Career Advice - Feeling Trapped!!

[Secretary99]

I have worked as a legal secretary all my life. I want to further my career but this would mean doing more hours and taking a pay-cut, neither of which I can afford to do. Am I therefore trapped to do legal secretarial work for the rest of my working days, or is there another way to further my career without sacrifices of time and money?

[EDDIE51]

Surely a Legal secretary can do other jobs? Office administration, reception, or other secretarial work. Evening courses in another language would be very useful for furthering your career, bi lingual secretaries are much in demand and well paid.

[boxtops]

Why would furthering your career mean dropping your hours or taking a pay cut? That's not progressing - unless you want to move your working life to a different direction, which means taking a pay cut as you gain experience in something else.

[factor-fiction]

Do you mean you want to study for ILEX qualification or something similar? I don't see why it means more hours and less money? Can you clarify what you mean please?
Will your employer pay for you to study in the evenings?

[Secretary99]

Thanks Factor30. To further my career I need to pass ILEX or Licensed Conveyancers exams. Law Firms prefer to put law graduates through these exams rather than secretaries and a trainee earns £5,000 less than I'm paid. The firm I am with has bluntly refused to pay for training due to a disciplinary matter from 2 years ago. So, if I want to take things forward I will need to pay for my own evening classes and in my own time or I could stay as a Legal Secretary ....unless anyone out there can think of a different way to solve this dilemma.

[bushbaby_de]

Apply for your current job with another firm who is willing to pay for the course? or look into funding or grants?

[kinell]

a disciplinary matter previously?

they obviously are barely tolerating you....

well overdue for time to move on i think,

otherwise the general rule applies, if you want more, work harder and/or longer,

its called commitment

[chattykathy]

Could you do a part time degree? I work with a lot of trainee teachers who have taken 5 years to complete a degree whilst working full time and then trained to be teachers. They all say it was worth it in the end.

[boxtops]

A disciplinary matter (unless very serious) should only stay on your file for six months, if there have been no repeats (that's how it works at our place, anyway). It must have been serious for you to still have it on your file two years later.