The Early Careers team comprises four people: Senior Manager, two
Officers (one in Attraction & Recruitment and one in HR &
Development), and an Assistant. The team are responsible for
recruiting up to 18 trainee solicitors and four solicitor apprentices
per annum for a start date in September, as well as approximately 40
attendees for 2 two-week vacation schemes (one in spring and one in
summer), alongside other programmes and offerings. The role requires a
confident individual who will need to represent the firm and team both
externally and internally. The role demands a proactive approach and
project management skills are essential. The individual will have a
range of previous experience in event organisation, employer branding,
marketing, and recruitment.
The firm
Bird & Bird opens up a world of possible for lawyers and
professionals everywhere. Here you can advise major enterprises and
high-growth businesses on matters that are often transformative in
nature, and alongside people who are truly collegiate in the way they
work with everyone at Bird & Bird. We are one international firm,
where over 70% of our work involves teams from across our firm. And
that is only going to increase. It is this common purpose and shared
approach that makes for a more productive, and collaborative place to work.
The team
Bird & Bird's Human Resource (HR) team's mission is to empower
and support all employees to achieve their potential at the firm. We
do this by encouraging and building strong relationships across all
departments to cultivate a friendly, collaborative environment.
In London, the team comprises HR professionals across all areas from
graduate and lateral recruitment, learning & development to teams
specialising in generalist HR, our HR system, partner HR and diversity
and inclusion and corporate social responsibility: all working
alongside our international colleagues in supporting our 32 offices.
From your first to your last day at the firm, we will act as your
supportive advisors to ensure that you can perform to the best of your
ability in your role. Collaborative and committed to creating a
valuable service to the firm, we are focused on providing the best
service to all Bird & Bird employees and partners.
Strict confidentiality and discretion are key to this role. A proven
track record for accuracy, attention to detail and the ability to work
efficiently to tight deadlines is key.
What you'll do
Attraction & Marketing
Identify opportunities to promote Bird & Bird's employment
proposition, key competitor activity, and potential candidate
populations for targeting purposes.
Design and execute an attraction strategy of multi-channel
marketing and events to attract top talent to the firm's early
careers opportunities and programmes, including digital marketing,
careers fairs, open days, and in-person and virtual presentations,
networking, and events.
Attend marketing events including careers fairs, pop-up stands,
virtual events, open days and arranging for representatives to
attend. This will also involve presenting at these events.
Manage existing and cultivate new relationships with key contacts,
such as advertisers, partnerships, publications, networks, and
charities, including proactively reaching out to external
stakeholders such as potential organisations.
Provide all content for firm biographies, key statistics, and
across a number of external publications and advertisers.
Create, manage and deliver digital content for the Early Careers
UK social media accounts and website, to attract top talent and
build the firm's reputation online.
Collaborate with the Marketing and Business Development team on
early careers content for shared media channels, such as LinkedIn.
Design marketing materials to showcase the early career
opportunities and programmes at the firm, including digital and
printed brochures.
Manage early careers' digital footprint, ensuring consistency with
the firm-wide employer brand.
Recruitment & Selection
Lead the end-to-end process of recruiting aspiring trainee
solicitors and solicitor apprentices to the opportunities and
programmes at the firm, escalating any issues to the Senior Early
Careers Manager.
Manage the candidate management process and ensure an effective
management of applicant tracking systems (ATS) and databases.
Review and assess application forms, critical reasoning tests,
written assessments, and video interviews, as well as organise and
facilitate virtual and in-person assessment centres for all
opportunities and programmes.
Advise internal applicants on the firm's recruitment process and
provide feedback throughout the process to these internal applicants.
Act as the first point of escalation for any candidate queries
that come into the Early Careers Assistant
Implement reasonable adjustments for candidates, escalating any
issues/concerns to the Senior Early Careers Manager where appropriate.
Manage the attraction, recruitment and selection of the firm's
Early Bird Scholarship, Flying Start Programme, Open Days, and
Virtual Experience Programme, as well as ad-hoc opportunities such
as 10,000 Black Interns.
