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Dressing for Success February 8, 2010

Posted by travisthetrout in Working Life.
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A couple of weeks ago I attended an event hosted by TM Lewin on how to “dress for success”, in other words, work. They obviously gave us an introduction to their range of clothing, but they also gave loads of general tips:

Jackets

  • Buttoning up jackets – Top button sometimes, middle button always, bottom button never.
  • Important to get the right sleeve length – if it is too short it wears at the elbow and if it is too long it wears at the cuff.
  • With regards to quality – the lining and inside pockets are the giveaway.
  • Don’t wear all day – hang it up.

Suits

  • Girls should try and match skirt and trousers to a jacket for variety, or even a dress.
  • Choose a skirt option that is practical – so if your job requires a lot of running to court a pencil skirt is not the best idea.
  • Rotate so that the suit lasts longer.

Shirts

  • Sleeve Length (same problems as the jacket).
  • Measure sleeve length from middle of back, straight out to bent elbow and then to wrist.
  • Should be able to get an index finger in all the way round at the collar.
  • tie the tie in a knot suitable for the shirt collar.
  • when matching tie with patterned shirt, go for the least dominant colour.
  • ironing a shirt – collar then cuffs, sleeves and finally body. Iron from the outside, in with the collar (lining in a good quality shirt if fluid to shape the collar, if you iron out this deshapes the collar and cause lumps at the points.

We also got shown female cuff links (in the shape of shoes) and bow ties (which are harder to tie than they look boys).

Anyone got any dressing for work tips they’d like to share?

End of the Week: 7th February 2010 February 7, 2010

Posted by travisthetrout in End of the Week.
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Another week has simply flown by, so here is another great selection of links to things I’ve been reading this week:

My Weekly Goals:

- The Book: The Rules of Work (Richard Templar)

- The Movie(s): Grease 2 and The Godfather.

Working Update: the last week ahead February 6, 2010

Posted by travisthetrout in Life at Medium Sized Law Firm, Working Life.
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This week has been a busy week, since one team member got fired last week and one had his holiday this week so all the more work for just 2 of us this week.  We also moved office and I”ve a huge desk – downside – I’ve actually been running back and forth the length of the desk and it is making me more tired. One scanner has been broken the past few weeks and we finally got given a temporary replacement.

My boss finally gets it, I’ve handed in my notice and I am finishing work at the end of next week, she was seriously hoping I’d change my mind. My replacement (who is the girl I started the job with originally) is starting Monday and I’ve a week to get her up to speed again. We’re also having a partner spend a morning with us to show them what we do, as my boss is pushing to expand the team. I personally think that will be great fun, my boss is just glad I’m there and can do the selling.  According to my colleague my boss calls me a machine, apparently it’s a good thing. I’m not so sure.

My new job actually wanted me to start this week coming, but I told them I’d start the following week because I told my boss I’d work this week to help out. I’ve built up a good team and I believe they deserve to be a permanent fixture  (and be expanded). We make the firm paperless, a goal that is a worthy. However, I cannot wait to start me new job, I’ve no idea what it will be like. I’ve been told I’m “going to die” because everyone is going to be pulling me in different directions, but people underestimate just how organised I can be and how much I love the rush of the stress and push and pull. So we’ll see.

The EcoStapler Review February 3, 2010

Posted by travisthetrout in Office Supplies.
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Last week I toyed with the idea of using an ecostapler for personal use (as it is obviously not suitable for use at work). So I bought the EcoStapler over the weekend.

First off it is hard enough to get into the eco plastic packaging to get the stapler out (even after attacking it with the scissors). Once I got it opened I started stapling – 2/3 pages are easy to staple. It says in the information about the stapler that 3 is the maximum number of pages that can be stapled. 4 can be stapled just about – but it takes both hands and a lot of force and even then it only works sometimes and other times it ends up being a bit of a hacked up job.

I’ve got to wonder when realistically you’d only be stapling 3 pages – so I’d say you couldn’t rely on this stapler alone. But when it is 3 pages or less it does work well.

But the “staple” itself looks cute, different. It does hold the paper together, but cannot withstand a great deal of force and is easy to pull apart. and you couldn’t use to fold back on itself when looking at the second page (as you ca do with metal staples) as it would break away.

