Experienced paralegal needs CV help

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Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment is an online legal recruitment agency for lawyers. The website has a vacancy database, a candidate database, over 100 pages of detailed information on careers, CVs, interviews, and advice on how to be recruited and interviewed by a good law firm. There is also a section on the recruitment and retention of staff for legal employers. The company donates 10% of its profits every year to charity - hence its name - and over 3,800 solicitors and legal executives have registered with them since 2000.

Each week, Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment will answer one of your randomly selected career questions. To ask a question, email your question to careers@traineesolicitor.co.uk.

Here's this week's question:

"I am an experienced Paralegal looking for a TC in the North East i have sent out over 300 applications with many rejections and many wont even reply!! I cannot move away from the North East and Yorkshire for personal family reasons and i am considering leaving the proffession all together if i dont get a TC soon.

I attach my CV for your perusal and any comments, alterations etc would be appreciated enormously"

Response

Interesting conundrum. However, I would like to set you a task, and if you get to the end of it without having found a training contract, I would be very impressed. Your work experience is not bad, but it isnt that out of this world either (its not very long).

1. find out how much time you are going to be allowed off for your current and former work experience.
2. spellcheck your CV. at present you have a spelling mistake on page 1, which is a catastrophic error!!!!
3. read your CV through carefully, as at present it is a bit rambling and not very clear and to the point. also make sure your covering letter is very brief and again does not ramble - 4 paragraphs of a few sentences per paragraph will be fine.
4. read our guide to getting a training contract, and send out your applications to selected firms.
5. call all of those firms and get a response.
6. take a week off work and go round each firm and ask to see a partner, solicitor or trainee solicitor to discuss.


There must be over 100 firms in the area who deal with either crime or PI, the two areas you have experience in, and one of them is going give you a foot in the door. It must be remembered that we are currently going through a very awkward period for crime incidentally...

http://www.ten-percent.co.uk/Advice_for ... ntract.pdf

Jonathan Fagan


Jonathan Fagan LLM MREC Cert RP is the Founder and Managing Director, and is a non-practising solicitor with over 7 years experience as a legal recruitment consultant. He has personally advised and prepared CVs for many 100's of solicitors and law graduates, and has assisted lawyers throughout their careers to date.