Role overview
The role
The Early Talent team sits within People and Talent Development and is responsible for the attraction, recruitment, onboarding, development, advisory and pastoral support of Trainee Solicitors, Solicitor Apprentices and summer interns across London and Bristol.
The team delivers the full early talent lifecycle, from market engagement and assessment processes through to qualification, while ensuring a high-quality candidate, trainee and apprentice experience aligned to the firm's strategy.
We are looking for an Early Talent Assistant to join the team in London. This is a varied coordination and administration role supporting the delivery of RPC's early talent programmes, including trainee and solicitor apprentice recruitment, attraction events, assessment centres, work experience programmes, onboarding, department rotations, qualification processes, and ongoing trainee/apprentice activity.
The successful candidate will be highly organised, proactive and a confident communicator. You do not need previous Early Talent experience, but you will need strong administrative skills, attention to detail and an interest in supporting people at the start of their careers.
This would suit someone looking to build experience in recruitment, HR, early careers or people development within a professional services environment.
Duties and responsibilities
Duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Supporting the planning and delivery of early talent attraction activity, including law fairs, internal and external events, virtual events and external partner activity.
- Coordinating event logistics, including bookings, materials, travel arrangements, attendance lists, candidate communications and follow-up actions.
- Supporting trainee, solicitor apprentice and summer intern recruitment processes from application stage through to offer, including candidate queries, eligibility checks, trackers, system updates and routine administration.
- Coordinating assessment centre and interview logistics, including diary management, room bookings, assessor/candidate communications, assessment materials, candidate reimbursements and related system administration.
- Supporting the planning and delivery of our work experience programmes, including onboarding, screening, event logistics, materials, diary coordination and candidate communications.
- Supporting pre-joining, onboarding and induction activity for future trainees and solicitor apprentices, including event logistics, paperwork, screening, travel reimbursements, maintenance grant/bursary communications and routine pre-joining queries.
- Supporting trainee and solicitor apprentice lifecycle activity, including department rotations, international secondments, progress review meetings, Quarterly Conversations, mid/end-of-seat reviews and NQ/qualification processes.
- Coordinating trainee and solicitor apprentice events, forums, department spotlight sessions and briefing sessions, including invites, agendas, materials, attendance tracking, room bookings, notes/actions and follow-up.
- Maintaining accurate data, trackers, records and electronic files across early talent processes, ensuring information is up to date and handled confidentially.
- Managing the day-to-day Early Talent inbox, responding to routine queries and escalating more complex matters where appropriate.
- Supporting reporting, budget tracking, invoices, expenses, reimbursements and collation of information where required.
- Supporting Early Talent projects, process improvements, internal/external communications activity and other ad hoc administration as required.
Knowledge, skills and experience
- Previous administrative or coordination experience in an office or professional services environment.
- Previous experience in recruitment, HR, early careers, events or marketing administration would be helpful but is not essential.
- Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office, particularly Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
- Comfortable working with systems, trackers and data, with a willingness to learn recruitment/HR platforms.
- Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple tasks, deadlines and priorities.
- Excellent communication skills, both orally and in writing.
- Able to provide a professional, responsive and helpful service to candidates, trainees, apprentices, colleagues and external stakeholders.
- Interest in early careers, recruitment, HR, people development or the legal sector.
Attributes:
- Proactive, positive and solution-focused, with a "can do" approach.
- Excellent attention to detail and accuracy.
- Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to build positive working relationships with candidates, trainees, apprentices and internal stakeholders.
- Adaptable and able to respond to shifting priorities during busy periods.
- Able to use initiative and manage upwards, while knowing when to escalate or ask for guidance.
- Discreet and able to handle confidential or sensitive information appropriately.
- Collaborative and able to work effectively as part of a team.
- Self-motivated and able to take ownership of tasks.
- Calm under pressure.
- Demonstrates a growth mindset and desire to build a career in HR, recruitment or early careers.
- Committed to contributing to a supportive, inclusive and collaborative team culture.
Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging
We are problem solvers. Whether in front of clients or behind the scenes. To solve problems creatively for clients, we need diverse collaborative thinking; drawing on different experiences, backgrounds and perspectives. That means that everyone who either applies to, or works for, the firm is treated equitably. We believe in removing barriers to equal access not least because our people define us and define what we do. If you need support and adjustments to do your best work, whether that's during the recruitment process or throughout your time at RPC, we're here to help.
Flexible working that supports your commitments outside of work is an important part of our culture and, where possible, we will support this across all roles. Please get in touch with our recruitment team if you have any questions about our hybrid working approach or flexible working policy.
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