I believe that anyone who received a document from you which had been ecostapled would be likely to reinforce it with a metal staple if they were to work with it. defeating the main purpose of being eco. So I’m sorry to say, hold your horses, don’t go to run out and buy one of these metal staples do a better job and are here to stay.

BPP v CoL February 2, 2010

Posted by travisthetrout in Legal Practice Course (LPC).
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Maybe I’m just too tired in the morning but last week I noticed for the first time that there is a BPP advert in the train station, advertising their new law school opening in September (“Arrivals”). Walking one way it is the first sign you see (or rather walk under), walking the other way however, the first sign you walk under is the College of Law’s sign (“Next Stop”) advertising their new law school in September.

*sigh*

Both, as I’m sure any reader of legal news will know, are opening law school’s here in Bristol in September. Granted there is only currently one LPC provider here in Bristol, and graduates fresh out of University of Bristol I’m sure will be quick to sign up to BPP or CoL rather than run off to London. However, the worrying thing is that there already an awful lot of LPC graduates fighting it out for Bristol’s limited training contract places. Many friends are still having trouble securing any legal related job 8 months after completing the course even though they have 2.1 degrees and merit / distinction at LPC level. This year there will be over 300 more graduates. Then in 2011 with 3 law schools there will be an extra 190 from College of law, and 60 from BPP.

Aside from tougher competition for a training contract, the other worry is the effect that more graduates from BPP and CoL will “devalue” my LPC from a different provider. Everyone in my undergraduate class went to CoL apart from 2 who went to BPP, it was considered strange for me to drop out of my BPP place and transfer a month before I was due to start (this was because my partner got a job in the South-west). And among friends there is a feeling that CoL is better than BPP. At the time I took comfort in the fact that a lot of local firms had great support for their local law school, and many of the recruiters had attended there themselves. I’m hoping this will still be the case.

There is not much information about the new courses yet, for example I don’t know whether they will be offering a wide range of electives. All that I do know is the location – CoL is right beside the train station and BPP is a short walk away near one of our other offices. But I question will incoming students make a decision between BPP and CoL with such little information.

Interviews: What is your greatest achievement? February 1, 2010

Posted by travisthetrout in Deafness/HOH, Interviews, Job hunting.
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Another interview question or in some cases a job application is: What is you greatest achievement. Styled another way, this can also be dressed up as what has been your greatest challenge?

Now I have thought long and hard about this (and have a range of semi-prepared answers) but in all honest my greatest challenges and achievements have been related to my hearing impairment. I never mention my so-called disability in an interview (although I do tick the relevant box on an equal opportunities form). So my question is: do I mention it or not?

After all by not mentioning it I ignore what is a huge part of my life. But the other side of it is that I never want that part of my life to be the only part that other people see.

But answering tricky questions that employers love to torture us with aside.

At what point should one tell your employer about such disability. It doesn’t affect my daily job, although there may be times when it has an impact. If anything, it is more likely to affect my relationship with colleagues, for example: if my back is turned towards you and you speak to me, I may not be able to hear you, even face-to-face I rely on lip reading and some people are just difficult to lip-read. This can have the effect that some people think I am ignoring them, or don’t like them, which can be a problem.

But starting a new job soon, and how to “play my cards” is getting me all nervous.

End of the Week: 31st January 2010 January 31, 2010

Posted by travisthetrout in End of the Week.
2 comments

So the first month of the year has flown by. This week has been all about the Apple’s Ipad, which I’m sure needs no introduction. But here is what everyone else has been talking about this week:

My Weekly Goals:

- The book: How to feel confident – Leil Lowndes – a waste of my time. I may be shy, but all of this I knew. General common sense. The book didn’t really inspire or give motivation to get you out of shyness, but instead, gave stories you could relate to, which in some ways made you think, well if everyone has these problems why do I even need to change.

- the movie: unfortunately lacked a new movie this week, Midsomer Murders took up usual film slot. Maybe I’ll watch Superman 3 tonight. Edit: Watched Superman 3, great fun, even if some graphics / special effects were cringeworthy. Also, worth it for the glance of Larry Lamb playing a miner.

- the mac: trying out iwork this week. will keep you posted.

- the recipes: tonight is our first roast dinner taken from Rachel Allen’s Home cooking programme which we watched yesterday.

