Qualification department - I've made a huge mistake

Hi there,

To cut a long story short somewhat, I recently qualified as a solicitor after a two year training contract at a very large city firm. The training contract had its ups and downs, but on reflection the training was solid and I enjoyed most of my seats.

After taking qualification leave, I have been back at the firm for around a month and a half now as an NQ and I have realised I have made a huge mistake in the choice of department I have qualified into. I received offers from all the teams I applied to, but during qualification leave when I had time to have a breather after a pretty horrific final seat in finance, it dawned on me that I chose the wrong team. I qualified into a small technical department but I'm now panicking I have specialised too much at a very young age and want to do something more general. There is nothing wrong with the area I qualified into, it is interesting and enjoyable, but it doesn't fit with my long term plans and in all honesty, I was pressured into choosing the department due to resourcing issues - nobody forced me to go there, but it was strongly suggested I go there rather than take another offer.

Whilst I could discuss moving departments internally, I imagine this would be seriously frowned upon by my current team after only one month and a half in the job and could also damage my reputation early on.

Should I get in touch with a recruiter and consider making a lateral NQ move to pursue my true ambitions at another firm or see if I can move internally? I know getting a bit more time and experience under my belt at the same shop would look better on my CV, but I feel like I should just move forwards and not backwards and I'm also open to a move somewhere else if the pay is better and prospects are decent.

I would only really be interested in hearing responses from other qualified lawyers. I don't usually post on TSR but I did not dare post on ROF and I can't speak to my friends at work about this as it's totally private for now and I don't want it getting out.