Career Clinic: Trainee to NQ - is a £1k increase enough?

ask them to cut your salary to £ 28000

angelo -13 Jul 2009 | 10:44

Associate

Take it. Be enthusiastic about taking it. In the current NQ market any job (and any income) is better than no job: compared with many of your non-lawyer graduate contemporaries, it isn't a bad salary. You will be working, gaining experience, when others will be watching daytime TV wishing they were in your position. In a few years time, when the cycle swings round, you will be in great demand as there will be a shortage of people at your level. This doesn't mean that, having accepted the current offer, you shouldn't look around for something better and I guess there is some argument your firm is taking the michael a little, but swallow your pride and get on with things. Good luck.

Anonymous -13 Jul 2009 | 10:59

Get real and unless you have another job to go to, accept it gracefully. NQs salaries are going to be all over the place this year whilst the market rebases itself and frankly supply outstrips demand. Your firm has probably taken advantage of this (and you) but once the market starts to stablise you'll be able to negotiate a higher salary. Be careful of being seen to be someone who expects a massive rise on qualification.

City Woman -13 Jul 2009 | 11:08

You must think you're something pretty special if you're going to turn your nose up at thirty grand at the minute.

Most people who are offered an NQ position take it, regardless of the pay, as it allows them to build the requisite experience to move to a better position a few years down the line.

By all means quit and see how far you get, you'll soon see that the world doesn't owe you a living and that thirty grand you turned down is a lot more than the forty eight a week you'll be getting on the dole.

Space Cash -13 Jul 2009 | 11:24

Stay and look for another job at the same time!

Eddie -13 Jul 2009 | 12:08

March NQ

I qualified earlier this year at a Top 10 firm and can say with confidence that there are really absolutely no NQ jobs out there anywhere in the country. Any jobs that there are, are few and very far between and most likely not in your chosen area of qualification. I was out of work for about 4 months, and am one of the very lucky few I know to now be back in employment. If you have been offered a job grab it with both hands, as the likelihood is by taking your chances and leaving, you will be alongside the other hundreds of NQ's without jobs.

We are no longer in a market where we can be fussy about our salary expectations. My salary at NQ would have been £45k, but I have just somehow out of the blue through my own connections found an NQ job which is fantastic but is paying nearly the same as I got as a Trainee (£29k) despite the size of the firm I am now at. Normally would I have negotiated salary to what is market rate? Yes- definitely, in fact the firm I am at now know they are not paying me what they would have a year ago, and so do I. Additionally, think of those at legal aided firms whose salary expectation on qualification is your Trainee salary!

NQ's are no longer in the position they once were. Firms are looking to cut costs and will go for the cheaper candidate in the current climate. The likelihood is when the market picks up, your salary increase will also follow. Ask any NQ that has been out of work for months, would they take their trainee salary if they got offered a job? The answer is yes with both hands. With September qualification coming up, it will all get worst before it gets better.

Trainee salary.....is better than months and months of no salary, and no job at all!! Take the job you have been offered and hold on tight!

Anonymous -13 Jul 2009 | 12:46

I'd make the most of your good luck, as a March qualifier I went from £40,000 to £0 through no fault of my own. Wake up and smell the roses!

Anon -13 Jul 2009 | 13:06

A £1K pay rise to £30K is a damn sight better than unemployment. The facts speak for themselves - look at the retention rate stats that keep coming out and consider yourself fortunate that your firm want to keep you on.

Whilst I appreciate the disparity betweeen the past salaries you report and the offer you have been made, I reiterate the above.

In conclusion, think of this as a temporary issue and know that if you don't want to work for the firm in the long-run, you can always look elsewhere for the better offers which will inevitably return in the future.

Anonymous -13 Jul 2009 | 13:08

You have a job offer. It's a heck of a lot more than some of your peers have and you can bet your £1,000 that there will be someone else take the NQ job at £30,000.

Why don't you contact a recruitment agency - they will quickly tell you the position in the job market at the moment and you'll realise that £30,000 a year for a position just now isn't as awful as you think it is.

