Finding a job as a paralegal

[der_arbeiter]

Hi everybody, I hope to receive some help here. I see this community here is nice and polite.

I am a young guy, EU citizen, I live in London and am currently working from home as account manager for a big corporation.

Despite being currently employed, I am looking for a job as a paralegal because I have a law degree but I've never stepped into this world shortly after graduating.

Before you ask why, I would explain you: in my country qualifying as a lawyer is insanely difficult if you don't have any references, bar association there is a strong protectionist lobby and passing the bar exam is next to impossible. And to sit for it you have to go under an unpaid 2-year legal internship.

As I was in a rollercoaster of unemployment and temporary job positions, and considering I found this wonderful remote opportunity in London several months ago, in the middle of Lockdown, I've decided to move there immediately. However, despite loving this job, I miss not working in my field anymore.

So I've seen a lot of paralegal positions online and therefore decided to apply to some of them.

The point is: they all require experience, but the biggest issue is there's absolutely no entry-level position. How the hell am I supposed to gain experience if I don't work? I mean, I know it's the notorious chicken-egg dilemma, but how can I break this cycle? Are there any legit legal recruitment agencies? Or is it there any other way to spread my voice or do some networking?

I've also considered volunteering in a social-housing community help centre, shadowing a solicitor there: she replied me some days ago after sending her an email, showing interest in me but then disappeared completely. The only two recruiters who have replied to my applications, promised me an interview but both of them have disappeared as well.

I know these times are though, the corona, whatever... but is there any way to work in this field?

I am not a complete outsider to this world, I already have experience as office manager and administrative assistant, which I have made back while studying at university in my home country. Working as a paralegal should not be that different.

I've also applied yesterday to Flex Legal, no answer so far. Do you have any suggestions to leverage some experience in order to get into this world?

 

[Alice G]

Hi everybody, I hope to receive some help here. I see this community here is nice and polite.

I am a young guy, EU citizen, I live in London and am currently working from home as account manager for a big corporation.

Despite being currently employed, I am looking for a job as a paralegal because I have a law degree but I've never stepped into this world shortly after graduating.

Before you ask why, I would explain you: in my country qualifying as a lawyer is insanely difficult if you don't have any references, bar association there is a strong protectionist lobby and passing the bar exam is next to impossible. And to sit for it you have to go under an unpaid 2-year legal internship.

As I was in a rollercoaster of unemployment and temporary job positions, and considering I found this wonderful remote opportunity in London several months ago, in the middle of Lockdown, I've decided to move there immediately. However, despite loving this job, I miss not working in my field anymore.

So I've seen a lot of paralegal positions online and therefore decided to apply to some of them.

The point is: they all require experience, but the biggest issue is there's absolutely no entry-level position. How the hell am I supposed to gain experience if I don't work? I mean, I know it's the notorious chicken-egg dilemma, but how can I break this cycle? Are there any legit legal recruitment agencies? Or is it there any other way to spread my voice or do some networking?

I've also considered volunteering in a social-housing community help centre, shadowing a solicitor there: she replied me some days ago after sending her an email, showing interest in me but then disappeared completely. The only two recruiters who have replied to my applications, promised me an interview but both of them have disappeared as well.

I know these times are though, the corona, whatever... but is there any way to work in this field?

I am not a complete outsider to this world, I already have experience as office manager and administrative assistant, which I have made back while studying at university in my home country. Working as a paralegal should not be that different.

I've also applied yesterday to Flex Legal, no answer so far. Do you have any suggestions to leverage some experience in order to get into this world?

I know a few people who have used F-Lex and I imagine they have not responded yet just because it is a busy time and all the prevailing uncertainty at the present. I sincerely hope they get back to you soon as they are the only organisation I personally know of (but I have never had the law degree to paralegal so that is why - sorry I cannot recommend any more) but I really wish you all the best and hope that an opportunity comes to you soon.

 

[der_arbeiter]

I know a few people who have used F-Lex and I imagine they have not responded yet just because it is a busy time and all the prevailing uncertainty at the present. I sincerely hope they get back to you soon as they are the only organisation I personally know of (but I have never had the law degree to paralegal so that is why - sorry I cannot recommend any more) but I really wish you all the best and hope that an opportunity comes to you soon.

thank you so much for the supportive answer, I really appreciate.
that's what i've basically thought, I guess they've received tons of applications. I'm not currently desperate because I do already have a very well-paid job from home and the thing doesn't bother me absolutely, however it irritates me the majority of agencies are obtusely looking for 10+ experience candidates for obnoxious document review tasks at minimum wage and discard applications of people who might have precious transferable skills.

