Finding Paralegal Roles

[al97]

Hi, I may need some advice. I am looking for paralegal roles through recruiters. I've sent my CV to a bunch of recruiters, tried email, tried to personalise my message to them, highlighted the fact that I'm a TC applicant and got invited to interview (which demonstrated my commercial acumen). I also had all the Forage virtual internships on my CV.

But nobody is replying to me.

I supposed that has to do with my background. I had 5 months of experience in a different area of law (family/immigration) so that's entirely irrelevant to commercial law.

Ideally, I want to work in Funds, but it appears that everyone with some previous experience in corporate paralegal roles.

Anyone has tried using a recruiter and how long did you wait to hear back?

 

[I’m_Batman]

Hi, I may need some advice. I am looking for paralegal roles through recruiters. I've sent my CV to a bunch of recruiters, tried email, tried to personalise my message to them, highlighted the fact that I'm a TC applicant and got invited to interview (which demonstrated my commercial acumen). I also had all the Forage virtual internships on my CV.

But nobody is replying to me.

I supposed that has to do with my background. I had 5 months of experience in a different area of law (family/immigration) so that's entirely irrelevant to commercial law.

Ideally, I want to work in Funds, but it appears that everyone with some previous experience in corporate paralegal roles.

Anyone has tried using a recruiter and how long did you wait to hear back?

Speaking as someone who has now worked at "top" commercial firms for a couple of years as a Paralegal, I didn't get a Paralegal role for 4 months after finishing my LPC and it would have been much longer had a friend not passed my CV off to their line manager at a small commercial firm in London. I was there 2 months and then went to big commercial firm. As a first port of call, I'd have a look to see if you know anyone similar you could ask; smaller firms tend to hire via referral in my experience and once you have experience, it's a lot easier - otherwise we're stuck in that no xp, no job, no xp cycle. It's who you know, is probably not advice you wanted to hear but this person was only an acquaintance who did a nice thing so there's hope.
I've found the Forage/virtual internships to be really unhelpful in the job search or TC window unless you're a first year applying straight away. I'm happy to take a look at your CV and advice on on how to stand out for Disputes roles (I know you're looking for Funds) but experience is the key indicator from what I can tell for Paralegal success (there is luck for first timers though so don't stop applying, I've met them). If you can tailor your CV experience (I'm not saying make stuff up) but if you're worried about getting type cast, have it say Paralegal rather than Immigration/Family Paralegal (assuming that's what's going on here). And then add bullet points that would be true and more transferrable to a Funds Paralegal.
You could also try to get into a commercial firm that does family/immigration work. Mishcon does Family and you could wiggle your way getting some work from Funds associates while you're there - six months fly by.
Good luck!

 

[Jake Rickman]

Hi, I may need some advice. I am looking for paralegal roles through recruiters. I've sent my CV to a bunch of recruiters, tried email, tried to personalise my message to them, highlighted the fact that I'm a TC applicant and got invited to interview (which demonstrated my commercial acumen). I also had all the Forage virtual internships on my CV.

But nobody is replying to me.

I supposed that has to do with my background. I had 5 months of experience in a different area of law (family/immigration) so that's entirely irrelevant to commercial law.

Ideally, I want to work in Funds, but it appears that everyone with some previous experience in corporate paralegal roles.

Anyone has tried using a recruiter and how long did you wait to hear back?

Hi there.

Unlike training contracts/VS applications, I genuinely believe that to succeed in the recruitment process for paralegal roles, you need to be shamelessly blasting your CV to as many recruiters in the City as possible. It took me three months of sending out CVs via Indeed and LinkedIn and directly reaching out to recruiters before I even got a callback, and another month before I got an interview for a paralegal/similar role.

I will also add that the recruitment energy has cooled considerably throughout 2023. Outside of litigation and certain advisory departments, law firms just are not as busy. This feeds through to less money to hire paralegals.

Resilience and tenacity are necessary traits to get your foot in the door as a City paralegal! Definitely start contacting recruiters.

 

[I’m_Batman]

Hi there.

Unlike training contracts/VS applications, I genuinely believe that to succeed in the recruitment process for paralegal roles, you need to be shamelessly blasting your CV to as many recruiters in the City as possible. It took me three months of sending out CVs via Indeed and LinkedIn and directly reaching out to recruiters before I even got a callback, and another month before I got an interview for a paralegal/similar role.

