Simpson Grierson recruitment manager Jackie Mulligan is a former litigation lawyer and barrister who has since become a respected recruiter following her observation of a need for part-time lawyers seeking quality legal work.

A strong advocate of flexible working plans, she spoke with LawTalk recently about the legal
profession's loss of talented lawyers a s aresult of inflexible working arrangements on offer.

"The younger generation of lawyers define work goals quite differently and value flexible working. Flexibility has become increasingly important for lawyers that we’re seeing come through
and it’s no longer being framed as a female/parenting issue, but something that all lawyers can ask for. The current culture is ripe for people to ask for it," she said.

The challenge with flexible work hours is having good communication with colleagues and clients around the arrangements.

But what are the pitfalls for junior lawyers seeking legal jobs? She pointed to three, key areas that
needed attention.

1. An application that is too generic, rather than being personalised to the firm or to the role being sought. It signals to the firm that your application is simply one of many.

2. Applying for multiple roles at the same firm. It's not a good look, she says, particularly if the roles are quite different.

3. Put some personality into your CV. Being overly conservative and failing to convey information about your abilities and background will not help your application stand out among the others.

Putting some personalised effort into your CV and ensuring you're providing an appropriately tailored application for the firm is something that can be readily achieved with a little effort.