My virtual induction experience

Starting her training contract from home was not what Lizzie Lord imagined when she received her offer, but despite an unconventional start due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she describes how she was able to build relationships in her first week.

Before my induction week began, I felt all the same feelings as I would have starting in the office: excited and nervous but mainly just eager to get going and begin my journey to becoming a solicitor at Shoosmiths. Graduate Recruitment and the IS team did a great job at getting my laptop ready and delivered on the Friday. This meant I could get my workstation and laptop sorted in plenty of time before the Monday morning start. Amy Ruff from Graduate Recruitment gave us all a friendly call to confirm what would be happening and just to make sure that we didn’t have any issues.

Given that I would spend most of the induction on video call, it was important to make a good impression and look smart as well as feeling comfortable. The first day involved a general welcome to the firm from Graduate Recruitment and plenty of introductions to different teams and people such as Rachel Parker the Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Shoosmiths. It was good to meet my trainee cohort and as our intake was quite small, I did start to get to know people (even if it was through a screen!). Although it can be quite tiring being on video calls, we were given plenty of breaks and the days were made as interactive as possible. After a busy day, we finished with a relaxing Faux Calligraphy session with Beeta Taylor-Sadeghi who is a Professional Support Lawyer at Shoosmiths and a modern calligrapher and lettering artist.  We also received a Deliveroo Voucher which I thought was nice surprise and a thoughtful touch!

The next couple of days involved various types of training, a talk from a nutritionist, a Q&A with current trainees as well as a friendly and relaxed welcome from the Chairperson Peter Duff.  There was also a social quiz on one of the evenings which was a good opportunity to socialise with some of the current trainees. My supervising partner gave me a call so we could introduce ourselves and we even had a virtual team social on the Thursday evening of my first week.

I found everybody very welcoming and as an agile firm, the virtual induction experience was a positive and smooth one!

You can also watch this #ShoosmithsLIVE video chat where Alice provides an insight into her first day as a trainee solicitor at Shoosmiths.

If you have any questions you can email us at [email protected] or have a look at some frequently asked questions here.