But there is no doubt that a legal job hunt is difficult. Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, there are things you can do to improve your chances of getting an interview. Let’s take a look at some ways you can improve your legal job search.
Start Networking
It cannot be stressed enough; networking is highly beneficial for law students during an employment search, and it is actually something you want to do before you graduate. In fact, you should be looking for networking opportunities throughout your career. This is the modern way of finding positions in the legal profession. Having connections will be highly beneficial to start your career and advance it later.
Thankfully, there are many ways you can connect with professionals in the legal field and improve your chances of getting a legal job. Often, events and programs are running throughout the academic year that will allow you to connect with professionals and make contacts. You should make sure that you attend them and talk to people.
While this can seem like a daunting prospect at first, especially if you are going on your own, it will get better. Eventually, you will learn to enjoy these types of events, and you can learn a lot. For instance, you can better understand what area of law you want to specialize in if you are not sure.
Have a Career Counselor
Many universities offer services you can take advantage of, which can help your employment search. For example, a lot of colleges provide career counselors, which can be highly beneficial. They will be able to offer you advice regarding what law you want to practice and what your career will look like. If you are unsure of what role you want to play in the legal industry, this can be an excellent place to start.
Simply taking career guidance can be beneficial. This is particularly true if you have no friends who are lawyers or legal professionals. It can be difficult for them to understand what you are going through. This is where a career counselor comes in. They will be a professional with experience, and they can give you the required career advice.
Prepare Your Resume
No matter what legal job you are preparing to apply for, you will need to perfect your resume.
This is very important as it will showcase all of your education, skills, and experience. It can be beneficial to read about how to create the perfect resume. For instance, it should be short and sweet at around one page and consist of bullet-pointed paragraphs. While it can be tempting to show all your skills and experience, make sure that you keep it relevant to the work description.
Do Not Forget the Cover Letter
Indeed, your resume is critical. It is going to tell an employer a lot about you. But, this is not to say that you should not complete a cover letter. Unfortunately, in recent years, many graduates in all subjects have been neglecting their cover letters. It is something that a lot of people thought was no longer necessary because of email and online applications. However, this is not true. It is still essential to prepare this document, and employers can gain a lot of good information.
In particular, a cover letter is a good opportunity to highlight your main strengths, education, and experience. A lot of employers will skim over applications. While this is not what you want to hear, it is true and something to be aware of. But this is where a cover letter comes in. This is your opportunity to give the main points you want the employer to see from your application.
Research the Employers
When doing a job search on job boards, it can be tempting to apply for each job posting you see online. But, this is not something that is recommended. It can mean that you end up getting an interview for a legal job that you do not actually want. So, to start with, it is recommended that you research your managers. Find out as much as you about them through the internet and their own website. You can also find out more information through networking and talking to other legal professionals. For larger corporations and law firms, there is going to be a lot of information available.
Researching the employers is going to be useful for job interviews too. It means that you can know more about that organization or a law firm and ask them interesting questions. This will be impressive to them, and it shows that you have done a lot of work preparing for the evaluation process. This is going to be a positive thing that a manager likes.
Prepare Mock Interviews
When you send in many applications, it can be quite an achievement when you finally receive an interview. This does not mean that you should take it lightly and assume you will get the job. Instead, it would be best if you did your preparation to impress the manager. Do not forget that interviews can be tricky and daunting events.
They are not going to be a walk in the park.
For a lot of people, a mock interview is going to help. This is going to allow you to get used to the process and answering questions on the spot. Indeed, this process is going to allow you to feel more confident on interview day. Just make sure that you answer different questions not to get thrown off course if the employer asks you other questions. You do not want it to seem like you are reading from a script. You want to be prepared for a host of different scenarios.
Attend Job Fairs
Throughout the year, some events are held called job fairs. They can also be referred to as recruitment fairs. This will be a fantastic opportunity to take advantage of if you want to secure your first legal job. They often take place in a large venue and are set up like a job expo. You can go around the different stands and talk to potential employers.
This is a good time to network and gets your name out there.
A job fair is also a fantastic educational opportunity too and helps in professional development. In other words, you can learn more about what type of job you are looking for, as well as the kind of law firm or organization you want to work for. A job fair is not just an opportunity for you. But remember that certain law firms are there to fill the vacancies they have. So, they must sell the job opening to you too.
Look for Summer Placements
Perhaps you have graduated and worry that you will not find your first legal job for a long time. Indeed, it can be challenging to get your first job and get your foot on the legal ladder. But it will happen. While you are applying to full-time positions, remember that summer placements are also an excellent way to get your foot in the door.
We know that summer placements do not always pay the best money. In fact, there can be some that you are expected to work for free. They are going to be invaluable for the experience. You can work in a legal environment and know for sure what type of law you want to focus your career on. In addition, it is a good way to land a full-time job. It is common for graduates or students that take a summer placement to be promised a job at the end. This is likely to happen if you impress during the summer placement and make a significant effort to help and work hard within their team. Thus, if you take a summer placement, this is what you can aim for. It can lead to your first legal job.
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