Anonymous -13 Jul 2009 | 13:44

Take the job and keep your mouth shut.

Anonymous -13 Jul 2009 | 14:04

I am currently looking for an NQ job in September. There are very few opportunities to even apply for at the moment.

Take the job - £30,000 beats the hell out of benefits.

4th seat trainee -13 Jul 2009 | 14:26

1. Do you have a better paid NQ/other alternative? If yes, take it. If not, accept this offer to gain NQ experience but keep looking elsewhere.

2. Everyone knows the market is bad, but your firm clearly needs people, else why make you an offer? Firms don't offer roles to help people out. It is taking advantage of a bad market, to a degree at least it seems. If you decide you can't get something better, you should ask your firm if it will increase the NQ salary its offering. If it says no, try and negotiate a fixed salary review date in 6 months time.

Good luck.

Anonymous -13 Jul 2009 | 14:44

Recruiter

You've got a lot of nerve even asking the question. Take the job and thank your stars you've even been offered. I'm gob smacked you've asked the question. Wow.

Luke -13 Jul 2009 | 15:00

My suggestion is you thank the firm for the offer, say you need time to consider it and ask that they explain how they reached the £30k figure.

Annymous -13 Jul 2009 | 16:09

Stay put - there are almost zero NQ jobs out there right now, and I can't see this improving much before September. I suppose if you can survive on £29k, you can manage on £30k (although I do think this is pretty cheeky of your firm nonetheless). Hold on tight until the market picks up a little, and at least you will have been working and gaining experience.

Giveusajob -13 Jul 2009 | 16:30

Paige Matthews

TAKE THE JOB!!! If you're really concerned about pay (for whatever reason) then keep looking. Realistically, you are lucky to have a job. I'm being kept on by my firm but the NQ salary has dropped from £65k to £59k. No complaints from me - just happy to have a job!

Paige Matthews -13 Jul 2009 | 19:33

Are you based in London? Take the job and keep looking for another one. Its a bad market at the moment.

Abbie -13 Jul 2009 | 21:04

Take the job and spend the next year strengthening your legal and business skills. By next year you'll be a 1 year PQE with, hopefully, excellent experience under your belt. Then look for a another job if that's what you want.

Metallica -14 Jul 2009 | 11:57

Take it, obviously, it goes without saying but I am still quite shocked... I work for a regional firm and my trainee salary is the low 20's, my NQ position is going to be low 30's so I do think that your firm is taking the mick a little. However, in the current climate, they can!

Anonymous -14 Jul 2009 | 12:41

Have you not heard the phrase "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"? Take the job and work from a position of strength of actually being in a job instead of fretting over the amount of increase you are receiving on qualification. As a soon to be NQ with no job to go into myself I can confirm that the job market is bleak for NQs!

DCAC -14 Jul 2009 | 13:05

It does not bode well for your legal career if you can't make a sensible judgement about your job offer in what has to be one of the worst NQ years in recent memory.

Anon -14 Jul 2009 | 15:43

The NQ market is non existant so be grateful you actually got a raise. I just accepted a NQ job at £2000 less than I was paid as a trainee (albeit in my chosen department) and I am delighted!

Audrey -14 Jul 2009 | 16:16

Take the job, smile and concentrate on getting the experience you can sell to another firm in a year or so's time, I am soon to be an NQ, and trust me there are no NQ jobs out there.

Anonymous -14 Jul 2009 | 17:40

There really are no NQ jobs out there trust me I have been looking. If I were you I'd take the job, get on with it and start building experience which you can sell in a year or so's time.

anon -14 Jul 2009 | 17:42

Correct me if I'm wrong: are you asking us whether you should qualify for little money now or for lots of money two years ago? If it is, then the answer is obviously the latter.

Time Traveller -15 Jul 2009 | 16:10

NQ Solicitor

Similar thing happened to me in Nov 08, although my increase was circa £3,500.

My advice is to take the job you've been offered. Like many other posters have said - it's a very difficult market at the moment & you should take what's offered. At the same time you can be increasing your experience & looking elsewhere.