 

[Penelope]

I just went through this process myself over the summer so I know how difficult it is to find entry-level paralegal positions. I also had non-law work experience with transferable skills and I made sure to always emphasise them. I really recommend the agency Ryder Reid, they were very professional and responsive- I got my paralegal job through them a couple of months ago. I registered with Flex in May and have only been offered a few very short term positions (2-3 days even) so I don’t think it’s something you could rely on as a stable role.

 

[der_arbeiter]

I just went through this process myself over the summer so I know how difficult it is to find entry-level paralegal positions. I also had non-law work experience with transferable skills and I made sure to always emphasise them. I really recommend the agency Ryder Reid, they were very professional and responsive- I got my paralegal job through them a couple of months ago. I registered with Flex in May and have only been offered a few very short term positions (2-3 days even) so I don’t think it’s something you could rely on as a stable role.

Which country have you graduated in?
What kind of application have you sent to them? A speculative one or simply applying to the positions offered? Because I've found out I'm already onboard with Ryder Reid but so far i've received no reply

 

[Penelope]

Which country have you graduated in?
What kind of application have you sent to them? A speculative one or simply applying to the positions offered? Because I've found out I'm already onboard with Ryder Reid but so far i've received no reply

I graduated in the UK. I applied to the positions RR advertised and I contacted one of the recruiters directly to discuss finding a role without the LPC. I’d recommend contacting them to do the same as I think it makes them more likely to notice you and your application. The recruiters at RR told me they received nearly 1000 applications for the job I ultimately got, so I think my approach worked! Best of luck

 

[der_arbeiter]

I graduated in the UK. I applied to the positions RR advertised and I contacted one of the recruiters directly to discuss finding a role without the LPC. I’d recommend contacting them to do the same as I think it makes them more likely to notice you and your application. The recruiters at RR told me they received nearly 1000 applications for the job I ultimately got, so I think my approach worked! Best of luck

thank you so much for the precious recommendation. how did you contact them? Linkedin? via email?

 

[Penelope]

thank you so much for the precious recommendation. how did you contact them? Linkedin? via email?

No problem, hope it helps. I emailed them.
You probably have done this already, but I set up alerts for LinkedIn, Reed, Indeed and other legal job sites to be emailed new roles added every day.

 

[der_arbeiter]

You probably have done this already, but I set up alerts for LinkedIn, Reed, Indeed and other legal job sites to be emailed new roles added every day.

yea, that's why i was complaining about the aforementioned vacancies being the only opportunities

 

[Jessica Booker]

It is difficult for someone already in employment. Normally I’d advise trying temp jobs and short fixed term contracts, but if you have the financial stability of a current job I can understand why that might not be attractive.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Lawgazette jobs is also a good website to set up alerts for

 

[der_arbeiter]

It is difficult for someone already in employment. Normally I’d advise trying temp jobs and short fixed term contracts, but if you have the financial stability of a current job I can understand why that might not be attractive.

I cannot even find temp or short term.

I've searched even before starting my actual employment, found nothing, no answer.

Lawgazette jobs is also a good website to set up alerts for

thank you for the advice!

 

[Jessica Booker]

I cannot even find temp or short term.

I've searched even before starting my actual employment, found nothing, no answer.


thank you for the advice!

It’s probably the trickiest job market of my working life time. Perseverance and sticking at it (despite all the lack of hearing back or positive outcomes) is going to be needed.

 

[ZH]

Hi

Garden court chambers recently advertised this role:
https://www.gardencourtchambers.co.uk/join-us/direct-access-team-caseworker

Perhaps it might be of interest to you, although not a paralegal role.

Quite a few paralegal roles are advertised on Linkedin - I recently saw Howard Kennedy and Bates Wells advertise for paralegal roles.

The stephen james partnership and Michael page are good recruitment agencies.

 

[LS12]

I was in a similar position, besides a summer internship with an in-house team I had no tangible legal experience. I did have pro Bono experience and non-law work experience which I think is important to make clear for the purpose of my story.

