The COVID-19 unprecedented crisis that hit the world by storm has caused grief and unfortunate circumstances regarding the job toll in almost every industry in the world. People have been laid off their jobs and hiring frequency among different organizations has been reduced greatly, so naturally people are finding it hard to secure jobs, likewise in Canada man =y industries have been affected and have been forced to either lay off people or stop hiring more graduates to their firm.
The law industry has not been left out of these circumstances as well and has been affected one way or another. Here we are going to discuss few important points as to why foreign law graduates are discovering it hard to find a job and we will discuss some remedies for that as well.
Lack of a developed network
For a foreign lawyer to apply in Canada there is a series of steps to be followed, first they apply to the Federation of Law Societies (FLSC) to assess their education and determine how many NCA exams he/she must take.
Then he/she must perform articling, write the licensing exams, and get called to the bar. The exams are offered four times a year and an individual have the liberty to select how many exams that have been assigned by the NCA do they want to take.
There is very little guidance for any foreign individual explaining how to undertake these exams, what to write or even what the exams were about so when a fresh graduate does not find any valuable connections within the NCA Network, they usually find it difficult to actually clear the exams in the first place and then apply for a job in any law firm on the other hand if they do manage to build a network, for this proves to be a valuable option for these individuals. The NCA Networkprovides strategies to the individuals for writing these exams and much needed guidance for them. Building a network of professionals requires time and commitment. Amassing experience as soon as possible counts a lot, even it if it be as a volunteer so for a fresh foreign graduatevolunteering may prove a vital option to help grow their network immensely.
After that comes articling. Firms usually recruit articling positions three years in advance, they hire the summer studying in between their second and third year and then the student’s article with the firm. Other firms hire one year in advance, so an international fresh law graduate feel off-cycle due to the timeline.
Failing in presenting their skills to an employer
Another reason why foreign law graduatesfind it hard to get a job is their lack of communication and presentation skills to an employer upon interview which may stem from any factor likely of which can be the communication factor or it may stem from the fact when an internationally trained lawyer seeks out a job they might think that they do not possess enough skills and it ends up translating negatively for them Infront of any employer In order to succeed in the marketplace, you should know and understand your skills and how to sell them, in order to do that you must have persuasive arguments in favor. Your resume’ is your first impression, make it a good one.When you constantly keep updating your resume’ after every milestone the chances for you to secure a better job gets better.
Lack of belief
Another reason why foreign law graduatefinds it hard to get a job is their lack of communication and is because there may be a lack of belief in oneself, they tend to develop these ideas in their head that maybe they are good enough to secure a good position in any firm or maybe that there is someone better than them and that he/she might take their position and they might end up being on the losing side. These absurd thoughts lead them to being demotivated in the first place and when they do get interviewed, they do not exude confidence by which eventually they end up getting rejected. All the graduates need to realize that these notions are false and should not be occupying any space in their head as every graduate whether it be a local or foreign graduate follows the exact same procedure as them and studies the exact same content and does the same NCA Exam Preparationand passes them to qualify as a lawyer, so they do not need to sell themselves short and be confident in their approach so that they can secure a good position in any reputed firm.
