I'm in my first paralegal job, which is amazing and I'm very lucky! But I'm also just increasingly realising how hard it is to get a training contract despite that. So many people I'm working with have been working for years as paralegals. I have A*AAA at A level and a 1st in a degree from a RG uni, and a distinction in my GDL, but even then nothing is guaranteed (far from it).

I come from a working class background and have struggled to find engaging work for various reasons in the past. I'm not sure recruiters at law firms can relate to my work experience or life experience; I feel like they'll look at my CV with minimum wage support work among other things among a sea of legal internships, career changers from commercial backgrounds, etc. all with my grades and I despair.

Going to do 50 applications in this round, but realise there's a good chance I won't even bag one. Not sure I'd have decided to spend all my savings on the GDL if I'd realised it was this bad (I did realise it was bad...)