Empowering and upskilling young people
It's always been really important to Ryder Reid that we’re generous with our knowledge and resources, and we work hard as a team to remain active in our commitment to empowering young people with the skills they need to access a Legal career. We believe all businesses have a big responsibility to do what they can to help a wide pool of young people learn, upskill and ultimately go onto live happier lives that include a thriving career, and this is a cause our Co-Owners Andrea and Callum are especially passionate about.
This is a shared value they’ve gone on to build into the foundations of the business and nurtured in every single member of the team. I love working for an organisation which supports us to align our work with our values in this way, and it’s been a privilege to put this into practice in a series of Pro-bono workshops for our clients’ legal placement students, which myself and my colleagues Gemma Coyston and Evie Kennett delivered this summer.
Supporting our valued clients
Our clients know we will always support them well beyond the hiring process, and that our commitment and care extends not just to the ongoing success of their teams, but to the future of talent across the sector. So when Hausfeld approached us to channel our trusted expertise into a Careers workshop for their placement students, we jumped at the chance to support a long-standing client and upskill a new cohort of aspiring legal candidates.
To work together with a legacy client – who have worked with us to secure talent across their business for many years, and who Gemma’s Document Review team have forged a strong relationship with – on a project so close to our core values, was fantastically rewarding. This opportunity led to us partnering with four other law firms over the summer!
We went onto roll out workshops for Enyo – with whom we have a strong reputation for supplying Temporary Document Review and Fixed Term Review Contract Paralegals – as well as Proskauer, Signature and Stewarts, who we are well-established in working with on Permanent & Fixed-term contract Paralegal roles. Each session was tailored around our knowledge of each firm, their needs, and their culture, and it’s a real proud-of for us that this project was borne out of the connections we’ve nurtured and built over years of commitment, excellence, and trusted expertise.
We know every set of candidates has different needs and aspirations, and so rather than rolling out a one-size-fits-all programme, we worked hard to create bespoke toolkits of support, each one carefully curated to respond to the clients' requests and to bring a distinct suite of knowledge that their student groups would most benefit from. All with the same outcome of equipping young talent with the essential skills they need to succeed in the field.
For Hausfeld, Enyo, and Signature, we supported their spontaneous work placement students to understand the importance of a well-structured CV and the significance of interviews as a critical gateway to securing roles in the legal sector. They learned how to research prospective employers and understand the role they’re applying for, as well as anticipate potential questions, and deal with nerves and cultural barriers. They also pocketed practical and actionable techniques for success, including body language, active listening and clear communication.
Each one of their students left equipped with a comprehensive understanding of how to craft a compelling CV, prepare effectively for interviews, and present themselves confidently to potential employers. They also learned strategies for overcoming common challenges and techniques for building a strong narrative, as well as post-interview best practice.
We were delighted to run the Stewarts workshop in collaboration with the Social Mobility Foundation, as part of a broader initiative to empower students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Every day we meet talented individuals who with the right support could become future leaders and pivotal industry names, but who haven’t always been given the opportunities to meet their potential. We make it our mission to help close those gaps and break down barriers wherever we can in our day-to-day work, so this was a great opportunity to bring that to life.
This specific programme emphasised skills around building confidence and resilience, and students were encouraged to view interviews as opportunities to tell their story and highlight their unique journeys and experiences. Similarly, the session at Proskauer was in collaboration with Think Forward, geared toward students facing significant barriers to employment. In this we focused on practical networking advice, highlighted the importance of building the right online presence, and delved into how they can maximise their skills to offer value to industry publications and grow their personal brand.
We were excited to collaborate with these fantastic organisations to help boost the socioeconomic diversity of the sector, and to be able to drive this shared ambition forward. Social Mobility is becoming higher and higher on the agenda for businesses as well as individuals, and it felt good to get in front of these student communities and offer them another level of support. Being generous with our own expertise and upskilling the people who aren’t given a springboard of support, is a route to ensuring everyone has the chance to pursue their talents. A couple of hours of our time could change the course of someone's whole career and broaden their horizons indefinitely.
How our workshops can work for you
It was truly inspiring to meet so many ambitious young people and aspiring legal candidates keen to prepare themselves for the world of work, and we relished the chance to contribute positively to their futures. It doesn’t feel that long ago that I was starting out in my own career and relying on the guidance of others to progress, and it was so rewarding to pay this forward!
Stewarts’ HR Manager Lizzie Downs said “our work experience students fed back that the session was really insightful and helpful. We appreciate Ryder Reid’s support so much and can’t thank them enough.” The double reward of knowing we’ve contributed to a young person's career and left a client this happy and supported is such a good feeling.
These workshops have been just one chapter in Ryder Reid’s ongoing Social Mobility story. The legal sector increasingly recognises the need for empowering more candidates with a variety of training opportunities and routes into the field. While most leading firms are committed to this and offer a mix of apprenticeships, placements, and mentorship schemes, we understand that many managers are too busy running the day-to-day to dedicate the necessary time and resources to nurturing their placement students. This is where bringing in careers experts can plug that gap!
Working with recruitment specialists with a strong background in training candidates in employability, provides law firms with the extra hands to offer their students a 360 suite of learning opportunities. It also ensures knowledge-hungry aspiring legal candidates have the chance to learn beyond their chosen field, and to imbibe the foundational skills they need to pursue their chosen careers. Skills they can take with them for life.
If you have a new cohort of placement students starting at your firm and want to ensure you’re giving them the best possible chance to learn and grow, get in touch with us!
Written by CJ Iruoma Obi, Executive Search Consultant at Ryder Reid specialising in placing Social Impact, Sustainability, DEI, and Business Services professionals in U.S and International Law firms. CJ joined Ryder Reid in 2023, having worked in permanent recruitment for over 12 years. He has a real passion for Social Value advisory work, supporting a number of organisations across different sectors with their responsible business initiatives.