I graduated with First Class honours in Philosophy from the University of Leeds in 2012. I’ve spent the last year completing the Graduate Diploma in Law at BPP Law School in London. It was during my GDL studies that I discovered I was dyslexic, after struggling to keep up with the volume of reading required on the course. I came across EmployAbility online while doing my own research on support for dyslexic students looking to get into law.
My experience of applying through EmployAbility has been very positive. They’ve looked over my application, made suggestions on extra things to include, and as a whole have ensured my application gets read in a more holistic and thorough way. Working with them is different from using careers services where the advice can often feel a little ‘cut & paste’, and who are not always sensitive to the circumstances of disabled students.
I attended the Employability in Law 2014 event in April at Reed Smith. The event was well structured and people were always on hand to answer questions and make you feel comfortable. Asking trainees about their own experiences during a panel was particularly useful. After the event, I contacted Counsel lawyer Katherine Campbell who I had spoken to during a panel discussion, following up on the fact that she had mentioned offering work experience in the past to those who were proactive enough to ask. She was kind enough to put me forward for an Insight Scheme, to which I applied online. Without the opportunity to meet the firm directly, thanks to EmployAbility, I would not have obtained a place on the Insight Scheme.
This has all led to me being offered a Training Contract with Reed Smith. I recommend working with EmployAbility as their support and facilitation helped lead to this fantastic opportunity. I would encourage anyone who has a disability to contact EmployAbility about their career aspirations, and any prospective or current law students to attend the next Employability in Law event!
At EmployAbility we work with disabled university students and graduates to ease the transition from education into employment. To take advantage of these opportunities, the first step is to register with us. You can also contact us with any specific queries.