Australian Lawyers Weekly
After dedicating countless hours to crafting tailored cover letters, refining their CVs to align with specific firms, and submitting carefully considered applications, many Australian law students are not landing the roles they hope for.
But perhaps more discouraging than the rejection itself is the silence that law students have instead been experiencing from law firms – no feedback, no acknowledgement, and often not even a formal rejection.
The ‘ghosting’ pandemic
Amelia Daou, a law student at Deakin University, knows this experience all too well, having been ghosted by “numerous firms” during her job search.
While she understands that hiring teams often face overwhelming demands and may not be able to offer personalised feedback on unsuccessful applications, Daou said these experiences have “impacted my confidence in my job search” and have made her feel “a little bit lost”.
Her experience is far from unique. This issue has sparked widespread conversation online, with videos on TikTok garnering thousands of views from students venting about the deafening silence they face after submitting job applications.
One student, in a video that has now been viewed over 15,000 times, summed up the experience, stating: “Every time that I apply, they just don’t get back, I don’t get rejected, I just get ghosted.”
These feelings are echoed in anonymous feedback submitted to the College of Law (COL), where many students expressed similar frustrations.
“I have applied for a range of roles, including junior lawyer, graduate lawyer, paralegal and law graduate programs, but have received no responses. I am struggling to get a foot in the door in a legal career to be able to transition from the financial services industry to legal,” one said.
Another student said: “As a recent graduate, I’ve spent months applying for roles within the legal sphere (many of which are entry-level positions). I rarely hear back from anyone, even when calling or emailing the company to follow up.”
And it’s not just isolated to a particular subset of students. Mitch Catterall, managing partner at Unveil Development Partners, noted that the ghosting phenomenon is affecting law students across the board, “regardless of location and urban/rural demographic”.
Is this a new phenomenon?
While it may seem like a newly emerging challenge, industry experts confirm that ghosting in legal recruitment is far from a recent phenomenon. Instead, it’s a persistent problem that has long affected law students navigating the job market.
Susan Pincus, national career strategist at the College of Law, noted that ghosting is not “a new phenomenon” and believes it’s an issue that “will continue” to confront law students during their job search.
Her colleague, Ruth Beran, also a national career strategist at the College of Law, echoed this view, stating that ghosting has become “more commonplace” – not only within the legal profession but also “across every industry.”
Recruitment experts in the legal sector agree that this is not a temporary trend, but one that is expected to persist.
Alison Crowther, partner at empire group, said this issue will “definitely” remain a challenge for law students, pointing to the growing number of universities offering law degrees. At the same time, “only so many roles” are available to graduates.
Daniel Stirling, director of the Australian division of G2 Legal, also noted that the job market is “likely to remain challenging for law students” in the years ahead.
Why is this happening?
While there’s no definitive answer as to why ghosting by law firms has become so widespread, the reasons behind this growing issue are complex and varied.
According to Catterall, one of the most common causes is the overwhelming volume of emails law firms receive – a flood that often leaves student applications buried and unanswered.
