of contact for all future trainee and Solicitor Apprentice queries;
• Liaise with BPP Law School as required regarding future trainees and Solicitor Apprentices;
• Set up annual maintenance and sponsorship payments for PGDL and/or SQE courses;
• Oversee any processes related to the new Solicitor Apprentices (e.g., use of the apprenticeship levy).

Induction, Training and Development:

• Organise and facilitate the induction for new trainees and Solicitor Apprentices in liaison with the Senior Early Careers Advisor;
• Oversee the organisation of the trainee skills programme;
• Organise PSC attendance for LPC trainees;
• Assist in the design of the 6-year Solicitor Apprenticeship programme.

Trainee Seat Rotations:

• Support the Senior Early Careers Advisor to ensure new supervisors receive the guidance, support and training they need;
• Assist trainees and supervisors with queries relating to the appraisal system and implement necessary improvements to the appraisal process;
• Conduct ‘seat chats’ with trainees ahead of each seat move and support the Senior Early Careers Advisor in finalising the London seat plan and international secondment plan;
• Monitor trainee activity levels and escalate to trainee partners as appropriate;
• Work with the wider team to make necessary changes on our HR systems each seat move.

International Secondments:

• Conduct pre-secondment meetings with trainees to run through the process, logistics and benefits;
• Liaise with the relevant teams to organise insurance, language tuition and COLA payments;
• Liaise with immigration support teams in relation to visa applications for London trainees and for any trainees coming on secondment to London from WFW’s overseas offices (e.g. German referendars);
• Run de-briefing meetings to gather feedback and identify improvements to our secondment processes;
• Ensure the Global Mobility Tracker is updated on an ongoing basis and attend monthly meetings to discuss changes.

Qualification and SRA Admission Process:

• Prepare appraisal summaries for each trainee;
• Organise and attend NQ interviews and assist with notetaking as required;
• Produce all NQ offer letters, liaising with international offices as necessary
• Administer all aspects of the qualification and admission processes in line with SRA rules and deadlines;
• Ensure all necessary instructions relating to qualification are passed to Payroll in a timely manner;
• Prepare paperwork for any leavers.

Other:

• Oversee management of the earlycareers@wfw.com inbox to ensure all queries are dealt with appropriately;
• Host regular drop-in sessions with trainees and apprentices on a monthly basis
• Conduct 1:1 meetings with trainees and Solicitor Apprentices as required;
• Support the team with administrative tasks, if required;
• All other duties as reasonably requested.

Previous experience as an Early Careers Co-Ordinator or Advisor with recruitment and/or development experience.

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills;
• A team player with the ability to build rapport and work together as part of a small team;
• Flexible and proactive approach;
• Professional and confidential manner;
• Strong work ethic with a tenacity to see things through to completion;
• Highly organised and able to self-manage and prioritise own workload;
• Strong attention to detail.

We offer a competitive benefits and wellbeing package for all employees.

The Firm promotes a culture of agility and flexibility and is fully supportive of flexible working arrangements where these can be accommodated.

Respect for different backgrounds and perspectives is at the heart of our firm’s core values and we recognise the importance of fostering an inclusive environment that allows everyone to reach their full potential. This is a key feature of our Global Code of Conduct, which places diversity and inclusion at the centre of our firm’s ways of working.

We believe that exceptional client service can only be delivered by exceptional people. For this reason, we aim to attract, retain and develop the best talent from a wide range of backgrounds. All decisions relating to employment will be objective and based on merit and ability.

We are committed to ensuring that our recruitment processes are as inclusive and barrier-free as possible. This includes making adjustments for candidates with a disability or long-term health condition.  If you require adjustments to be made at any stage of the recruitment process, we’d encourage you to get in touch with a member of our team who would be happy to discuss options with you.