Ex-employment lawyer becomes a careers coach after running her own business

Karen Gill qualified at what is now Trowers & Hamlins, where she specialised in employment law for over three years.  After a brief move in-house, she did legal recruitment for Chambers & Partners for a couple of years, before teaming up with a colleague to set up their own recruitment business, Graham Gill.  After eighteen years there, she sold her stake in the business two years ago and embarked on her “final career” in career consultancy with Career Balance.  We spoke to her about her own decisions and how she approaches her new job. 

mtl: Hi Karen, please can you start with telling us about your legal career.

Karen: I decided to study law partly because it was very important to me to be financially independent. I trained at what is now Trowers & Hamlins and on qualification was offered a place to do employment law.  I practiced there for three years and had lots of client contact, which was challenging, and I found it to be the most satisfying aspect of the job.    

However, after three years I realised that I was doing the same work for the same clients and would be for the foreseeable future.  I also couldn’t see a future as a female partner in the City as I wanted to have a family and at the time it appeared very difficult to mix the two.  I decided to move in-house to Thorn EMI in the hope that I would be able to mix a career with family life but unfortunately I didn’t research the role well enough and I left after about six months.

This move actually gave me a chance to step back and look at my career and take stock of what I wanted.  I had always had an entrepreneurial streak but without knowing what to do with it.  Because of the misgivings I had about work-life balance in law, and knowing that I enjoyed working with people and that I could go back if it didn’t work out, instead of applying for another employment role, I took a job in legal recruitment at Chambers & Partners. I really enjoyed the work and also met a colleague there who became my business partner for the next 18 years. 

mtl: So why did you decide to set up by yourself? 

Karen:  Both my colleague and I wanted to do our own thing, with our own ethos and in a way that allowed work to be combined with family life.  In 1988 we set up Graham Gill, which placed lawyers in the City and the regions.  It was a huge challenge as we had to look at whether we could really take the risk and do it successfully.  Fortunately we had made quite a bit of money through recruitment and the business plan I drew up showed we could last for six months and that if we could do a third of the placements we’d done over the last year, then we would be fine for a year.

It wasn’t easy to find premises and setting up the systems was challenging, but we didn’t dwell on the risk.  Instead we were aware of it but also confident in our joint ability and both really keen.  We felt it was the right time and that if we didn’t take the opportunity then, we never would.  We expanded the business, had our families, did a lot of deals and worked very hard, the reward for which was autonomy and a tremendous buzz. 

However, we had to deal with a lot of very tedious paperwork as we weren’t big enough to have departments to take care of this and we did have to make some personal sacrifices.  For example we both only took 3m maternity for our children, but when the market was quiet, we could be flexible in a way that wouldn’t have been possible had we been employed. 

mtl: Why did you pull out of Graham Gill and why did you go into career consultancy? 

Karen:  After 18 years I wanted a fresh challenge and something stimulating that would build on my two previous careers.  I sold my share in the business and stayed part-time to ease my way out.  I took some time out to think about what to do next and to look at my skills, values and experience.  I wanted to do something within a legal framework but focusing more on the bits I really enjoyed, which included moving people forwards in their careers.  In recruitment you have certain roles to fill but people have to fit within them and you can’t always do this.  As a career coach, you can work in a much broader sense and support them in a more general journey.

During my time out after Graham Gill, I spoke to a friend who was a lawyer and who had seen a careers coach, which she had found really useful.  Looking back, I thought I could have done with some outside assistance at the point that I switched from law to recruitment. I also realised that the skills I’d acquired through law, recruitment, running my own business and volunteering as a Samaritan, would be very useful for this line of work. 

I investigated the qualifications needed and ended up speaking to Simon Broomer at Career Balance.  Most of his clients are lawyers and he wanted to work with someone who could also focus on lawyers.  I decided to do a course in career counseling and have been working with Simon as an associate since then.

mtl: How do you approach your role as a career coach? 

Karen: I take a pragmatic approach, which is tailored to individuals.  Some people have strong ideas about what they think they want to do and just need some support while they do it or perhaps some interview coaching or help with their CV.  Others are at a real crossroads and just know they are unhappy and don’t know how to move on.  I help them to work out what they enjoy doing, what their values are and where they want to be in life.  This can be at all levels, from trainee through to partner. 

We talk through what the client wants, what has shaped them so far and explore how they can move into the future and find something fulfilling. Obviously it is never a matter of what I think.  It is my role to draw out what the client really thinks and this is what marks me out from a recruiter who puts someone forward for something they think a particular candidate should do.  Counseling and coaching are more about active listening and asking sensible questions to help clients discover who they are and what makes them tick. 

I am really happy being a careers consultant and am planning for it to be my last career!  It ticks all the boxes, as it is stimulating, challenging, fulfilling and I find lawyers fascinating, partly because there are so many stages in the legal career to look at and also because I know the sector so well.  I enjoy the way I work which involves preparing sessions and writing them up afterwards, which I can do in the office or at home and then meeting people one on one.  Each day is different and has the degree of autonomy that I want and need. 

mtl: We’ve always been a bit suspicious of packages with large fees that you have to sign up for?   How does Career Balance structure their pricing?

Karen:  We offer a diagnostic session for £145 (and if you then decide to take up a programme with us, you receive a £50 discount.)  The session allows you to talk about your situation and how Career Balance can work with you and there is no commitment.  You can also talk to us over the phone before that too, without paying anything.  Anyone who feels unfulfilled in what they are doing and isn’t sure how to address or redress it could benefit from the support you get through career coaching. 

Career Balance has a number of  packages including a session to refresh your  interview skills or six sessions starting from scratch, about how you got to where you are, what your career highs and lows and major achievements have been, what has helped you when you have had a crisis in the past etc. We sometimes do a career and personal lifeline showing a person’s highs and lows, which is a good basis for discussion.  We go through a detailed questionnaire about what the client enjoys and clients rate themselves on various skills and ask other people to rate them objectively on their skills.  People often under-value these immensely and it often gives a huge boost in confidence to find out that you are more skilled than you think. 

mtl: Do you have any personal tips for career changers? 

Karen:   Don’t regret your legal experience even if you didn’t or don’t enjoy being a lawyer.  It is a marvelous stepping stone and you learn lots of useful skills.  If you are really not happy, find yourself dreading work and you think it is the law itself rather than the firm, then do something about it or make some steps towards doing something.  Nothing is impossible if you really want it to happen. 

I think that law has high rewards but is hugely demanding, whether you are working for a magic circle firm or trying to run a high street practice.  It is still not great for women, though better than it used to be.  I didn’t want to get to the stage of hating law myself as I could see the impact that it would have on my personal life.  Running my own business was also very demanding but the autonomy was a huge plus and the boring aspects were set off by the fact that I partly owned the business and wasn’t being dictated to by anyone.  The fact that everything was down to me was motivation to get through the tough times. 

mtl: Thanks for your time Karen. 

For Karen’s contact details and further information about Career Balance, click here.

If you know any other ex-lawyers who have gone and done something interesting or unusual with their lives then please get in touch.

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