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What the future of a soon-to-be graduate now looks like
What was supposed to be a booming industry for law graduates to enter into is now filled with career uncertainty, so where does that leave soon-to-be lawyers?
Naomi Neilson
Law students in the UK and the US are more concerned than ever that the profession has no room for them in the time of COVID-19, as firms scale down in hiring and salaries. Should Australian graduates be just as concerned?
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Yes and no. Breaking into a law firm, especially a major law firm, is already a big process, but add in the global health pandemic currently threatening jobs and soon-to-be graduate lawyers should be aware that there could be penalties in entering the profession in 2020.
Lawyers Weekly has reached out to firms across the country to ask about the procedures they have in place now to ensure it sees out the rest of the pandemic, and the subsequent economic panic. What we learnt is that jobs are being cut – some temporarily, sure – and, ultimately, hiring freezes and salary hits should be expected in the long-term.
“Whatever happens over the next few months – the unemployment/underemployment hit to young people will be larger and persist for longer than any other age group,” predicted Indeed Australia economist Callam Pickering in a recent tweet, adding it was “particularly devastating in this case because they are also the least susceptible to the virus”.
What that ultimately means is the chance of getting a cushy law job is slim – for the most immediate future. Whether salaries will be hit in future remains to be seen, but according to GradConnection, there is no need to stress about 2021 opportunities completely yet.
Given that graduate recruitment is a “long game” – for example, 2021 graduate intakes in law firms are underway now and interns are signing on for summer breaks – the graduate industry “seems to be continuing recruitment and the ad volumes have not dropped”.
GradConnection national account manager Alexandra Tyrrell said the vast majority of its graduate employers are still pushing ahead with their recruitment campaigns, adapting to their processes for assessment and selection to an online or virtual process.
“We have only had the small number of employers we work with who have cancelled their programs altogether, and some who have placed all their intern and grad recruitments on hold – usually with the intent that they will go back out later in the year,” Ms Tyrrell said.
In the next few months, graduates may be seeing statistics based on the recessions from the past. Keep in mind, however, that there were lessons learnt from the global financial crisis where companies cancelled graduate programs and were left at a disadvantage at the end – so, considering “lessons learnt”, companies should be avoiding this avenue.
Co-founder and director of GradAustralia, Geoff Adams, said he believes employers are reluctant to switch off their brand entirely “as it takes a lot of time to regain their image in the eyes of quality candidates when the market bounces back”. This was learnt in the GFC, he added.
GradConnection Clinton Bolst said much the same – that companies which cut down from their graduates’ intakes for short-term cost benefits in 2008 emerged in later years with a “severe talent disadvantage” as their “emerging talent pipelines were empty”.
“They simply had no graduates coming through their development programs. Some even burnt candidates through the recruitment experience, withdrawing offers and damaging a brand in the graduate and experienced hire market,” Mr Bolst said.
Bottom line: law students and recent graduates should not be concerned about the career prospects in the future, unless this pandemic continues into 2021. At this time, that seems unlikely – as does completely losing out on a chance to work in the profession.
