Irwin Mitchell hikes trainee places by 20 per cent
Irwin Mitchell has bucked the market trend by unveiling plans to ramp up its September 2009 trainee intake while its peers look to slim down retention rates.
Jane Horton
Irwin Mitchell has already recruited its 27 trainees for September and is now increasing its number of places by five.
Irwin Mitchell graduate recruitment partner Jane Horton said: “It’s a long-term policy. In the current marketplace we’re capturing good-quality candidates who can’t get placements elsewhere. They’ve done everything right but have been left with no place to go.”
The move contrasts with most other major firms. Major employers such as Allen & Overy have reduced places from September 2011, while Eversheds and Field Fisher Waterhouse have put their graduate recruitment programmes on hold until 2010 and Hammonds has cut its 2009 trainee count by half.
Readers' comments (9)
Baby Farks Mageezak | 13-Jul-2009 11:10 am
Good to see some good news for a change but Irwin Mitchell isn't the only firm increasing its intake, some firms even have more spaces than trainees.
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Anonymous | 13-Jul-2009 3:26 pm
Makes sense - fill the firm with cheap labour now, and have a full complement of NQ-2 year qualifieds when the market picks up and the volume of work returns.
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TC Searcher | 15-Jul-2009 6:26 am
Which firms are you speaking about Baby Farks?
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Pinewood Derby | 15-Jul-2009 8:35 am
They're also bucking the trend by hiring a huge amount of paralegals too.
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Baby Farks Mageezak | 15-Jul-2009 5:40 pm
TC, I can't remember the exact firms but happened to be reading an article saying that a few firms had more vacancies than trainees. One of them may have been Tim Henman's dad's firm but can't be completely sure.
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Anonymous | 18-Jul-2009 3:39 pm
I've just started at IM as a temporary paralegal on a 12 week contract and we're SO busy, they've had to take more staff on since my joing a month ago!
Hoping that a TC might be a possibility for later on.....
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Clarence Boddicker | 20-Jul-2009 1:47 pm
Is IM a good firm? I've heard conflicting stories about them
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Anonymous | 21-Jul-2009 9:24 am
If you do enough homework and dig deep enough, you'll hear conflicting stories aboutevery firm under the sun. There is no one set of criteria that determines 'A Good Firm'.
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Thor | 21-Jul-2009 6:48 pm
"Good firm" is so subjective. I'm sure that IM recruits that have been paralegals for small local firms think that they're on the yellow brick road if there's an IT system and aircon yet I suspect that those with a city background wouldn't wipe their feet on the carpet.
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