I know lots of people say don’t apply to jobs that require more experience than you have. And I really think is an each to their own situation, but I did. In my opinion, where I live (the Midlands) did not have masses of options, I knew I was smart, I had the work experience over the summer to lean back on and I had strong academics.

I was successful to getting to the interview stage of 4 jobs, 3 of these asked for experience. Looking at these jobs I always looked at the responsibilities the position required covering comparing it to my own skills; whether the spec asked for specific experience completing a task (a strong indicator I was definitely under-qualified) and what kind of firm it was. Also I avoided using recruitment sites like indeed as much as possible (the algorithms really favour tangible experience) instead favouring direct applications.

I’ll be honest this approach requires so much resilience. I was applying for a month (not a long time compared to most) but I had the added pressure of having moved out of my family home so needing some kind of income as my savings were quickly running out. You’ll get a lot more rejections because there are firms who are inflexible with their requirements and it’s about telling yourself that it’s okay not to win straight away.

post interviews I was made 2 job offers. My current role is a paralegal in-house for a financial technology company. One month in I’ve been given loads of responsibility and loads of support and my HR review went excellently.

I’m sharing this story because I think if it can help one person then I’d be so happy. My current role asked for 2 years compliance experience and/or 1 year as a paralegal. I was fresh out of university with 7 weeks experience as an intern. I genuinely believe my success was because I knew every company I interviewed for so well. I did so much research and I really fine tuned my answers so it was clear I was a strong candidate for THEM. I developed an understanding of all the key regulations that might affect them, understood their business and showed I understood what it meant to be a paralegal for an in-house team. Along side this I knew my own cv so well, practiced competency questions for days in advance of my interviews. Gave non-legal examples for skills they asked for. And I partook in as much as I could in the legal space, webinars, open days. These are so valuable even if it’s to help you learn how to talk like someone in the legal profession (language, phrases how to structure answers to questions). I would really say put emphasis on how interested you are, put emphasis on valuable soft skills like organisation skills etc.

I know with reflection, I was super lucky. I know some firms don’t even look at applications that don’t have the experience, so this isn’t me saying it will work for everyone. But it did work for me.

The only other advice I’d give is to be real about your expectations, for me I knew I needed to pay my bills, and get the 12 months experience in a position that would open up more opportunities later. I wanted legal experience of some sort to support Tc applications and I just wanted to enjoy my first proper job. The hardest part was being realistic about salary, moving from a well-paid internship over the summer to looking at some of the salaries for these paralegal roles really bothered me. But realistically, you’re entering an over-saturated profession at an entry-level point. Be realistic. Know your minimum and don’t apply below that (there are firms who offer pennies) but also be flexible on the transition to an entry-level wage. (I’m happy to discuss this further with anyone in dms)

overall I think anyone trying to enter the legal profession now has to be resilient. It’s competitive anyway, add a pandemic and a fresh load of graduates who are all applying at once it can feel overwhelming. Be patient with yourself. Try not to be angry at the system. It’s easy to feel frustrated when you know you’re a strong candidate but firms aren’t seeing it. But know your time will come. Slowly I’m seeing more of my friends start legal roles, my linked in contacts are slowly getting job offers. There will be a position out there it’s just about being ready when it becomes available and believing in yourself along the way!

 

[der_arbeiter]

I was in a similar position, besides a summer internship with an in-house team I had no tangible legal experience. I did have pro Bono experience and non-law work experience which I think is important to make clear for the purpose of my story.

I know lots of people say don’t apply to jobs that require more experience than you have. And I really think is an each to their own situation, but I did. In my opinion, where I live (the Midlands) did not have masses of options, I knew I was smart, I had the work experience over the summer to lean back on and I had strong academics.

I was successful to getting to the interview stage of 4 jobs, 3 of these asked for experience. Looking at these jobs I always looked at the responsibilities the position required covering comparing it to my own skills; whether the spec asked for specific experience completing a task (a strong indicator I was definitely under-qualified) and what kind of firm it was. Also I avoided using recruitment sites like indeed as much as possible (the algorithms really favour tangible experience) instead favouring direct applications.

