Quick Highlights:
- Tailor your paralegal resume to match the specific job description, highlighting relevant skills and experiences.
- Emphasize critical paralegal skills such as organizational ability, writing proficiency, legal knowledge, critical thinking, and attention to detail.
- Incorporate specific keywords from the job listing, especially since many firms use automated software to screen resumes.
- Ensure your resume is free of typos and errors and consider getting feedback from a mentor or friend to improve its quality.
Table of contents
As you complete your paralegal degree, the next step is preparing an entry-level paralegal resume for job applications. Your paralegal certificate resume can determine whether you are hired or not, so it is important to take your time as you write and proofread each line. If you aren’t talented at editing, ask a friend or mentor to help you fix typos and spelling errors.
This is an incredibly competitive industry, so the best paralegal resume tips are important for making your application stand out. Look up resume advice for paralegals and other legal professionals before you apply for your dream job. With the right paralegal resume skills, you can take the next step in achieving career success.
Related:
Essential Skills Every Paralegal Studies Student Needs to Know
Is a Bachelor’s in Paralegal Studies Worth It?
Understanding What Employers Look For
When you create your paralegal job application, you have to know what prospective employers are looking for. Then, you can incorporate these paralegal resume keywords into your application. This is important for multiple reasons.
First, your paralegal certificate resume has to demonstrate that you meet all of the employer’s requirements. Because of this, you need to work on highlighting your skills on a paralegal resume.
Additionally, you need to showcase these skills and paralegal resume keywords because many applications are sent through automated application software platforms. These platforms automatically search for specific keywords, so your resume won’t be seen by a hiring manager if it doesn’t contain these important abilities.
Don’t just use resume templates for paralegals that you find online. Instead, it’s important to work on tailoring your paralegal resume for each specific job description. Employers want to feel like you are passionate about their unique position, so you need to make a resume that matches the employer’s expectations and job description.
While each job is unique, there are a few common qualities and skills that employers value in paralegals. Ideally, you should incorporate some of the following skills into writing a paralegal resume.
- Organizational Skills: As a paralegal, you may be assisting with many different cases. Each case has its own deadlines. If you aren’t organized, you can end up missing deadlines and costing your firm money.
- Writing Ability: Because so much of your job involves writing, you need to have an excellent command of grammar and punctuation. You must also understand the meaning and usage of words. With this knowledge, you can create written documents, court orders, and contracts.
- Legal Knowledge: One of the basic requirements for being a paralegal is to understand the legal field. If you don’t have any legal knowledge, you won’t be able to finish your college degree or get certified as a paralegal.
- Critical Thinking: To succeed as a paralegal, you must be able to understand and synthesize information. Because of this, you need to be talented at assessing risks, weighing information, and thinking critically.
- Attention to Detail: If you misspell someone’s name or write the wrong birth date, your mistake can be incredibly expensive for your company. Attorneys are responsible for making their clients appear professional, and they also need to show their clients that the case is important. Because of this, it is important for paralegals to have excellent attention to detail.
- Teamwork: Paralegals must be able to work with clients, lawyers, and other paralegals. As a result, they must be good at expressing empathy and managing interpersonal relationships. If you aren’t a team player, this probably isn’t the industry for you.
- Multitasking: In this position, you will be expected to wear many different hats. Because of this, you must be talented at multitasking and handling multiple to-do lists without falling behind.
- Observational Skills: To do your job well, you must possess excellent observational skills. For example, you may need to pay attention to the client’s body language to understand the subtext of what they are saying.
- Memory: Finally, a paralegal must have an excellent memory. They need to remember important facts about old cases and court deadlines.
Essential Components of a Paralegal Resume
The best paralegal resumes tend to have a few key components. As you search for paralegal resume tips, start by reviewing your current resume. To be considered well-written, effective paralegal resumes should include your contact information, objective statement, education, skills section, professional experiences, and internship experiences.
Contact Information
If you look up a paralegal resume guide, you’ll typically see the contact information in the upper-left or upper-right corner. Your contact information should include your phone number, email address, and street address.
When adding your email address, make sure that it sounds professional because many employers will review this information before calling applicants for interviews. Additionally, they will look at your street address to see if you live near your workplace. If you live too far away, the employer might not be willing to call you for an interview because they are concerned about your ability to consistently get to work.
Objective Statement or Summary
When writing a paralegal resume, you should typically include an objective statement or summary near the top. This section must use action verbs to capture the reader’s interest. It should be concisely written so that the reader can quickly understand what you’re trying to achieve in your career.
Education
The next step on the list of resume advice for paralegals is to include an education section. Other than being a requirement to get a certification, your education also shows relevant skills and academic achievements. You may want to list specific paralegal resume skills or awards you have received in this area. For example, you may want to add any honor societies you are a member of.
Skills Section
When creating a professional resume for paralegals, take some time to think about your skill section. If you aren’t sure about what to include, you may want to list common skills, like document drafting, legal research, technical skills, and case management.
A good idea for paralegal resume skills is to look at the job description. Often, employers will include the exact skills they are looking for in the job description. Then, you just have to include the same skills on your entry-level paralegal resume to show that you are a good fit for the job.
Professional Experience
When working on resume writing for paralegal jobs, take some time to craft your professional experience. These entries should include all of your relevant job duties and accomplishments. Ideally, you should avoid including any job experience that was less than a year in length because this can look like job hopping to a hiring manager. The exception to this rule is for internships since many internships last for an academic quarter or semester.
Internships and Practical Experience
Whether you are making a paralegal internship resume or a resume for a promotion, your internship experience can help. You may also want to include any experiences you have had in a work-study program or teaching assistantship that relate to your future role.
Tailoring Your Resume
Each legal position is different. The best resume advice for paralegals is to craft your resume to match the job description. For example, you may want to create a different resume for corporate, family law, or criminal law practices.
Paralegal career resume tips don’t have to be difficult to figure out. Normally, employers will explain the exact skills and abilities they want in the job description. Then, you just have to craft your entry-level paralegal resume to match the job description.
Formatting Tips
Today, most resumes go through some type of automated software program before they are ever seen by a hiring manager. One of the most important paralegal resume tips is to prepare your resume for automated programs. This means you don’t want a double-column format because this kind of style is hard for automated systems to read.
To make effective paralegal resumes for human readers, try using bullet points and action verbs. Instead of listing off your job duties, write about the achievements you accomplished in your position. Make your resume as engaging as possible by using consistent formatting, concise language, headings, and bullet points.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
When crafting a paralegal certificate resume, it’s important to use some of the best resume advice for paralegals. For example, you should avoid common mistakes, like typos and spelling errors. You should always proofread and edit your resume before submitting it. Additionally, you should avoid overly generic descriptions and overcrowding information. If you aren’t sure if your resume is good enough, ask a mentor or colleague for feedback.
Leveraging Additional Resources
You don’t have to figure out resume writing for paralegal jobs by yourself. There are many legal websites and templates out there that can help. You can use resume-building software or hire a professional resume writer to create a specialized resume. Often, colleges will offer job search help for free, so you can talk to your career counselor about getting resume support.
Learn More Paralegal Tips
With the best resume advice for paralegals, you can craft an entry-level paralegal resume and begin your career. Using the job description, you can organize your paralegal resume skills and create an objective summary to match the job’s requirements. Once your paralegal certificate resume has been made, you can submit it to the organization and wait for a response.