“a detailed job search action plan
can help job seekers stay on track”
transition to a different practice area.
(https://www.nala.org/sites/default/
files/2009-ff-job-descriptions.pdf)
by the National Federation of Paralegal
Associations (https://www.paralegals.org/
files/Paralegal_Responsibilities_v.pdf)
Values Assessment – Although often
overlooked, assessing and understanding your
work values will help you find a job (and career)
that is meaningful and fulfilling. Work values
include intrinsic and extrinsic values. Intrinsic
values might include things like personal
achievement, status, prestige, power, or
independence. Subject or content-related values
focus on qualities of work, such as projects that
require attention to detail, big picture planning,
creative solutions, spiritual perspectives, or
critical analysis. Environmental work values
describe the work environment where you are
most productive, and relational values focus
on the type of interactions with colleagues that
are most rewarding. Each of these work values
can often be summarized in a list of adjectives.
The Harvard Graduate School of Education
has created an online tool to help you reflect
upon your most important work values, which
you can access at: http://thegoodproject.org/
toolkits-curricula/the-goodwork-toolkit/valuesort
activity/.
Some additional questions to consider in
reflecting upon your work values include:
at work? Why?
“dream” about?
Once you’ve completed your self-assessment,
you will be better equipped to target jobs
that match your skills and values, which in
turn increases your chances of long-term job
satisfaction.
When to do this: You should plan to complete
your self-assessment within the first week you
begin your job search.
Step 2. Identify your preferred practice areas,
practice settings, and geographic location
The legal profession offers a wealth of choices,
and your next step is to focus on the specific
segment of the market that meets your
interests. A common mistake of job seekers is
to “be open to anything.” While it is helpful to
approach a job search with an open mind, a lack
of focus may be misinterpreted by employers as
a lack of passion or understanding of a specific
practice area, or worse, a sense of desperation
from the job seeker. In order to avoid this,
candidates should articulate honest and
sincere reasons for their interest in a particular
practice area or practice setting.
For new paralegals who would like to learn more about legal practice
areas, HG.org has a comprehensive compilation of resources for researching
practice areas (http://www.hg.org/practiceareas.html).
When to do this: Ideally, you should narrow your preferences to three to
five key areas before starting the application process, so this should be done
within the first week or two of job searching.
Step 3. Prepare your application documents and apply!
Once you’ve established the parameters of the opportunities you want
to target, it’s time to prepare the application. A comprehensive guide on
preparing your résumé and cover letter is beyond the scope of this article, but
here are a few key guidelines for a standout résumé and cover letter:
Include strong résumé descriptions. Include a discrete task or
responsibility and the purpose or outcome of the task. Use details and sample
projects to describe your experience and help readers understand the context
for your skills. For example, compare the following: “Conducted legal research
and drafted summaries of research,” versus “Researched the requirements
for standing in the United States District Courts and drafted a summary of
the research, which served as the primary argument in a Brief in Support of a
Motion to Dismiss.”
In the first, more general description, the reader has no insight as to what
types of research the candidate conducted. Furthermore, “conducted legal
research” is a generic phrase that appears frequently on candidate résumés,
so it does very little to set apart a particular candidate. On the other hand, in
the latter description, the reader gains a better understanding of the type of
research conducted and the purpose of the research. The second description
allows the reader to understand the value added that’s provided by the
candidate’s research. It also implicitly hints at the candidate’s familiarity
with motions practice.
Consider the job description carefully when preparing a résumé and
cover letter. To do this, you should highlight the key responsibilities and
qualifications in the job description to which you are applying at the outset.
Then, make certain to include these qualifications as primary points in your
résumé and cover letter. Too often, candidates use the same résumé and cover
letter for each application they submit and fail to customize the application
documents to the specific opportunity. The goal in tailoring your application
documents is to make the reader see you as a “perfect fit” for the job. Use the
work you did in steps one and two to articulate and reiterate the skills and
values you share with the prospective employer and the requirements of the
position to evoke the “fit factor.”
The most effective cover letter serves as a bridge between the job
description and the résumé. Instead of listing your experience by position,
or chronologically in each paragraph of your cover letter, focus on two or
three key skills. Then, use concrete projects and examples from your work
experience to demonstrate the application of the skills. This approach lets
you take advantage of the cover letter by providing more depth and specificity
regarding accomplishments that may not be included in the résumé.
Once you have a draft résumé and cover letter, where should you look for
job postings? First, keep in mind that some career experts estimate that as
many as 70 percent of job openings are not advertised. Even so, submitting
applications to job postings is an essential component of job searching.
Online job sites like Indeed.com or SimplyHired.com are good aggregators for
job searching, but I recommend that paralegals use more targeted sources for
job listings, such as the following:
www.ParalegalToday.com Q4 - 2017 15
/
/
/
/HG.org
/practiceareas.html)
/Indeed.com
/SimplyHired.com
/www.ParalegalToday.com