I will also add that the recruitment energy has cooled considerably throughout 2023. Outside of litigation and certain advisory departments, law firms just are not as busy. This feeds through to less money to hire paralegals.

Resilience and tenacity are necessary traits to get your foot in the door as a City paralegal! Definitely start contacting recruiters.

I agree with this.
Additionally, I wanted to flag to OP to try Flex Legal and update the profile on there regularly if they are not already doing so. It is a good way to get intermittent work (as little as 3 weeks at a time) but something might pop up that is relevant to gain the experience they need.

 

[al97]

Speaking as someone who has now worked at "top" commercial firms for a couple of years as a Paralegal, I didn't get a Paralegal role for 4 months after finishing my LPC and it would have been much longer had a friend not passed my CV off to their line manager at a small commercial firm in London. I was there 2 months and then went to big commercial firm. As a first port of call, I'd have a look to see if you know anyone similar you could ask; smaller firms tend to hire via referral in my experience and once you have experience, it's a lot easier - otherwise we're stuck in that no xp, no job, no xp cycle. It's who you know, is probably not advice you wanted to hear but this person was only an acquaintance who did a nice thing so there's hope.
I've found the Forage/virtual internships to be really unhelpful in the job search or TC window unless you're a first year applying straight away. I'm happy to take a look at your CV and advice on on how to stand out for Disputes roles (I know you're looking for Funds) but experience is the key indicator from what I can tell for Paralegal success (there is luck for first timers though so don't stop applying, I've met them). If you can tailor your CV experience (I'm not saying make stuff up) but if you're worried about getting type cast, have it say Paralegal rather than Immigration/Family Paralegal (assuming that's what's going on here). And then add bullet points that would be true and more transferrable to a Funds Paralegal.
You could also try to get into a commercial firm that does family/immigration work. Mishcon does Family and you could wiggle your way getting some work from Funds associates while you're there - six months fly by.
Good luck!

Hello, my apologies for the delay in replying. I was preparing for a potential AC and I wanted to type a proper message to express my gratitude. Your advice is incredibly useful. I can resonate with a few points that you mention. I'm not sure if this is too much to ask, is there any chance we can connect via email (I'm relatively new to TCLA so unsure if there's a private message function)? Can I request your help to take a look at my CV?

 

[al97]

Hi there.

Unlike training contracts/VS applications, I genuinely believe that to succeed in the recruitment process for paralegal roles, you need to be shamelessly blasting your CV to as many recruiters in the City as possible. It took me three months of sending out CVs via Indeed and LinkedIn and directly reaching out to recruiters before I even got a callback, and another month before I got an interview for a paralegal/similar role.

I will also add that the recruitment energy has cooled considerably throughout 2023. Outside of litigation and certain advisory departments, law firms just are not as busy. This feeds through to less money to hire paralegals.

Resilience and tenacity are necessary traits to get your foot in the door as a City paralegal! Definitely start contacting recruiters.

Hi Jake, thank you for being transparent about your journey. It's a relief to hear that I'm not alone. I kept seeing people on Linkedin with stellar paralegal experience at top firms, especially US firms.

I have been resilient in applying for TC and paralegal roles, running in parallel. I have been contacting recruiters, for about 3 months now, but I feel beaten because none of them gives me a reply. The only one was RR, they called me for a role, I thought good news must be on my way, but they never got back to me.

I recently applied directly to an in-house role, it is an investment fund called Blackfinch. This time, I wrote a my cover letter like how I would for a TC so hopefully the quality stands out.

Thank you again for your reply.

 

[al97]

I agree with this.
Additionally, I wanted to flag to OP to try Flex Legal and update the profile on there regularly if they are not already doing so. It is a good way to get intermittent work (as little as 3 weeks at a time) but something might pop up that is relevant to gain the experience they need.

Hi may I know what is OP? Thank you

 

[I’m_Batman]

Hi may I know what is OP? Thank you

Original Poster.
Sorry, I'm old school Reddit.

 

[I’m_Batman]

Hello, my apologies for the delay in replying. I was preparing for a potential AC and I wanted to type a proper message to express my gratitude. Your advice is incredibly useful. I can resonate with a few points that you mention. I'm not sure if this is too much to ask, is there any chance we can connect via email (I'm relatively new to TCLA so unsure if there's a private message function)? Can I request your help to take a look at my CV?

Yes, I'll drop you a line with my LinkedIn. Happy to connect and help.