Category Archives: Entry

Paralegal

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Overview of the Job

 

It is the function of this job to assist attorneys in their work. This job is also called legal assistant. This person does legal research, writes reports, and tracks documents for the attorney. The paralegal will, as needed, talk with clients to obtain basic information. Whatever the type of attorney, a paralegal is required to assist in legal preparation.

 

This work is done almost exclusively in an office. A great deal of computer work, research in law libraries, and document preparation is required. This job is typically a 40 hour work week. It is not unusual for legal secretaries, with appropriate experience, to become paralegals.

 

Education and Experience Required

 

  • 2 year Associate degree

  • An appropriate combination of education and work experience in the field

  • Detail oriented

  • Ability to prepare clear, accurate reports

  • Good computer skills

 

Future of the Occupation

 

The number of jobs is expected to increase as the number of lawyers and their need for legal assistance grows. However, more people are choosing this field so there will be competition.

 

The median pay is between $31,000 and $50,000 depending upon the size of the law firm and the number of clients.

Conquer Resume Writing with Powerful Words

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Writing resumes is tricky business for most. What should be said, and how to say it are often the two most difficult parts of writing resumes. The various elements of resumes all hold their own important place in career success, but what most people don’t understand is the power of the words that they use. When it comes to resumes, how you state your experiences often means the difference between catching the reader’s attention and having your resume tossed aside.

The first way you can use words to help you is to focus on keywords from the job listing. These keywords and phrases describe Perfectly what the employer is after, and if you use these words in your resume, you’re more likely to grab their attention. For example:

Human Resources Manager

Payroll experience, familiarity with employee relations, training, and familiarity with hourly status reports, Excel spreadsheets. Must have 2 year degree or higher in business and/or management, with experience in Accounting. Minimum five years experience with employee base over 100.

 

From this listing, you can gather about five or different words and phrases that you can use on your resume to catch the attention of the reader. For example, under your skills section, you can list the following:

 

Payroll experience

Employee training/relationships

Excel use

Accounting experience

Work with 100+ employees

 

This will make the task of writing a resume much simpler, as it creates a focus for the reader, and shows two things: your ability to pay attention, and your dedication to following the rules and meeting requirements.

Another way to use words to your advantage is to focus on what are known as power words. This simply means revising your resume so that the language you use is more gripping. There are ways to say things that are better than others, but you want to make sure you’re still being direct and not wordy in your resume.

 

For example, instead of this:

Gave assessments to employees, handed out paychecks, tracked company hours.

Say this:

Responsible for employee assessments, payroll processing, and hourly tracking and reporting.

 

You can see how much better the latter sounds to a prospective employer. It’s still direct, but changing a few words and the way you say things can make all the difference in the world.

Whether it’s through using more powerful words or simply utilizing the keywords in the job listing, you can make a much greater impression on the hiring manager that reads your resume by using powerful words. There are other elements of your resume that need to be polished as well, the objective for instance ,but the words that you use when writing a professional style resume will make a huge difference in whether your resume gets the attention it deserves or not!

The Key to Successful Resume Writing is in the Objective

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One of the essential elements of resume writing is the objective statement. It usually contains information on what you are looking for in a job and/or your qualifications for the position you seek. Many people aren’t aware of how to write a good resume objective, objective writing should be simple.The first point is your objective can should be only a few sentences in length. It should be direct and brief. The purpose of an objective is to summarize your abilities in regards to the position you seek, and to establish your professional identity. You don’t want the objective to be generic or indirect, because this will make you appear the same way to the employer. You should write a different resume for each position, and a new objective that is directed toward each different company you’re applying with.The resume objective is the point at which you need to catch the eye of the reader. If you don’t gain their interest here, they will likely discard your resume and move on to a more interesting one. Your resume writing objective shouldn’t be self-oriented. Instead, you need to focus your resume writing on what you have to offer the hiring manager. Don’t assume that if you list your abilities that they will be able to make the connections to how that will affect them. Be specific and relate exactly how your skills will benefit them. Otherwise your resume won’t get a second look.

