It doesn't have to be black and white!

Something I saw online today sparked some sense of fury within me, mostly because it reinforced the social divisions within society and the hierarchy of social status which most people believe ultimately determines our success as individuals.

What I saw was an article shared by a certain law firm regarding private schools and how statistics show Private Schools are no longer the golden ticket into law school. I sat there for a second, read the title of the article over and over again and thought ‘WOW, REALLY, YOU HAVE ONLY COME TO REALISE THIS NOW?!?!’

Let me put this into some sort of context… I went to a state school, from the day I could attend nursery until the day I completed my GCSE’s, I attended non-selective state schools. I also attended a state college which at the time did not even conduct interviews (not that I remember anyway). Now I attend a law school at a Russell Group University which is ranked at 41 in the WORLD. Now in my opinion, that is quite good for a girl that comes from a town no one has ever heard of.

I have always been passionate about diversity because I know how harsh society is on those of us that are cast aside because of the colour of our skin, our accents or other features placing us in a ‘minority’ group. At university, I am currently Student Ambassador for an organisation called Aspiring Solicitors who aim to provide access, opportunities and assistance to underrepresented groups in the legal profession. This is a cause I am 100% dedicated to. I have grown up in a time when mainstream society made me believe you had to be white and rich to achieve but fortunately, my parents and school teachers made me believe that no matter what your background, you can achieve your dreams as long as you try.

I have grown to see the incredible diversity amongst achievers in the world. You do not need money to achieve, you do not need to go to university to make a great living for yourself (we all know the story of Lord Sugar and how he made himself into a businessman). Of course, when we talk about law school, there are particular limitations given the nature of the job however, in no way should anyone ever think that their background is a hindrance to them fulfilling their dreams of a legal career. There is no doubt about the fact that the legal profession is dominated by middle class white people but nevertheless, there has been a huge push for diversification of the legal profession and the situation is getting a lot better. The clichéd view of a posh talking person providing you legal advice is also quite close to reality and I have heard of occasions where individuals were told they are stellar candidates for a job but will only be employed if they take elocution classes. HOW DO WE STILL LIVE IN THIS TYPE OF A WORLD?!

In my opinion, it is not just about creating diversity in terms of the skin colour of the work force, but the social backgrounds, the personalities. Everyone experiences so many different things in their life and that shapes them into the person they are. This undoubtedly translates into their ability to communicate their ideas and opinions.

There are countless times when I have met individuals with an incredible academic history, from a wealthy background, with no ability to communicate with people from a different background to them. When you fill out applications for vacation schemes/jobs people shout about transferrable skills and one of the most important is the ability to communicate with a variety of people and be yourself when doing so. Employers tell us they ‘don’t want robots’ but of course they have a checklist of things they want to see in everyone, oh and they also try to maintain diversity; it is difficult to understand.

Without diversity in a law firm, it becomes impossible to understand things from your client’s point of view, particularly if you are a large commercial law firm dealing with a wide range of businesses. You might be able to deal with banks but you also need to be able to talk to the inventors at Apple Inc. and appreciate their creativity on a personal level.

Diversity facilitates variety. Without variety, life becomes a sheet of lined paper with no room for variety. We all start life with a plain sheet of paper and all the colouring pens in the world. Use them wisely to create a masterpiece and never let anyone tell you to stay within the lines. If you don’t explore the world, how will you show the world what you are?

Never let the fear of failure stop you in your tracks. We all experience failure but to get back up again after you have failed means you are one step closer to winning. Money and society do not dictate your happiness so don’t allow them to draw out your path. Draw it yourself and show the world your roar is different to your best friends roar.  

All love xoxo

A downer?

So, I’ve recently been in the process of sending out applications to a load of law firms because I’m trying to land the dream job at a corporate firm – it is no joke when they say it is a dream!!

There are days when you look at your application and think it is the greatest thing in the world and then there are the days when you realise it is a total pile of rubbish. Unfortunately for me, after I got some feedback on my application today, I realised how big of a pile of rubbish it really was. I sat for hours editing my application in the hope that I would finish with a gleaming piece about myself however, here I am, at 23:53 listening to sad love songs, thinking about how disappointing my application still is.

The process of an application is not at all easy. If you are the kind of person that likes to talk about your successes and accomplishments, you will have a field day filling out an application, even more so if you have an amazing way with words. I, on the other hand, am the type of person who is seemingly incapable of talking about my successes to feed my ego. For some reason, I lose all ability to construct a sentence when I try and talk about anything remotely positive about my achievements.

You see, it is not just a case of telling the firm what you have done but it is why you have done it, why it was something you feel is worth talking about, what you learnt from it and why you are now such an incredible person because of it!

I keep telling myself it will be ok. There will be a day when all of this application stuff just CLICKS but 7/8 rejected applications later, I am still struggling.

I felt like I wanted to share this because, no matter how much we might sit here and think ‘wow that person has a great job at this amazing organisation’ it is more than likely that it was a hard slog for them to get there.

I am determined to make it one day, I want to make it one day and I WILL make it one day… I just hope that day is sooner rather than later. I apologise for the lack of coherent thought and productivity of this blog; I just needed a break before I started crying to ‘Dilemma’ by Nelly and Kelly.

To all those students staying up through the hard run of the night, I applaud you. To anyone waking up for a crazy shift, or anyone awake in any part of the world, good morning, good afternoon or good night.

Here is my one motivation for anyone who might need it or knows someone that might need it:

<3

All love xoxo