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I recall speaking to one of my friends who had been on the verge of unemployment the year before. Although his fortunes turned and he was eventually offered an NQ position, the one piece of advice he had given me was that you can never start the job hunt too early. Over lunch one day he gave me list of recruiters who had helped him with the hunt and told me to get in touch with them to get the ball rolling.

I did as I was told and proceeded to email the individuals he had mentioned to me. A number of my emails bounced. It was clear that reshuffles were rife in recruitment with consultants having either jumped shipped or being let go. If recruiters are feeling the pinch in a market with the highest level of unemployment for decades, this was not a promising sign.

I soon realised that this was probably going to be more difficult that I had initially imagined. With that in mind, I decided a sweep-stake approach was necessary. If the recruitment consultants won’t come to me – I will bombard as many of them as possible with my CV and hope for the best. Hell, that’s how most people seem to approach training contract applications these days, and that gets them through! I was now the hunter rather than the prey - I was going to get my CV out there and see what I could find.

There was one job (the only job) that was making the rounds for the first 2 months of my search. Let’s call it “the Purple job”. A boutique IP firm was looking to recruit an IP lawyer. I was duly called by one of my hunters who mentioned that he thought I would be an “ideal candidate” for the position, having done a seat in IP. I had enjoyed the work I had undertaken during my training contract and so asked him to put my CV forward.

At lunch later that week a couple of the other trainees mentioned that they were considering a particular IP role. It was the Purple job. What was interesting though was that one was a tax lawyer, the other in construction. Neither had IP experience. I began to question whether these recruitment consultants were looking out for our best interests or in desperation, like the lawyers on their books, they were casting their nets as wide as possible with the slim possibility that it may just catch them something rather than nothing.  

Amongst the “sorry, I’m afraid there are currently no NQ positions on our books at the moment – please try again later” and the “you’re a bit early too early to be applying for NQ positions (it was July by that point!) – please try again later”, I managed to speak to a handful of consultants who filled me in on the state of the market. Not great. Bad, in fact. Accusations that some firms will not consider lawyers who have been made redundant or who have been “let go” is true. I’ve heard it many times myself. The message was loud and clear – the longer you stay on the shelf, the more chance you have of staying there.

Part of me wondered whether I wanted to remain in a profession that is so narrow minded that a 2 week holiday may constitute too much time away from the law and may bar you from further employment! That, and the fact there were still no jobs was making me reconsider whether it was the best time to be looking for a job in law. I needed a plan B. But what could I do?

The skills gained from my training contract should stand me in good stead to do anything – shouldn’t they? Maybe I could retrain? There must be places on graduate schemes still up for grabs (despite a record 10,000 estimated unemployed students who have exited university this year).

I remembered those job sites I was bombarded with at university and sifted through the remaining deadlines. There were a couple of graduate underwriting positions at insurance companies which grabbed my eye. Yes – I would retrain as an underwriter. One of my university friends had taken the underwriting route after his law degree and since then I have hardly seen him – not because he is working all the hours God sends (like my lawyer friends) but because he is either in Bermuda or the Virgin Islands “on business”. Not a bad prospect when faced with the possibility of not having the funds to ever take a holiday again! I would apply to be…an underwriter!

First stop – the Lloyds Market. I’ve always wanted to know what that is…