The Interview – Do’s and Don’ts

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by Scott Sestak, Staffing Excellence, Inc. While getting a foot in the door with a good resume is the first step, interviews are tough and stressful though there are many things you can do to prepare. You can make yourself look better than your competition by being prepared and get that employment opportunity!Interview “Do’s”:

  • Do prepare for each interview well in advance. Check out the company’s website, know what they do and how big they are. Review the job posting and relate your experience to every line.
  • Put together some good leading questions about the company, inviting the interviewer to talk. Get the interviewer to talk about themselves and their job.
  • Dress up! Unless otherwise told, dress in a nice suit/nice professional outfit. Dress conservatively, longer skirts and conservative tops are a must. Wear comfortable clothes.
  • Come up with some good short stories to tell about things you have done well/accomplished in your career. Practice these until they are second nature.
  • Practice with your friends, role play, get comfortable talking about your experience.
  • Choose your words very carefully and think through your answers. Also, be on your best behavior.
  • Practice practice practice. Never turn down an interview even if you know you won’t take the job. It is great practice and may even lead to new contacts/ideas.
  • Read a few books on body language and interviewing tips to become a professional interviewer.

Some people shoot themselves in the foot in an interview and some interviewers just can’t get over it. Below are just a few things NOT to say/do in your interview. And yes, candidate’s of mine have said/done these things over the years.Interview Don’ts:

  • Do not say “I have other offers but, yours pays a lot more and that’s why I’m interested.”
  • Do not say “I have demonstrated experience. Here, look at all of this…” Then proceed to hand over stacks of paper including old references, marketing plans, reports, misc papers etc. Do not offer any documents unless asked.
  • Never bring a gun into an interview. Yes, someone came into my office one day and it fell out of their briefcase. Not good!
  • Never walk around your interviewer’s desk and show them something on their own computer.
  • When asked: Why did you leave your job? Do not say: “My old boss was a jerk and the company was going bankrupt.” Come up with some better answers.
  • Turn your cell phone off. Never ever answer your cell phone during an interview and talk to the person calling!
  • Do not chew gum. Do not touch anything on the interviewers desk or try to peek at anything.
  • Do not preen your clothes, hair or fidget with a pen etc. Keep still and keep your hands/arms in an open confident position. Never cross your arms, stare or lean back like you’re in a lazyboy.

Be confident and smart with your answers. Think first and you will be just fine.Till next time. Good luck! Scott

The Follow-Up Letter: An Important Tool in Your Career Search Arsenal

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You did everything you needed to do to make a great impression at your job interview. From an impressive resume to a suitable suit to impeccable manners, you feel that the job interviewer viewed you in a positive light. Is there anything else you can do to ensure top consideration for your dream job?Sending a follow-up letter after your employment interview is an important tool in your career search arsenal. By sending a follow-up letter, you are reminding the job interviewer of your existence. After all, the interviewer may be reviewing dozens or hundreds of resumes and people. Your follow-up letter may be the simple reminder the interviewer needs to keep your name and face in the forefront of their thoughts. Also, sending a follow-up letter after your interview gives you an opportunity to thank the interviewer for their time. This shows your ability to appreciate the time constraints of your prospective employers as well as your sense of savvy with regard to proper business protocol and communication. Sending a well-written, polite follow-up letter only takes a few minutes and can mean the difference between landing the job you want or being forgotten after you leave the job interview.

An Entry Level Resume: Tips to Grab An Employer’s Attention

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Keywords are an important component of an entry level resume, because they help focus the employer’s attention on your applicable qualifications. Keywords, or buzzwords, are words or phrases that describe your skills, knowledge and abilities. For example, if you are in a technical field, you’ll want to make sure all current technologies with which you are familiar are listed somewhere on the resume.Also, the presentation of your education information is critical. Be sure to place it on the front of your resume, near the top and in reverse chronological order. Place your degree in bolded letters to stand out.Even if you have no work experience, don’t leave your resume empty. Make a list of your volunteer work, internships, extracurricular activities, and other experiences, then figure out which ones relate in some way to your job objective, or which ones may have helped you develop a skill that would be transferable to a job. Examples would be leadership, organizational skills or computer literacy.The thing to remember when it comes to entry level resume writing is that while you want to create a strong resume that represents you well and stands out from the crowd, you don’t want to list everything you’ve ever done. Leave off irrelevant information, and try to tailor your resume to the job posting for which you are applying.