Paralegal Resume Advice from HR Pros

Even though it would appear as if the job of a paralegal is straightforward, crafting an effective resume or cover letter for the role is no easy task. The main point does not only revolve around describing the capacity of the job applicant but also demonstrating the qualification and appropriateness of said applicant. To this effect, the average paralegal can develop a nice resume and even use a good paralegal cover letter example with extra guidance. Knowing this, we got some professional human resource managers to draft the most compelling and persuasive tips for an effective paralegal resume.

This article presents the different tips prepared by HR professionals. By following them, you should have no problem creating multiple unique and effective paralegal resume templates.

Salary Expectations and Job Description

Ordinarily speaking, a good paralegal resume contains a lot of information held together neatly. So, the trick to crafting such a resume or even using a paralegal cover letter template is knowing which information to include and how. Even so, it is also advantageous to have a lot of background information that would serve as a guide for what to expect from the job and therefore what to include in the resume and what to leave out. One such piece of information has to do with salary expectations.

The Paralegal Salary

The salary of a paralegal depends on a variety of factors. Based on the report from US News and World Report , paralegals can make anything between $40,000 per year to $67,000 per year. On average, paralegals working with a good law firm make around $50,000 every year. There are exceptions to this range and these exceptions depend on how long you have been working as a paralegal, what certifications you have (and can defend), and even where you secured a paralegal job. For example, paralegals working in Napa, California, can earn as high as $93,110 per year while those in Trenton, New Jersey, can earn around $77,970 per year.

Meanwhile, no matter the criteria for the difference in salary expectations, what really helps a paralegal stand out in time is how well they do their jobs. This is another reason you must pay close attention to what you include in your resume. When you know the job description of a paralegal, especially for the position you are applying for, you can make good use of that information. For example, the average paralegal is ultimately an assistant for a lawyer. Although there are different types of practice models for these assistance, they typically have to do the following:

• Research legal cases: A paralegal has to know research skills and be able to systematically investigate cases.
• Prepare legal documents: A paralegal has to be able to compile legal documents in a way that is methodical and useful. They should be able to present the results of their research in an orderly manner.
• Handle censored client and case information: A paralegal must be able to deal with secrecy. To this front, they ought to know how to handle and manage confidential information.
• Develop reports for attorneys: A paralegal is the equivalent of a sitter for an attorney and must be able to craft needed case reports in the shortest time possible.
• Interview clients and explain the basics of court proceedings: A paralegal has to have good communication skills and be able to put in plain words some of the complex concepts of court proceedings.
• Keep track of legal regulations: A paralegal is in charge of supervising the guidelines and principles of legal conduct and practice. They have to know all there is to know about every minute change or adjustment to the parameters of legal practice.
• Manage general office work: A paralegal has to have secretarial skills and should be able to handle the general duties of a clerk.

At the heart of these job requirements, a paralegal is the best associate that a lawyer can have. The required skills of a paralegal are consequently very sensitive, responsive, and dynamic. Consequently, everything from their educational backgrounds to certifications and interests have to be geared towards the courtroom and its many aspects. Once you have these skills and are able to effectively present them in your resume and cover letter, you are very likely to get any paralegal job anywhere you want.

The following subsections deal with the information we gathered from HR professionals for a persuasive resume. We will show you how to develop each subsection, what to write and what not to write, as well as tips that will get hiring managers to notice your resume.

Paralegal Resume Example

Name and Contact Information

The section for the name and contact information of the job applicant comes first in the paralegal resume. Even though this seems to be a very simple thing in which you only write out your name and your residential address, there is a system for developing the subsection so that it encourages the hiring manager to go on reading. As you probably know, recruitment specialists are buffeted with hundreds and possibly thousands of resumes and have little time to go through everything. As such, they may use applicant/resume screening software to go through the bundles of resumes. At that time, knowing what to include in the Name and Contact Information section is the same as having a cheat sheet that helps you scale through the selection process.

