What to expect from your Flex Legal onboarding interview

Each month, Flex Legal onboards roughly 160 new paralegals onto our online platform so they can start receiving interim paralegal opportunities that suit them. Each of these paralegals must pass a multi-stage application process consisting of a basic online application, an onboarding interview, a basic legal awareness test, and finally a creation of a Flex profile. 

The onboarding interview is the most formal part of this process, and we are often asked questions about how it works and what applicants should expect. In the interest of transparency, fairness, and giving everyone the best chance at succeeding, we have decided to publish this blog post to openly explain what you can expect from the onboarding interview.

Here’s a super quick summary of the process, but check out the full details below for further info:

1. Apply to Flex with your CV here on our website.
2. Book your onboarding meeting.
3. Upload your Right to Work documents, proof of address, and grade transcripts to our online portal.
4. Create your Flex Legal profile.
5. Attend your onboarding interview.
6. Complete the onboarding test.
7. Upload a Flex profile video.
8. Wait to receive fantastic paralegal opportunities with our clients!

How to apply to be a paralegal with Flex Legal 

Flex Legal receives hundreds of applications each month, so unfortunately we have to be quite selective with this stage of the process. Our clients have the ultimate say as to whether or not they accept the paralegals we put forward to them. This does, unfortunately, mean that we have to reject applications at this stage that don’t meet the requirements of our clients.

There are a number of reasons we might reject an application, including a lack of work experience, a lack of availability, or a lack of academic qualifications such as an undergraduate degree. However, just because we have rejected your application, doesn’t mean you can’t re-apply once your application is stronger. We would strongly encourage you to reapply at a later date once you have more skills, experience, or qualifications!

What to do before your Flex Legal onboarding interview

Firstly, create your Flex profile on our platform. You’ll have received a link to the Flex platform in your welcome email, where you can create a profile ahead of your interview. Ideally, the information you feature on your profile should be directly tailored to the kind of legal experience you’re looking for. If you don’t have time to do this, then just copy over your CV or LinkedIn information, fill out the other relevant fields, and upload a professional profile picture. If there are any issues with your profile or anything that we think you could improve, our team can let you know during the interview.

Secondly, book your onboarding interview. As we have both southern and northern client services teams, anyone based north of Birmingham will be able to book with our northern team.

Thirdly, prepare your relevant Right to Work documents. Before we can even consider sending you any opportunities, we legally have to check your Right to Work in the UK.

If you are a British or Irish citizen and hold a current valid passport (or an Irish passport card), please bring your passport/passport card to your onboarding interview and we will complete a digital right to work check with you during our meeting.

If you are a non-British or Irish citizen and hold an eVisa, Biometric Residence Card, Biometric Residence Permit or Frontier Worker Permit, please upload your passport AND your share code to your profile on our portal so we can check your right to work with the Home Office. You can obtain a share code from this link.

Finally, make sure you have Zoom installed on your computer. Zoom is commonplace software for video calling, and is what we use for all of our onboarding interviews. You can install the software for free, so make sure you have it installed ahead of time and you should be good to speak with us!

What happens during your Flex Legal onboarding interview

As with any professional interview, the important thing to bear in mind is that we want you there! We wouldn’t have approved your application if we didn’t think you have what it takes, so don’t let the nerves get to you. 

Once we’ve had a chance to meet you and check your documentation, we will ask you three simple questions about your motivations and experience. The first two questions are based on your experiences to date, and generally ask you to explain previous examples of you exhibiting good professional judgement. The final question is situational, and will present you with a scenario. You will have to explain what you would do in that scenario and why, and how you might resolve the problem you are presented with. 

Finally, we’ll introduce you to our ten question onboarding test for you to take after the call. This is often the most dreaded part of the application process. However, it is rare for applicants to not pass. The onboarding test is timed at fifteen minutes, and is mainly based around baseline legal and contractual knowledge. We would recommend completing your onboarding test right after your interview - this way your password won’t expire and we can try and get you placed as soon as possible. The first nine questions are all multiple choice, and the final one will present you with an example clause of a contract for you to rewrite. There are mistakes in there, and we want to see if you spot them all!

What happens after your Flex Legal onboarding interview 

It's worth bearing in mind that as our platform opportunities are entirely dependent on what our clients approach us with, we can’t guarantee roles will come to you. As and when we get roles that suit your availability and skills, we will contact you via your preferred channels for you to approve or reject the opportunities we present.

Pro tip: When our client services team are searching for candidates to send roles to, they often filter the profiles on our platform based on who has updated their profile the most recently. Keeping your profile up to date with new skills and experiences, or with improved explanations of your professional and academic history, is the best way to be put forward for roles!

Additional Resources:

• Apply to Flex Legal - If you haven’t applied to Flex yet, then there’s no time like the present! Get the ball rolling but filling out our apply form, and get ready for your onboarding interview.
• What Flex paralegals think about their client placements - We always ask our paralegals for their thoughts on the placements we send them on. Read what they think here!
• How to record a great Flex profile video - In this post, we cover some best practices for recording a top-quality Flex profile video. This bit is incredibly important, so it’s worth doing right!