Anna -15 Jul 2009 | 16:36

Write to them saying there seems to be a typo in their document and that if they paid their NQs more perhaps such typos would be noticed.

Anonymous -15 Jul 2009 | 18:40

If you don't consider it enough - simply don't take the job.

Bamber -16 Jul 2009 | 11:29

Yes, NQs were getting paid too much and the balance has shifted back in the right direction. Get used to it because rates are going to be subdued for some time to come.

Anonymous -17 Jul 2009 | 13:57

Yes, NQ pay had reached unsustainable levels. Time for a reality check!

Hugh -17 Jul 2009 | 14:10

It does seem very unfair to me - sounds like your firm is taking advantage of the current climate to save themselves some money - but like all the other posters have said, take the job, you can always look for another job whilst gaining NQ experience.

annon -17 Jul 2009 | 14:53

Ask them for another ten grand. You deserve it.

Anonymous -17 Jul 2009 | 15:53

1. This is not 'cheeky' of the firm. It is a sensible business decision... they need to cut costs and they know that people need jobs. Many firms are not offering anything and this offer is a sign they value you highly. To not accept this offer would not only be 'cheeky' but would lead to a very high risk that you will be unemployed.

2. Unless you are some sort of legal god (your question suggests otherwise) then £30k is about as good as it will get right now and you should hold tight and see how things go.

Trainee -17 Jul 2009 | 16:04

Seriously?

An NQ friend and 20 of his peers are all being fired come September. No contracts for any of them. There must be around 30 applicants for any job right now, so be grateful you have one.

Keep your mouth shut and a watchful eye on the job market. £30,000 keeps you housed, fed, clothed and social. Bide your time.

Claire -20 Jul 2009 | 08:59

Accept the offer with both hands! I qualified in March on £48k (in-house FSA-regulated company - City of London) which is below what I thought I would be on but just grateful for a job!

Anon -20 Jul 2009 | 13:28

I agree with the pretty clear consensus that you should take the job since you're unlikely to find anything else out there at any money. However it does seem a little odd and they appear to be taking advantage of the market. I think you've got nothing at all to lose by haggling and asking them to justify the salary, and unless they are also slashing their trainee salaries it would seem particularly unfair that as a qualified solicitor you will be nearly on the same salary as new-intake trainees who aren't good for much more than photocopying at the moment!

I was made redundant in December and happily found a new job quickly (just about the only such job locally that was going) and even though I knew I was very lucky to receive a job offer (and my new firm knew that too) I still took the view that they wanted me almost as much as I wanted them and I (successfully) negotiated up their original salary offer.

You are in a similar position - you want the job but they also want (and need) you so you do have an element of a bargaining position, although significantly less than you would have done a couple of years ago.

Anonymous -20 Jul 2009 | 17:10

You are lucky to have such an offer.
I'd accept it if I were you.
It sounds a better prospect than being one of the 200-plus who has signed up to the RollonFriday/Law Works scheme where you give free advice to a charity and get an interview later which may well lead to nothing.
I qualified in commercial property during the last serious recession in the early 1990s. I was in a similar position to you and was given similar advice. With hindsight I think it was good advice and I ended up getting good experience.
The better money comes later in your career when you have some PQE and have demonstrated what you are worth to the firm or to the wider world.

high street solicitor -21 Jul 2009 | 13:27

Are you for real? Have you not heard about the state of the NQ market out there or lack of I should say. Be grateful you have been offered a job and take it unless you want to be unemployed and on £0k p/a for god knows how long.

Anonymous -22 Jul 2009 | 20:52

As I am an American observer here, why not go overseas? English lawyers have more overseas opportunities available to them than most other English speaking common law trained lawyers. We Americans don't have rights to work anywhere other than America. Ditto Australians, Canadians etc. You guys have about 25 EU countries you can work in and (if you don't speak an EU lingo) god knows how many English speaking countries in the commonwealth. Take the plunge.

Jack Vance -24 Jul 2009 | 05:20