Generally speaking, the Name and Contact Information section should contain your full name, residential address, educational qualifications and certifications, phone and email, and maybe web links to use as proof that you are who you say you are. The last factor is optional and is not significantly useful until the oral interview stage. However, the other factors are compulsory and you can use the tips we acquired from the HR professionals:

• Full name : You must include your full name. This means you are allowed to write three names, your first, middle, and last names, in that order. You can place them at the left-hand side of the top of the resume paper, but it is more advisable to center it.
• Educational qualifications and certification : Immediately after your full name, you have to write your educational qualifications and certifications. These are provided in abbreviations, so they tend to stand out. They function as reinforcements and are actually the first avenue to satisfy the job requirements. If, for example, you include a BSc. in Zoology instead of an LL.B., the hiring manager is justified in discarding your resume. After the abbreviations for education, you must also include whatever law-related certification you have. It would be even better if these certifications correspond to any of the requirements for the paralegal position you are applying for.
• Contact information : The contact information is presented in the second line of your Name and Contact section. It holds the address of your current residence. You are not obligated to write it out in full, that is, to include your street, unit number, or anything that specific. However, you must at least include the name of the city in case that is one of the requirements for the paralegal position.
• Phone number and email address : You also have to include your phone number and email address so that hiring managers can reach you for further enquiry. Also, to show that you did not simply copy and paste the information on your resume, you may also include the date you submitted the resume.

Remember, you can include web links to your paralegal work. Links to a personal website is fine, although it would be better if the links were to your professional profile on LinkedIn.

The Resume Summary

This section sums up the entirety of your resume, thus giving the hiring manager a preview of what to expect. Even though the section is short and only contains about 3 to 5 sentences, it is another critical point in the resume. This is because hiring managers may spend a total of 20 seconds on each resume, but at least half that time is spent reading your resume summary.

For your paralegal resume, here are useful tips to help you craft a strong resume summary section.

• Mention your qualifications first : The very first sentence of your resume summary should get to the heart of the matter. This is where you mention what you do (as a paralegal), how long you have been doing it, and the academic and professional certifications that allow you to do it.
• Delve a bit deeper into your experience : The next sentences should reinforce the information you already presented. According to our HR professionals, you should mention at least one place you worked and what you achieved there. You could split this into 2 sentences for 2 different positions or places of employment.
• Tie everything up and link with job requirements : In the final sentence, you must conclude the summary while showing the hiring manager that you know and satisfy the requirements of the position; therefore, you meet the requirements and are perfect for the role.

Professional Experience

The Professional Experience subsection of your paralegal resume should be the easiest to write. Nevertheless, this is where you should be the most cautious. The typical hiring manager will only glance at this section despite knowing its importance. It is only if you can attract their attention with your resume summary that they will pay a bit more attention to your professional experience. Even so, what you include here is most certainly the most important aspect of your resume.

You can use the following tips to develop the section for maximum effect:

• Focus on the job requirements in the advertisement : Everything from the verbs you use to the skills expected of qualified paralegals must be included in the Professional Experience section of your resume. For example, if the job advert says it wants someone who can ‘develop reports in the shortest time possible,’ use the same phrase to describe one of your past career achievements.
• Emphasize the strong points of each milestone: You don’t have to go into great detail about your experience. But make sure to emphasize the effect of your actions and, if possible, some of the feedback.

If this is your very first job out of law school, you can include any position you held while in school and use it as your makeshift past employment.

Certifications

The Certifications subsection of your paralegal resume should be straightforward. Unlike the previous subsections, there is not much thinking required here. All you have to do is list out the different relevant professional certifications you have acquired over time. Note that the relevance of each certification inclusion is based on the requirements of the job posting. If no such requirement is made of applicants, you can include some of the most notable paralegal certifications you have.

Some of the most popular and highly rated paralegal certifications include CP (Certified Paralegal) and APC (Advanced Paralegal Certification), both of which are awarded by the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA).

Education

There is very little difference in format between the Certifications subsection and the Education subsection. Here also, the information you present is more effective as bullet points. As such, you will be able to present the most relevant information about your educational qualifications in a way that hiring managers can see even if they only skim your resume . The most effective format for this subsection is as follows:

Title of degree , Name of institution, year of graduation.

You may add one more section to your paralegal resume. This is the Additional Information section. It holds any other information you think could swing the resume screening process in your favor. It may include information about your interests (law-related), proficiency with office work applications, and anything else. It could also include information about referees.

In addition, here are a few tips for your paralegal resume:

• Use a clear font. Times New Roman is a good choice and font 12 is perfect.
• You can either justify your text or keep it left-aligned.
• Use white resume papers, unless the submission is supposed to be digital.
• Restrict your resume to a single page with considerations for the US Letter format (215,9mm x 279,4mm).
• Present your dates in reverse-chronological order.

You can read more about resume formatting and other related topics from the ResumeKit blog.

Conclusion

A paralegal position is lucrative and satisfying. Crafting a resume for this position may be difficult without appropriate guidance. However, we guarantee that you can use the outline from this article to create a paralegal resume that is both unique to you and has enough potential to get hiring managers to take notice of you and get you to pass the first stage of the interview with little effort.