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One of the benefits of a training contract with a firm which has offices across the South-West and London is one that may seem daunting at first – relocation! As a firm with its head office in Exeter, and further offices in Bristol, London, Sidmouth and Cheltenham, there are plenty of opportunities to explore the personal and professional benefits of living in different cities. I started my training contract in the Bristol office and have also completed seat rotations in London and Exeter. Below, I have pulled together my reasons to explore location as well as a career whilst completing your training contract.
Office culture
Experiencing different ways of working goes hand in hand with the different offices. In London, Michelmores has relocated to 100 Liverpool Street – a state-of-the-art office with sustainable credentials and set up for truly agile working. This new London office has lots of different workspaces to suit a more agile and fluid working day, as well as bars and restaurants to explore once the working day is over. The Exeter head office is a purpose-built 50,000 square foot premises, just minutes away from the benefits of both the countryside and the city – ideal for a great work life balance. Getting to experience life in different offices can help you to decide the type of working environment that suits you best.
Building your network
One of the ‘buzzwords’ for trainees is networking, and what better way to do this than by meeting colleagues from across the firm. Whilst Michelmores is known for its cross-office work culture, meeting colleagues face to face in their office is an invaluable way to build connections. Whilst working as part of cross office teams means ample opportunity for visits to different offices, having the chance to work with different team members for a six-month period and truly get to know them is a great for building solid networks across the firm. You never know when having a strong connection with a colleague from another office may come in handy.
Experiencing different cities
With the experience of living in Bristol, Exeter and London within a span of two years, I have a much better idea of where I would like to live after qualification. There are benefits and drawbacks to all three cities I have lived in. Exploring these cities from the relative comfort of a training contract has some serious benefits. The major benefit is that there is no need to completely uproot your life each time you move, as the firm helps you relocate and you are safe in the knowledge that each move has a fixed time period of six months. I lived about a 45 minute walk from the office in both London and Exeter, and can assure you that the walks to work were remarkably different.
I encourage you to not only explore the practice area you would like to qualify into during your training contract, but also the location.
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