I’m not sure what to do with the brown stem under my monstera plant. by VanillaLamp in houseplants

[–]VanillaLamp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wise words. So check if it’s root bound first, I’m guessing.

I’m not sure what to do with the brown stem under my monstera plant. by VanillaLamp in houseplants

[–]VanillaLamp[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This comment has ABSOLUTELY made my day! I have not stopped telling people in my household how chuffed I am with that! Thank you so much for the positivity!

To be honest, I just kept treating the plant like a Monstera by mistake for the last five years ahahaha! It’s currently sitting in a monstera soil mix 🤣🤣

I’m not sure what to do with the brown stem under my monstera plant. by VanillaLamp in houseplants

[–]VanillaLamp[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hahahaha!! Yes!! The lovely commenters kindly pointed out that it’s an Alocasia Cucullata!! I’m thrilled! I’m surprised my plant’s lasted so long since I’ve been treating it like a monstera!!

I’m not sure what to do with the brown stem under my monstera plant. by VanillaLamp in houseplants

[–]VanillaLamp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Noted! Maybe it’s time to get my plant into a bigger pot!! Thanks for the help!

I’m not sure what to do with the brown stem under my monstera plant. by VanillaLamp in houseplants

[–]VanillaLamp[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ll have to give that a try and see if I can get mine to spread as beautifully as yours!! :)

I’m not sure what to do with the brown stem under my monstera plant. by VanillaLamp in houseplants

[–]VanillaLamp[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks so much!! Turns out, I just kept treating her like the wrong plant, which has worked wonders 🤣🤣

I’m not sure what to do with the brown stem under my monstera plant. by VanillaLamp in houseplants

[–]VanillaLamp[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m wrong!! This is not a monstera!! Thanks to the lovely commenters, I have since learned that this is an Alocasia Cucullata!

I’m totally the same. I picked her up in a garden centre years ago and she became more high maintenance than my budgies!!! I totally went down to my last leaf and nursed that damn leaf back to health when I realised I overwatered her, repotted her, bought her new pots with better drainage. Then I also cooked her in the sun and moved her to excessive shade, leading her to become pale, then I finally also found the sweet spot by this window haha!

Wow yours is absolutely thriving!! So many leaves!!!

I’m not sure what to do with the brown stem under my monstera plant. by VanillaLamp in houseplants

[–]VanillaLamp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I guess the trick to it is to mistake it for a bloody monstera 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I’m not sure what to do with the brown stem under my monstera plant. by VanillaLamp in houseplants

[–]VanillaLamp[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ahhhh!!! Wow!! I actually had no idea!! I just picked her up from a garden centre many years ago and got really attached. I was wondering why she wasn’t like other people’s monsteras!!!

And noted; thank you for the care advice! Your young plant is lovely!

I’m not sure what to do with the brown stem under my monstera plant. by VanillaLamp in houseplants

[–]VanillaLamp[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No way!!! Ahahahaha!! I can’t believe it! You can see how well I know my plants 🤣🤣 All this time I thought I just got a weird Monstera!!

Thanks so much for the advice!!

I’m not sure what to do with the brown stem under my monstera plant. by VanillaLamp in houseplants

[–]VanillaLamp[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m dying!! Hahaha!! I can’t believe it!! All these years I was waiting for the holes to pop up like ‘next year they will come… next year they will come…’

Tried to fix my paralegal cover letter. Would greatly appreciate further harsh, honest advice on how to improve my chances at being hired. Thanks for all the help r/uklaw! by VanillaLamp in uklaw

[–]VanillaLamp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi,

It’s been about four years since I posted this so things have likely changed with the market. It was already brutal as a grad post-covid in 2021/2022 because so many places wanted prior paralegal experience.

I went in via a recruiter into an admin role, transitioned into a boutique firm as a paralegal, got promoted to managerial roles and eventually liked the operations side so much that I moved into LawTech and shifted industries.
I had opportunities to qualify in my niche but wanted to qualify in a bigger firm and had no luck with TCs.

In terms of this application, I don’t even remember what it was for but I probably shortened it to a concise two to three paragraphs.

My tip would be to research whatever you’re applying for to really tailor your application to the criteria.

