Summer vacation is the perfect time to recharge, but it is not meant to be left as an idle period. Between your studies and extracurricular activities, self-improvement might have taken a back seat during term time. The possibility of you travelling this summer also, unfortunately, remains bleak. So why not devote some time to building a better profile as a candidate (that will also make you a well rounded person)?
Read on to discover Admittedly Legal’s list of 10 things you can do to make the most of this summer to improve your employability.
1. Refine your CV
Review and update your CV with a critical eye: have you included your most recent educational background, grades, extracurricular activities and work experience? (And if you don’t already have a professional CV, it is time for you to draft one.) It is best practice to keep your CV to two pages: remember, the document is meant to provide a quick snapshot of who you are as a candidate. Make sure to include your strongest selling points. Read our Instagram Post “Crafting your CV -- Make every word count” for more CV tips; get us to review your CV in good time so that when application season comes you are ready to go!
2. Building an online presence
We are not suggesting that you post more pictures of food on your Instagram profile (although that is completely fine if you do!) -- a strong online network and professional social media profile helps you connect with new people, find new opportunities, and get tips and advice. If you are passionate about any topic (be it gender equality, environment, human rights or other issues), blogging is a great way to have a voice in the subject and sharpen your writing at the same time. Outside of intentionally building your online presence, it would be wise to limit your time spent on social media – a little leisure is good for you, but we know how easy it is to spend the whole day glued to your phone -- it’s up to you to make the most of your time each day and keep moving in the right direction.
3. Identify your core strengths
During any application process, you will be asked to name your core strengths in different ways: Why should we hire you? What are your strengths? What makes you a good trainee? Your strengths should also be adequately illustrated in your CV and cover letter.
So while you have some down time, reflect on what really are your core strengths. These should be as unique as possible, and should make you stand out as a candidate. Asking people around you for their perspective can be helpful if you are stuck. While you are at it, it is equally important to take a moment to be aware of weaknesses that you have, and what you can do to improve.
4. Commercial Awareness
Your break from university is the ideal time to brush up your commercial awareness. Do spend time reading up on commercial news (and indeed news in general to contextualise things). To the extent there is anything you do not understand, do some research online -- Google is your friend!
We would suggest that you start with our commercial awareness starter pack, and then devoting a certain amount of time each day to develop your commercial awareness. Read the Economist, the Financial Times, or the finance section of any newspaper -- keep building a holistic picture of what is going on around you!
5. Gain work & volunteering experience (and plan the same for the coming winter break!)
Unless you’re busy with law firm vacation schemes, consider completing internships and volunteering to gain hands-on experience. Both give you real world experience, space to develop your soft skills, and are great materials for building your CV. Law firms also love to see that you give back to your community and have a genuine interest in pro bono.
Further, do use this time to search and plan for winter work experiences (or vacation schemes, if you will be a penultimate year student by December 2021). You will see that applications for winter vacation schemes close around August-October 2021 (some even close as early as May 2021). Plan and apply early so that you won’t be under time pressure once school starts.
6. Personal care
One of the lessons COVID-19 taught us is that health is your most valuable asset: take good care of yourself and maintain (or develop) healthy habits. If you have given yourself excuses during the academic year, start building your self-care routine in the summer so that these will carry over and become part of your life even when the academic stress kicks in. Here are some aspects of your daily routine that you may want to pay more attention to:
Following a consistent sleep schedule
Exercising (and preferably spending time with nature)
Getting your fresh fruits and vegetable intake
Skincare / grooming routine
7. Build your emotional intelligence and confidence
Focus more on your mental health (as with your physical health). Journaling can be a way to prompt you to be more mindful of your feelings and get in touch with your emotions: what are you grateful for? What have you done well today? If you haven’t tried meditation and thought that it could help with your mental health, now is a great time to try. Some may also find tools such as daily affirmations useful to change a negative mindset and improve self-confidence (e.g. practise saying a list of affirmations (or write them down) daily, and document it in a journal when you catch yourself in a negative thought process).
8. Learn new things that are not law-related
To get you inspired, the following are what we would like to learn if we had a summer break...
A new language: knowing a fourth language can be a tremendous asset (considering how students in Hong Kong can pretty much speak fluent English, Mandarin and Cantonese). It’s also fun and useful for traveling and experiencing other cultures.
Ad hoc workshops: visual design, pottery, calligraphy, photography, marketing, etc. (whatever you are interested in!)
Learn about body language.
Certification in wine tasting.
As you can see, these don’t have any obvious connection with your future job (except learning a new language). The focus here is to keep yourself well-rounded and always open to expanding your skill set -- these experiences will also make you a more interesting person.
9. Practise mock interviews
The interview process can be one of the most important stages of landing a training contract. Try to find a good friend, family member or an independent third party like us to do mock interviews with you. Mock interviews can help you learn how to answer difficult questions, familiarise yourself with the law firm interview format, and get constructive feedback.
Check out our previous Instagram post for more details: click here.
10. Get yourself a coach/mentor
Getting a mentor will be incredibly helpful. Having someone who has been exactly where you are at the moment in your corner will be a very useful resource when you are planning your career. Not only will they be able to share valuable insights into their own careers (including the mistakes they have made!) and the wider legal industry, they will also be able to guide you through the stressful process of graduate recruitment and provide honest feedback on your work, your development as a candidate, and more importantly, your development as a person. A good mentor will keep you accountable, and push you in achieving what they think you are capable of. Sometimes, we all need a little nudge in the right direction to achieve our full potential! Indeed, many students have benefited greatly from our career consultation service, and we are delighted to say that many of them have achieved much more than their initial goals when they first engaged us by following the bespoke action plans we devise for them.
Other than a formal consultation process, you could also identify key role models to learn from – try categorising them based on specific traits you admire about them, such as “legal expertise”, “motivation”, “time management”, etc. You can then re-visit this list and use it as a resource to be inspired and motivated whenever you need an extra boost.
Conclusion
We hope some of these resonate with you and inspire you to stay productive this summer. We recommend choosing those that click with you the most and putting them on your to-do list. Save this article and come back to it when you are looking for new ideas!
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