Conduct feedback calls with candidates following assessment
centres and final-stage interviews.
Assist the Senior Early Careers Manager with facilitating wash-up
sessions and moderation following assessments and managing the offer process.
Manage onboarding for Vacation Schemes and in-person work
experience opportunities at the firm.
Oversea the organisation and delivery of the Vacation Schemes and
in-person work experience opportunities, including preparation
sessions, allocation of supervisors and buddies, liaising with
departments for feedback on candidates, and participating in social
events and networking.
Develop and grow a pipeline of future trainee solicitors through
the Early Bird Scholarship programme, with workshops, skills
sessions, networking opportunities, and mentoring.
Trainee HR & Development
Assist the Early Careers Officer (HR & Development) with
future trainee communications, onboarding, seat rotations,
appraisals, qualification, and general HR duties.
Assist the Early Careers Officer (HR & Development) with
trainee and solicitor apprentice induction and learning and
development throughout their training/apprenticeship.
Diversity & Inclusion
Implement the early careers strategy for attraction and
recruitment, with diversity and inclusion and best practice in mind.
Collate and analyse diversity data from the attraction and
recruitment process to measure ROI and ensure a diverse cohort of
candidates, and report this to the Senior Early Careers Manager.
Assist with D&I projects or assignments where required (e.g.,
Social Mobility Employer Index)
Ad-Hoc Responsibilities
Assist the Senior Early Careers Manager in the review and
maintenance of budgets for early careers initiatives.
Assist the Senior Early Careers Manager with any ad-hoc projects
or tasks.
Delegate to and oversee the responsibilities of the Early Careers
Assistant (in attraction/recruitment).
About you
The successful candidate will have:
previous experience, preferably within a legal/professional
services environment)
an understanding of the UK education system is essential
an understanding of the SQE and hiring apprenticeships
excellent communication skills with the ability to deal with
people at all levels
excellent computer literacy including Word, Excel and PowerPoint
In addition, we expect candidates to demonstrate:
Team working: the ability and willingness to work as part of
a close-knit team.
Proactivity: able to prioritise and manage initiatives
independently, completing next steps.
Knowledge: an understanding of the SRA requirements and
regulations in relation to periods of recognised training, and an
interest in the recent changes relating to qualification as a solicitor.
Motivation: this role requires the job holder to be
self-motivated and able to use their initiative. A 'can do' approach
is essential.
Communication skills: able to deal with external contacts and
suppliers; able to represent the firm to external contacts confidently.
Technical qualifications: the role requires a competent level
of computer literacy; previous knowledge of a graduate recruitment
database is essential.
IT skills: knowledge of Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint;
knowledge of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Misc: proven organisational and event management skills; able
to present confidently to internal and external audiences; ability to
multi-task; able to remain calm in demanding situations; previous HR
or Graduate Recruitment experience; confidential.
The main responsibilities of this role are outlined above;
however, this description is not exhaustive, and the job holder may
be required to undertake additional duties from time to time to
ensure the smooth running of the department. The role may require
some working outside our normal working hours of 9:30am- 5:30pm.
For further information about this role, please click on the link
below to view the Job Description or contact
talentacquisitionlondon@twobirds.com. To apply, click on the apply now
button to submit your details.
Bird & Bird opens up a world of possible for lawyers and
professionals everywhere. Working for a leading international law firm
like Bird & Bird means working alongside people who are truly
collegiate in the way they work with everyone. We work as one global
team, with over 70% of work involving people from across the firm. And
that's only increasing! It's this common purpose and shared approach
that makes for a more productive and collaborative place to work. Your
firm. Your future.
As a disability and neurodiversity inclusive employer we want to
ensure that you have a barrier-free recruitment experience at Bird
& Bird. If you require any adjustments during the recruitment
process, please provide details to your recruitment contact who will
be in touch to discuss any details provided and understand more about
your individual adjustment needs.
