Kate Wain, our multi-tasking para-consultant recently celebrated her one year anniversary with Kaleidoscope. Originally a legal secretary, we thought we’d sit down and have a chat about how she is doing one year on after her career change.
Tell everyone about your role at Kaleidoscope.
In my role at Kaleidoscope, I am a para-consultant. My duties are varied and I assist the consultants for both legal support and professional recruitment work. A normal work day for me usually includes some administration, researching and finding candidates, conducting reference checks and keeping our job board up to date – basically acting as the right hand person to all our consultants! I am also in charge of our resume writing service which is both challenging and rewarding.
Prior to working at Kaleidoscope you were a legal secretary, what areas of law did you work in? Do you think this has helped you moving into legal recruitment?
Prior to working at Kaleidoscope I rotated through general insurance and family law. I then worked in patents. In my patent role, I was in a team of administrators so the duties were a bit different to that of a typical legal secretary. I think that working in both a mid and top-tier environment, has helped me in my role now as I feel like I have a real understanding about some of the challenges that legal support staff face.
What was the most challenging thing about changing careers?
I left my role in patents to travel Europe. I think being away from home and having time to reflect made me really think about what I wanted to do for a career in the future. To be honest, I knew that I didn’t want to work for a law firm again but I also knew that I still wanted to be involved in the legal arena. I applied for my current role with Kaleidoscope thinking that I wouldn’t have a chance of even securing an interview – I got lucky and here I am. Changing careers is very hard. I think for me the most challenging part was actually the lead up to starting my new career, I was so nervous especially in the days leading up to my start date. After day one, I knew that I’d made the best decision in my life.
What is the favourite part of your job?
My favourite part of my role is that I get paid to talk! I’ve always been a talker. “Kate talks too much” was always the feedback on every school report I ever received, so really this is perfect! I really enjoy the interaction that comes with my job. I talk to a variety of people who are all in various different roles in the legal industry. It’s not unusual for me to have a chat to a legal secretary and Managing Partner in the same morning.
Do you see yourself becoming a recruitment consultant one day?
Yes I do. Transitioning into a recruitment consultant is my ultimate career goal.
And what do you like best about working at Kaleidoscope?
My favourite thing about Kaleidoscope is definitely the people that I work with. Everyone is so much fun! Every day in the Kaleidoscope office is full of laughter and excitement. We listen to the radio while we work, which is also awesome.