The last couple of months spent in lockdown have affected many lives in the legal industry, with staff now working from home, working reduced hours or being furloughed.
Jobs have been more scarce because many employers can’t justify bringing on new staff in these times of uncertainty, so for those who want to remain working in the legal industry, it’s been more challenging to find a new job.
Now that the lockdown has eased, however, Simply Law Jobs are seeing efforts in recruitment ramp up again – last week, there was a 39% increase in jobs advertised. So, if you’ve been considering updating your CV, or rewriting your cover letter, now is a good time to do it.
We want to encourage you not to give up hope. Our partner, Simply Law Jobs, has set out a few tips to help you with your job search. They have also included options for jobs that are not based in the legal industry, if you are looking for a change for the short term.
Upgrade your CV
Whatever job you apply for, your CV will still need to be updated. It should be tailored to each job you apply for. Download our CV guide to find out more about tailoring your CV. Although it’s specific to jobs in the legal industry, it will help you get into the frame of mind of focusing your application towards the job you want.
Consider a short term job
Just because the legal industry is quiet doesn’t mean that you can’t find work at all – you just need to be slightly more creative in terms of what job you would like to do. Think of it as a stopgap for the time being if your usual role isn’t on offer – find work to do in the meantime, ready to return back to the job you desire when things calm down.
Below, we’ve listed some jobs in other industries who are looking for temporary workers and people to volunteer to help the NHS. Take a look and hopefully you can find something. It might even just help to give you an idea of where to look:
Delivery/driver jobs
Retail jobs
Cleaning jobs
NHS jobs
Temporary roles
Care workers support roles
Maintenance roles
Office jobs
Find events online
Career fairs are still happening – but virtually. Log on to careers sites and you might be lucky enough to find a variety of webinars, events, or workshops to help get you into work or even upgrade the skills you need to work on. A virtual experience is so simple – and if you have the spare time, why not?
We have a webinar coming up too, with our partners CV and Interview Advisors. Why not get booked in?
Identify freelancing or remote opportunities
There are freelance and remote working opportunities where you can pick up some quick cash if you have the right skills for the job. Whether they are in sales, marketing or telecommunications for example, there are jobs where you can make money by simply being on the phone or working from your computer or laptop. Some people even make a bit of cash from completing surveys or reviewing websites. For freelance work, try sites like Upwork or Fiverr, Worksome and Freelancer to find jobs – your proofreading and written skills could come in very handy here. It might not be the solution to all of your problems, but looking for roles like this could help bring some cash to the table.
Network
When the coronavirus began to spread and businesses were closed down or reduced in operations, LinkedIn became a popular place for professionals to reach out and make everyone aware that not only had they lost their job, but that they were skilled and still looking for work. This is a great idea to get your name in front of a large group of people who may know of jobs you can apply for. Use Facebook and Twitter too to reach out, and don’t forget to hashtag your skills or current role so that the audience can get an idea of your abilities and past roles. Updating your summary on LinkedIn is a good idea too, in the event that recruiters begin considering you for a job.
Apply for jobs
You may not have as many jobs to choose from, but take some comfort in the fact the presence of the coronavirus is easing, so recruiters could be ready to begin hiring at any time. This is why we would highly recommend continuing your search on Simply Law Jobs, because we expect to see an influx of roles added to our site soon.
One other important thing to note, is that recruiters may be headhunting CVs to contact candidates once they’re ready to resume their search. So we cannot stress how essential it is that you make sure your CV is updated and uploaded now. This allows recruiters to find and contact you for jobs.