Resume Advice for Paralegals

There are numerous areas of law for which a paralegal is well suited. These fields include corporate, estate planning, tax, bankruptcy, family and domestic, criminal, environmental protection, personal injury, civil litigation, trademark, international, intellectual property, and real estate. All of these areas require a certain degree of expertise, and a well-trained paralegal can put his or her skills to work while taking advantage of an abundance of learning opportunities. Taking advantage of these learning opportunities can lead to more, better-paying job opportunities.

Paralegal careers, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, are on the rise and are expected to grow at a rate faster than the average growth rate for all occupations through the year 2014. Average paralegal salaries generally range from $31,040 to $49,950. In larger metropolitan areas, however, large law firms can pay upwards of $60,000. Paralegals also often receive bonuses, and there are benefits for these positions that can prove to be attractively competitive.


When drafting their resumes, many legal professionals make two big mistakes: they don't target in-depth descriptions of their job responsibilities, and they include unrelated experience in other fields that weakens their images.

Bob Forster, for example, attended a resume makeover workshop to better his chances in the competitive job market. He had been a legal office administrator for about two years. Prior to that position he had been a sales rep for a leading department store while completing his paralegal degree. He had also completed an internship with one of Chicago's largest law firms as an assistant legal office administrator.

Bob had been earning about $36,000 but found a position with a criminal law firm starting at $42,000. The position's requirements included experience in case management and the ability to oversee client accounting and billing. Realizing the tough competition facing him, Bob soon decided that his current resume needed some restructuring to make it more effective.

Bob's current resume read:

Legal Office Administrator
Senior Sales Representative
Intern — Assistant Legal Office Administrator

Clearly, Bob's second job title of sales representative caused his image to drop and weakened the overall effect of his job experience. Bob had been a senior sales representative, but in actuality, he had managed a department with responsibility for seven sales associates. Bob's resume didn't include any of his managerial or supervisory skills.

When Bob's resume was revised in the workshop, new job titles and skill headings were used to enhance his skill set. The new resume would present Bob as well qualified for the legal office administrator position with the criminal law firm he was applying to:

Legal Office Administrator — Criminal Law Practice

• Case management and scheduling
• Coordination of paralegal, legal secretary, and administrative staff
• Client accounting and billing management

Departmental Manager

• Staff supervision and training
• Accounting and departmental reporting

Bob's efforts paid off, and he was hired at the criminal law firm, earning him a $6,000 salary increase.

When creating a resume, ask yourself two important questions that may define your chances of getting the job you are striving for. First, at what level does your current resume market you? Analyze your job titles and see if you are better off using them or enhancing them with skill headings that market you more effectively. Secondly, do your job titles weaken your image? In other words, are your job titles unrelated to your current career goals?

Crafting your resume in a more clever fashion may help you land double or triple interview rates and a higher salary. By using skill headings that matched his goals, Bob went from about a 25% interview rate to about an 80% interview rate. His new resume landed him an interview for almost every position he applied for.

As you develop your resume, enhance and target your job titles or skill headings so that they are competitive and comparable to the salary and responsibility level of the position you are seeking.