Tony Sharkey

Tony Sharkey, the Director of HR talks about the philosophy of Turcan Connell, our policy on graduate recruitment, summer internships, what we look for in applications, how to prepare for an interview, spending time on your application and the dress policy at Turcan Connell

Introduction.
My name is Tony Sharkey, I'm the Director of Human Resources with Turcan Connell.
I'd like to take a few minutes to talk you through some of the frequently asked questions from law students.

To help answer these questions it is important to understand the philosophy on which Turcan Connell is founded. That is meeting the needs of private clients and charities who are most effectively served by a firm which focuses on their legal and financial affairs. This philosophy has drawn together within Turcan Connell leading private client lawyers, accredited specialists and a powerful combination of other professionals including investment management, financial planning, accounting and taxation specialists supported by staff who deliver a high quality of service to our clients.

Our aim is to be the premier private client services business based in Scotland and the contribution from all our staff including our trainees is extremely important in helping to achieve this.

What is our policy on Graduate Recruitment?
We recruit and retain staff of extremely high quality and this includes our legal trainees. We recruit between 9 and 12 legal trainees each year. Trainees will be given the opportunity to work within several areas across the Firm; including Tax & Trust, Land & Property, Litigation or Investment. As Tax & Trust and Land & Property are our largest areas for qualified assistants, trainees will always have at least 1 six-month seat in each of these areas. We offer a first class traineeship and throughout your traineeship there is an ongoing structured training programme covering all areas of private client practice. This includes formal training, coaching, mentoring and opportunities to develop your skills to the full. This includes managing your time as work-life balance is very important in Turcan Connell.

Summer Internships
We also recruit between 8 to 10 summer internships each year mainly from 2nd, 3rd and 4th year law students. They will spend a period of 8 to 12 weeks with us normally commencing in June or July.

Our summer internships are structured to give you the maximum involvement and experience, and assisting with client work as often as possible. All of our interns are assigned a mentor and go through an induction programme, as we feel it is important- for you and for us- that you get to know our business.

As well as excellent opportunities to develop your skills over the Summer, towards the end of the Summer Internship you will also be offered an interview for a traineeship contract if you discover, like us, that Private Client work is for you. From the last group of summer internships that joined us, 4 were successful from the interviews and will be joining us as trainees.

We advertise our trainee and summer internships on our web-site, at Universities, attend law Fairs, we work closely with the careers staff at the universities and this year Partners & trainees have provided presentations at Universities on "what private client is all about". This is important as we have found that at times what private client covers within Turcan Connell is not always fully understood and it is important that we provide you with sufficient information to make an informed choice and we believe that choice should be with Turcan Connell.

What do we look for when bringing someone into the Firm and are qualifications the most important aspect?
It is important that our future trainees or summer interns have a strong academic background, but it is also important they have a real interest and enthusiasm in the areas of law that private client covers. We are a private client firm, and interpersonal skills are obviously important as is the ability to communicate well and work as part of a team environment, which is absolutely critical to the success of Turcan Connell.

All candidates for traineeships and summer internships submit application forms to help provide a consistent approach when we review their applications. An obvious point is to make sure applications are returned by the closing date, this doesn't always happen and is a missed opportunity! We are a private client firm and attention to detail and quality are always high on our agenda. Therefore your application should be well written, answer the question fully and demonstrate an interest in the areas of law that we practice through the content of your applications. It is difficult to fully assess applications if the writing is illegible or answers are very brief, so take care and put time and effort into them.

In the past few years we have had on average 10 to 15 applications for every available trainee position so competition for places is high. Last year we received almost 120 applications, and each CV is reviewed independently by 5 Partners, myself and one of my HR colleagues. Taking into account the points that I have just mentioned, a very thorough and fair review process. However preparation from you is very very important.

How should you prepare for interview?
If you are selected for a traineeship interview, you will be invited to our modern offices in the city centre of Edinburgh for a "trainee recruitment day". Last year, 30 candidates joined us for the recruitment day and they had the opportunity to meet with Partners, assistants and some of our existing trainees. The day also comprises of a tour of the office, assessment exercises, lunch, an interview and a drinks reception in the early evening, all of which allows potential trainees to understand who we are and what we do and importantly the culture of the Firm and how trainees contribute towards this.

It is important that you are well prepared. Demonstrate that you have an understanding of what Turcan Connell is about and the areas of law that we practice. Partners that have reviewed the CV's also take part in the interviews. Listen to the interview questions and answer them fully with relevant examples. Relate your studies or work experience to what we do. With potentially 30 candidates attending the trainee recruitment day, and some positions having been offered to our summer interns, it is important that you prepare thoroughly, but enjoy the day.

What disappoints me about interviews and what would I say to someone feeling very nervous about being interviewed?
We do recognise that it can be difficult for candidates in an interview situation because they have worked so hard to reach this point in their career development. We do try and help them relax as much as possible to put them at their ease. The biggest disappointment for an interviewer is when a candidate doesn't manage to put across the knowledge, experience and potential that they could offer as a trainee. This is an opportunity missed by the candidate and Turcan Connell.

What is the dress policy at Turcan Connell?
As there may be client contact it is important that we have a professional approach in how we meet our clients and that includes our dress code which is business dress at all times.

In summary
Our trainees are extremely important as they are our assistants and indeed our Partners of the future. Trainees are a major investment for Turcan Connell and make an extremely valuable contribution to the Firm. Our traineeship programme is very successful with high levels of our trainees being retained with us as qualified solicitors, 100% retention in some years and few firms can match this. A recent example of how successful the traineeship programme is, was when one of our first trainees who joined Turcan Connell in 1997 was promoted to Partner in April 2007 - From trainee to Partnership in 10 years, a tremendous achievement.

I hope that you have found this and the additional information on our web-site helpful and we look forward to receiving an application from you in the future for either a traineeship or a summer internship.

Thank you

Find out more about a career at Turcan Connell.