When applying for legal jobs, it’s crucial to have a resume that stands out and showcases your skills and achievements. Here are 4 essential strategies to improve your legal resume:

1) Tailor Your Resume for Each Job Application

Customizing your resume for each job application is essential. This involves highlighting the skills and experiences that are most relevant to the specific paralegal position. By tailoring your resume, you can demonstrate to potential employers that you have a deep understanding of the position and are highly qualified.

For example, if you are applying for a position as a litigation paralegal, emphasize your experience in trial preparation, case management, and legal research. If you are applying for a position as a corporate paralegal, highlight your experience in contract drafting, negotiation, and regulatory compliance.

2) Quantify Your Accomplishments

Using specific numbers and metrics to demonstrate your achievements is a powerful way to showcase your skills and accomplishments. For example, if you have assisted in the successful resolution of a case, mention the dollar value of the settlement or the impact of the case on the client. This helps potential employers understand the impact of your work and the value you can bring to their organization.

Other examples of quantifiable achievements include:

• The number of cases you have assisted with
• The percentage of cases that have resulted in favorable outcomes
• The increase in efficiency or productivity you have contributed to
• The number of awards or recognitions you have received

3) Highlight Your Soft Skills

Including examples of how you have demonstrated strong communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills in your paralegal career is important. Employers highly value these soft skills and can make a significant difference in your chances of securing an interview.

For example, you could mention:

• How you effectively communicated with clients, attorneys, and other stakeholders
• How you collaborated with colleagues to achieve a common goal
• How you successfully managed a challenging legal situation

4) Use a Professional Format

Ensuring your resume is well-organized, easy to read, and free of grammatical errors is crucial. Using a standard resume format, such as the chronological or functional resume, can help potential employers quickly assess your qualifications and experience.

Here are some tips for formatting your paralegal resume:

• Use clear, concise language
• Use bullet points to break up large blocks of text
• Use headings to organize your resume into sections (e.g. education, experience, skills)
• Use a professional font (e.g. Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri)
• Use consistent formatting throughout your resume
• Proofread your resume carefully to avoid spelling and grammatical errors

By incorporating these strategies into your resume, you can increase your chances of getting noticed by potential employers and securing an interview. When tailoring your resume for a specific job application, be sure to use keywords from the job description and customize your examples accordingly. If you’re interested in more information or assistance with your job search, C&M Legal Search is here to help! 

About C&M Legal Search

C&M Legal Search provides unique legal recruitment services for law firms, legal service providers, and corporate legal departments at the national level. Our experienced team recruits a wide range of legal staff including attorneys and other operational personnel. Our goal is to help you achieve success, whether you’re a client or legal talent. We not only listen carefully to your needs but offer practical advice, furthermore, we build relationships of trust with all those we work with. That’s the key to our success!