I’ll be honest this approach requires so much resilience. I was applying for a month (not a long time compared to most) but I had the added pressure of having moved out of my family home so needing some kind of income as my savings were quickly running out. You’ll get a lot more rejections because there are firms who are inflexible with their requirements and it’s about telling yourself that it’s okay not to win straight away.

post interviews I was made 2 job offers. My current role is a paralegal in-house for a financial technology company. One month in I’ve been given loads of responsibility and loads of support and my HR review went excellently.

I’m sharing this story because I think if it can help one person then I’d be so happy. My current role asked for 2 years compliance experience and/or 1 year as a paralegal. I was fresh out of university with 7 weeks experience as an intern. I genuinely believe my success was because I knew every company I interviewed for so well. I did so much research and I really fine tuned my answers so it was clear I was a strong candidate for THEM. I developed an understanding of all the key regulations that might affect them, understood their business and showed I understood what it meant to be a paralegal for an in-house team. Along side this I knew my own cv so well, practiced competency questions for days in advance of my interviews. Gave non-legal examples for skills they asked for. And I partook in as much as I could in the legal space, webinars, open days. These are so valuable even if it’s to help you learn how to talk like someone in the legal profession (language, phrases how to structure answers to questions). I would really say put emphasis on how interested you are, put emphasis on valuable soft skills like organisation skills etc.

I know with reflection, I was super lucky. I know some firms don’t even look at applications that don’t have the experience, so this isn’t me saying it will work for everyone. But it did work for me.

The only other advice I’d give is to be real about your expectations, for me I knew I needed to pay my bills, and get the 12 months experience in a position that would open up more opportunities later. I wanted legal experience of some sort to support Tc applications and I just wanted to enjoy my first proper job. The hardest part was being realistic about salary, moving from a well-paid internship over the summer to looking at some of the salaries for these paralegal roles really bothered me. But realistically, you’re entering an over-saturated profession at an entry-level point. Be realistic. Know your minimum and don’t apply below that (there are firms who offer pennies) but also be flexible on the transition to an entry-level wage. (I’m happy to discuss this further with anyone in dms)

overall I think anyone trying to enter the legal profession now has to be resilient. It’s competitive anyway, add a pandemic and a fresh load of graduates who are all applying at once it can feel overwhelming. Be patient with yourself. Try not to be angry at the system. It’s easy to feel frustrated when you know you’re a strong candidate but firms aren’t seeing it. But know your time will come. Slowly I’m seeing more of my friends start legal roles, my linked in contacts are slowly getting job offers. There will be a position out there it’s just about being ready when it becomes available and believing in yourself along the way!

I'm absolutely quoting in every sentence and agree to the point, to not give so much importance on LinkedIn, which, is, in my opinion, overrated and good only for few roles.

Sticking to the skills, as i've previously said, I've previous experience in admin roles, which are supposed to be quite in line with the profile requested. But as you've said, most of the firms are inflexible and the 99% of the ads are posted by recruiters, who simply operate a no-brain selection without properly analysing a candidate.

I've had an interview this Friday as in-house paralegal for a data protection company: the role is - unfortunately - part time but, at the same time, a WFH position. I'm going through the second stage of the interview with an assessment this Tuesday, with a practical case analysis with a barrister. I hope everything will goes well, so wish me luck and i'll wish it indeed in exchange to all the graduate jobseekers, who shouldn't give up on their search.

 

[LS12]

I'm absolutely quoting in every sentence and agree to the point, to not give so much importance on LinkedIn, which, is, in my opinion, overrated and good only for few roles.

Sticking to the skills, as i've previously said, I've previous experience in admin roles, which are supposed to be quite in line with the profile requested. But as you've said, most of the firms are inflexible and the 99% of the ads are posted by recruiters, who simply operate a no-brain selection without properly analysing a candidate.

I've had an interview this Friday as in-house paralegal for a data protection company: the role is - unfortunately - part time but, at the same time, a WFH position. I'm going through the second stage of the interview with an assessment this Tuesday, with a practical case analysis with a barrister. I hope everything will goes well, so wish me luck and i'll wish it indeed in exchange to all the graduate jobseekers, who shouldn't give up on their search.

Congratulations. Even a part time role is a massive accomplishment! And as it might already seem, with a lot of roles, any paralegal experience is good experience!!

Good luck!