How to get a paralegal role

[Eamon]

So I'm doing my LPC and unfortunately don't have a training contract lined up (). So this means I'll (and lots of others) will have a two year gap before a tc commences.

However, there doesn't seem to be any clear information on how to get a paralegal job. So I was wondering if someone could explain the best way to?

Is it by signing up to agency, or using certain websites (e.g. Indeed) or contacting law firms direct?

Having searched a bit, the one issue I see is that all want prior experience, or, are aimed at people who have secured training contracts. As it stands, I have neither...

Would be grateful for any help, and feel like this is an important topic!

 

[D95]

Admittedly, I did have some legal experience before landing my first post-grad paralegal role, but here are a few tips from me:

1. By all means, sign up with the agencies. However, bear in mind that far too often recruiters from the agencies do not actually care that much about finding a role for YOU. They look for most suitable candidates for their clients. That being said, I have met a few recruiters who were genuinely helpful and really went above and beyond in helping me to find a good job. My best piece of advice would be to not wait for them to go back to you - follow up with them as often as you can (but obviously not to the point where they would want to ban you completely - and I know it happened to some people who kept ringing the same recruiter over and over again).

2. Subscribe to one month free trial on LinkedIn. When you apply for jobs there, you can see how you compare to other candidates. There are also some other nice features which can help you with job hunt. I actually found my first post-grad role by applying for it on LinkedIn, so...

3. In addition to LinkedIn, broaden your search by using other websites, such as Reed, Indeed, etc.

4. If you are particularly interested with certain law firms, it may be worth a try to ask them directly for any vacancies available or just through scrolling their Careers page.

5. Finally, do not limit yourself to "paralegal" roles only - "legal assistant" roles may have slightly less restrictive requirements but it does not mean that the work carried out by legal assistants is inferior. Also, once you land a legal assistant role you may then find it easier to jump onto the paralegal job title.

Oh, and another "small" point - tidy up your CV. When I left my last position and moved onto a more advanced role with another company, my former employer asked me to help with search for a paralegal who could take over from me after my notice period has ended. I agreed and I was shocked at the number of resumes which had spelling errors (my absolute favourite - someone apparently worked as a barrister in Starbucks ) or which looked very poor in general. There were some candidates that could be promising (attended good university, obtained high grades, got some decent legal experience) but were rejected because they (pardon my Latin!) half-arsed their resume.

 

[Lauren]

Hi,

I was wondering how far in advance you need to apply for a paralegal job? There's a few vacancies open now I like the look of but I don't finish my master's until September

 

[Jessica Booker]

So I'm doing my LPC and unfortunately don't have a training contract lined up (). So this means I'll (and lots of others) will have a two year gap before a tc commences.

However, there doesn't seem to be any clear information on how to get a paralegal job. So I was wondering if someone could explain the best way to?

Is it by signing up to agency, or using certain websites (e.g. Indeed) or contacting law firms direct?

Having searched a bit, the one issue I see is that all want prior experience, or, are aimed at people who have secured training contracts. As it stands, I have neither...

Would be grateful for any help, and feel like this is an important topic!

ultimately it’s best to do both, via agencies and applying directly.

my tips are try temp paralegal roles first and don’t bother applying to permanent positions.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi,

I was wondering how far in advance you need to apply for a paralegal job? There's a few vacancies open now I like the look of but I don't finish my master's until September

About 4-6 weeks before you want the role to start.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Law gazette is a good way to track down new roles, as is LinkedIn

 

[tractor12]

Law gazette is a good way to track down new roles, as is LinkedIn

Does being a paralegal help/hinder an application?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Does being a paralegal help/hinder an application?

it wouldn’t hinder an application.