#weeknotes — rain, my first volunteering day and a very exciting job ad

Could this be your dream job?

Calling all…

• law grads
• researchers
• legislation/parliament enthusiasts
• and anyone else who’s interested in legal research and working in an amazing team of lawyers.

My biggest success of the week was getting an ad for a great job live. This is a backfill for the work I’ve been doing while on secondment to Expert Advice, as I’ll be back in my substantive role at the beginning of August.

When I was studying law I remember feeling railroaded into pursuing a career in City law because that was ‘the thing that everybody did’. The job opportunities that were more social welfare-focused were few and far between and often paid peanuts. So it does actually give me (and my 18-year-old self) real joy to lead on recruitment for a paralegal job that’s interesting, impactful and paid fairly.

Here’s the job ad link again and I’ve also posted a Twitter thread with some useful further reading. My contact details are there too if you want to find out more about the role.

Speed networking at the Guildhall

On Wednesday I made good use of one of my volunteering days by attending an Inspiring the Future careers session at the Guildhall.

The session, part of the London Careers Festival, was called speed networking. Schoolchildren from 2 schools moved around 10 volunteers — people like me — to ask them about their jobs, including their pathways into the role and what they’d do differently if they could go back in time. I was there repping comms and a bit of law too, and there were also people who work in marketing, project management, the military, corporate strategy and more.

I went to various careers sessions when I was at school, such as through the Sutton Trust’s 2-year Pathways to Law programme. I remember finding it frustrating then how many people said they just ‘fell into’ their career, or that it was ‘all down to luck’. Yet as someone whose career is totally different to the one I’d had in mind when I was at school, I realise a lot of my career has been built on circumstances and events I couldn’t have planned for aged 16.

While it’s impossible to know where your career is going to take you when you’re school-age, I hope I at least encouraged the students to keep an open mind.

All the rest

• I went to see the Spice Girls on Saturday. I cried.
• I had an intro meeting with the comms and engagement team’s head (maternity cover), who started full time this week.
• I organised a work trip to the Leeds office, which I’ve never been to before. And I’m also in the process of arranging a trip to Liverpool, which I’m very excited about.
• I went to Daunt Books in Marylebone.

• It rained. A lot.
• I’ve drained Spotify’s podcast stocks of late. This week I’ve been listening to Happy Place, The High Low, Guardian Long Reads and Amateur Traveler.

My plan this weekend is to spend Friday with my family, Saturday at a BBQ with friends then Sunday at an exhibition with my boyfriend and his mum.

Have a nice weekend.