Staple Removers January 30, 2010

Posted by travisthetrout in Office Supplies.
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AKA the attack of the de-staplers.

As mentioned earlier this week in the comments of a quest for a stapler de-staplers are a problem, they are flimsy, annoying and either attack you or the paper. If you don’t feel confident enough to try Michael’s technique of using pliers (stay tuned for the YouTube Video) I have two potential solutions for you.

Our law firm buys stationery in bulk, everyone gets the cheapo staplers and de-staplers. However, due to repetitive strain injury from using these staplers we managed to get our team alternative staplers. Next on our list is the de-staplers.

The photocopying guy has a great selection, so my colleague stole what is known as a swingline stapler remover (aka Rexel Sampson Staple Extractor here in the UK) to use today. And here it is:

Now the paper has to be flat on that table, which depending on your method of working can be a good or bad thing. For example when we are dealing with a flurry of incoming post, it is quite slow, and not a great benefit, however, when we are dealing with bundles of documents from insurers which are a few hundred pages with a stupidly huge staple through them, it is well worth it. The same applies to trial bundles and some case files. It gets the staple out cleanly, giving you extra strength with it’s spring loaded lever handle. However, at £9.99 it is a bit pricy compared to the more traditional stapler removers for a couple of quid.

So if the heavy duty one is a bit out of your price range, or you never really deal with huge documents there is another great de-stapler in a more traditional style. The Sparco Stapler remover – more sturdy than the traditional bulk ones we have in work and takes the staplers out cleanly. In additional I have yet to have one break on me, so that’s good news.

Restyled: Disposable To-Do List January 28, 2010

Posted by travisthetrout in Organisation, To-Dos.
2 comments

As many of my regular readers  may remember, last year (and up to recently) I have been using my so called disposable to-do list. However, I have taken a new approach to this in recent weeks using my Emma Bridgewater Notebook. The notebook is a nice pocket sized notebook suitable for carrying round everywhere, but prettier than the previous reporter’s notebooks.

What I do:

Each double page (ie opened pages) is a “category” of To-dos. Rather than simply list everything on the one page, I’ve split them up into categories, although we still just use a running list to record the information. This means if you want to tackle a particular type of to-do it is easy to find.  At the moment I have 2 sets of categories, the first includes things like:

  • job applications
  • general online
  • blog
  • get in contact with
  • money
  • sign language
  • work

All of which are particular types of tasks as they relate to or are for a specific purpose. However, the second set of categories is for if I know when I want to do something. For example I have an “on the train” list for things I know I can do while passing time on the train. Another example would be if it is a big task and I can’t fit it in on a working day it gets put on my “for the weekend” list for example my current entries are:

  • get my tyres checked
  • fill up with petrol (post payday); and
  • Paint something.

Why is this better?

This is better than the disposable to do list where you have to hunt through the list for something you can do at that moment in time. This list method allows you to select things depending on where you are or what sort of a mood you are in, without imposing any deadline restrictions as the principles of free form, striking things out and the fact you can do any thing anytime taken from the disposable to-dos still applies.

Everyone makes to-dos so complicated, over-complicated when in reality all you need to do is jot it down, this method keeps this – you are simply jotting it down, but you simply flick over the page and jot it down, starting a new category if there are no similar categories in your notebook.

Ecostapling January 27, 2010

Posted by travisthetrout in Office Supplies.
6 comments

At work we have failed to consider the use of an ecostapler, shocking because:

  • we pride ourselves in being “green”
  • of how expensive all the staples and staplers must be (our team alone goes through a box of staples a week, and before our latest purchases, a stapler a month, easy).
  • of the simplicity of it all.

Fair enough the eco staples (we do get the odd one passing through our office, I’m talking once a fortnight here) are annoying to get out so we can feed the pages through the scanner, but if you know the staple is to stay – it is very secure. Although such a small stapler may not seem suitable for office work (depending on your usage) there is no reason why individuals couldn’t have one. After all “If everyone in UK offices saved just one staple a day, we’d save 72 tonnes of metal a year”. (Shocking figure).

So what is not to like: green, cute, gadgety, and you never run out of staples. Come pay day and its on my shopping list: a bargain at £4.99.