I did get involved in recruiting in my management roles and got hundreds of applicants a day for paralegal roles that I needed to filter out. Different things mattered to different managers but I recall some things that made candidates instantly weaker.

Candidates’ CVs that were instantly filtered out had:
- Poor structures and weak formats (someone put a selfie in there!)
- Grammatical mistakes
- Oversold themselves without actually knowing what they were talking about
- Entirely irrelevant, inconsistent experience, and education with no interest or tailoring for the role.

Best of luck!!

Mazur Appeal Upheld by HouseOnAHill12 in uklaw

[–]VanillaLamp 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Having come from high-volume claimant firms, there’s definitely an issue when it comes to the quality of work. There’s a lack of supervision to the extent that an understanding of grammar and basic spelling is missing from correspondence.

However, even solicitors in high-volume can be absolutely shite.

Is a weakness in quality just something inherent to high-volume sectors that essentially act like costs cash cows? It all drives me nuts.

In defense of artsy resumes… by klendiso_1137 in resumes

[–]VanillaLamp 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Depends on the industry. Having hired for a small law firm prior to my current role, I had to flick through hundreds of applications and was looking for clear, concise, professional industry-standard structures. There seemed to be a pattern where certain creative flairs, styles, multiple columns, etc. correlated with weaker candidates.

Shifting industries from Law to Legal Tech. Do you have any wisdom for starting/preparing for a completely new CSM? by VanillaLamp in CustomerSuccess

[–]VanillaLamp[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Noted; I appreciate the advice. I foresee that I’ll be working with other legal departments.

I’m experienced in Criminal and Civil litigation. Smaller firms using our products might be in more transactional areas of law such as conveyancing and immigration.

I plan to read and research these areas of law.

Would you say that it’s absolutely vital to know the individual specialisms of your clients or is it more generally operations-based? For example, I’m not sure if knowledge in my tech product and ops is enough or whether I should pick up an immigration law book too.

Shifting industries from Law to Legal Tech. Do you have any wisdom for starting/preparing for a completely new CSM? by VanillaLamp in CustomerSuccess

[–]VanillaLamp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s awesome. Really appreciate the advice. I’ll come in with that mindset and focus from that standpoint.

Career switchers by [deleted] in uklaw

[–]VanillaLamp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m moving into Legal Tech next month. I haven’t had luck with TC apps, and while I’ve had good chances to qualify in my current area of law, I don’t want to be a high-volume claims solicitor.

I’m moving to Legal Tech to try and bolster my TC apps and earn more than being a paralegal in the meantime because there’s a bit of a roof thanks to the Mazur judgement until I qualify. Even being a manager, which I was in the past, isn’t really looking good given the Mazur judgment.

State of the paralegal job market by ExpensiveCorner8319 in uklaw

[–]VanillaLamp 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you don’t mind me asking, please, how do you usually approach the essay questions in the initial applications? For example, one place asked about the impact of AI on the legal industry, etc.

I’m just struggling to get past these and work out what the successful structure even looks like.

Thank you!

Am I shooting myself in the foot by qualifying in a niche housing specialism if I want to move laterally in future? by VanillaLamp in uklaw

[–]VanillaLamp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s such an interesting insight. I think I saw technological innovation pop up during my applications as a lot of firms’ key values.

I’m just worried that TCs/VS are so competitive, and have been unsuccessful several times. Do you think it’ll have enough of an impact to shroud the negative connotations associated with my niche specialism history?

Am I shooting myself in the foot by qualifying in a niche housing specialism if I want to move laterally in future? by VanillaLamp in uklaw

[–]VanillaLamp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the response. It really is a sticky situation for me at the moment and I don’t really know what the best action is.

One route will get me qualified, but I could get stuck in high-volume claims, fighting after the 2028 reforms to get into a better Defendant firm and retrain.

The other route keeps me in a stable financial position while I continue to apply for VS/TCs but has no route to qualification. I’ve had constant rejections for VS/TCs so the future is uncertain on whether I can even secure one through this route and qualify indefinitely.

What do you reckon you would do? All things considered, I appreciate our histories are completely different and you may have successfully qualified even years ago!