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Come to Legal Circles for expert, impartial advice on your legal career. Our
Legal Careers Mentoring Service will help you proactively plan and manage your career. Whether you're a student seeking a clerkship, a new graduate, have a few years' experience or are a senior lawyer, we can help you achieve your career aspirations.
You'll learn valuable life skills that will continue to serve you long after you have found your next job!
Such as:
What employers REALLY want
What YOU really want
How to ACE your interview
How to use what you've GOT to get what you WANT!
Most recruitment agencies are focused on finding people to match their job vacancies. If YOU don't fit, they'll look for someone else who does. But when you come to a Legal Careers Mentoring consultation, we focus on YOUR case. We look at what YOU uniquely can offer an employer, how you can best communicate that, and how you can create opportunities for yourself, rather than just react to what's advertised (or not advertised).
Find out about our Legal Careers Mentoring Service
Click here to read the article "Applying for your First Legal Job"
What flavour of consultation would you like? Here are some ideas:
The
Right Legal Career for You
Wondering
which field of law to pursue? With nearly thirty years' experience in the
legal profession, we can advise you on your options in the
legal job market, and help you identify the best fields for you.
Improve your Resume
Does your resume
do justice to what you have to offer an employer? Does it communicate what's different and special about you? We can help you make a bigger impact with your resume and the all-important cover letter.
Interview Practice
Got an interview at last?
Make the most of the opportunity - don’t do your practising on the
real thing! Book a simulated intervew. We'll give you honest feedback and
advise you how to improve your performance and prepare yourself
for the big day. Follow-up sessions are available to debrief
and learn from your interview experiences, and improve for next
time!
Build your Client Base
In private legal practice, your technical legal skills will only taket you a certain way along the path to success. The lawyers who get head-hunted are those who have a "client following", and can bring a revenue stream into the firm. Learn how to develop a client base and meet your clients’ changing needs. You’ll increase your value to your current firm too, which will help you to get promoted, get a pay rise and minimize risk of redundancy. Learn how to attract the sort of work that you really enjoy doing, and have a more satisfying career!
Setting up your own Legal Practice
Have you decided to take the plunge and set up your own law firm? It's easier when you have someone to talk to about the challenge! We can help you select a focus for your practice, identify your point of difference, promote yourself to your target market and work through all the details that are necessary to get you into business.
Develop your Thought Leadership
Declare your expertise and use it to promote your services. A Thought Leader is an expert with original perspectives on their subject and insights into the needs of clients. A lawyer who engages in thought leadership attracts clients instead of chasing them. Interested? Read more here
Testimonials
“Upon my return to SA I approached Shelley for assistance with Career Planning and Resume Writing. With Shelley's fantastic advice I sent off my resume in response to just 1 advert for a job that I really wanted and got it!! I can recommend Shelley to anyone seeking to achieve their goals!” - Caroline Schar, Manager - Property - BPG, Boral Construction Materials, and Uni SA Law School tutor.
Thank you for helping me crystallise my thoughts and put together an executable plan for my career development. Your expertise and knowledge of the market coupled with your innovative thinking helped me make the difficult decision to pursue a career that expanded on my legal skills and experience. You helped me articulate my strengths, recognise my past achievements, and provided just the right amount of "push" to get me motivated to pursue, rather than dream of a career. Since my consultation with you, I have completed one-third of my MBA, become actively engaged in associations such as ACLA at the executive level, been promoted twice and am looking at my third promotion with my current employer; and have a greater understanding of what you can achieve when you start with the end in focus. - Kirsten Dilena, ABTIA Manager and Board Secretariat, Air Warfare Destroyer Alliance, and President, ACLA (SA Division)
"I seriously considered all the information you provided in our discussion and applying for jobs became a very thought out process and in a sense easier with far more success. I am strategic in the positions I apply for to build on my skills to get to where I think I am going / being led! The appointment with you certainly opened my mind and provided excellent feedback that I still think about and apply in every application. So very appreciated and worthwhile." - Monica Sanders, Law student
“I benefited greatly from Shelley Dunstone’s career service. Shelley provides a practical insight into the legal profession which is invaluable. Her realistic and straightforward approach assures that all of your potential will be recognised. Her services are essential in the current legal employment climate. “- Nicholas, Law graduate
After the consultation I was inspired, and oozing enthusiasm!
Following the interview practice with you, my interview went very well. All my preliminary nerves dissipated as soon as I arrived, and I received an offer of employment, which I have accepted - thank you for your help!
The way in which I was communicating my qualities to Human Resources Managers was not working well. After having an appointment with Legal Circles,, I got an interview within a week, and within another two weeks I was working with a law firm. Shelley helped me answer the difficult interview questions like "Why do you want to work with this firm?" without giving the standard sycophantic responses. She helped me focus on my career and how I was going to get what I wanted.
Your input has been invaluable and has helped me to rethink the current strategies that I am focusing on and has singled out certain areas where I should focus my direction.
Thank you so much
for your advice re the letter of application. I took your advice
and I really think it made a big difference, especially in relation
to getting the initial interview.
It was great to have a candid discussion about the legal industry and to discuss different career options
Thank you for helping me with my job search. It has made me focus on what I would really like to achieve and what I need to do in order to achieve those goals.
You seemed to understand and respect the values that influence my choice of work
The professional advice
you gave me was invaluable and provided a focus for the next
stage of my professional development.
Opportunity-Awareness Assessment
The QO² ™ instrument* is a measure of the energy you put into either seeing opportunities or seeing obstacles. Whether you’re looking for a job or developing your client base, you’ll learn how to be more effective. If you focus most of your energy on seeing opportunities, you’re optimistic and respond positively to new ideas. But you don’t always see potential difficulties, so sometimes you misjudge situations and take unnecessary risks. If you focus most of your energy on seeing obstacles, you tend to see all the things that might go wrong. That’s great for risk management, but you might ignore good opportunities, regarding the risks as too great. We give you a questionaire to complete and make a time to meet with you. You receive a written report giving feedback and strategies for balancing your approach, which we explain and discuss with you.
*supplied by Team Management Systems.
To make an appointment for any advisory service, call Shelley Dunstone on 8407 3532 or email shelley.dunstone@legalcircles.com
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