entry level paralegal jobs

Here's one: :) If you sell your soul to Satan, he at least gives you eternal youth, or money galore, or something in exchange. Lawyers give you nothing back.

OK. Now I'm really LMTO! I didn't know that lawyers were THAT unscrupulous, conniving, and deceitful. I do want to be fair. Not all lawyers are like that--but I think most of them are especially at the law firms.

Don't laugh, but I'm shaking at the knees, sweating at the palms, and dripping on the underarms like a nervous wreck about to face a head on collision with the thought of working at a law firm!

"You have to consider that the government wants experience. With all the experienced paralegals available, it's tough getting the government's attention as an entry paralegal."

Not necessarily. Since the beginning of this year, I have been referred for 3 jobs in the federal government. The first two did not work out, but I am still waiting on job #3.

For those of you not familiar with the federal hiring process, being "referred" is the first step in being hired... your put on a list of the most qualifed applicants and, if your lucky, interviewed and hired.

I agree with this because I have reinstatement eligibility. One of the smartest things my mother told me at a young age was to get into the government IMMEDIATELY after high school, and I listened to her, hard headed and strong willed as was.

I'm so glad that I listened because with a degree, you can automatically be considered for positions starting at a GS, and with some positions, you can substitute your degree for experience!

Thanks for your comment Donald--I definitely plan to stay far away as I most possibly can from working in a law firm!

Well, for one position at the DOJ I lost out to a veteran. The second one they decided not to hire ANYONE.

And no, you do not need experience. For most federal positions you can substitute a bacehlors degree for experience.

No offense, but instead of speculating about the jobs requiring eperience, I do recommend you go to usajobs.gov and read the qualifications for GS7 paralegal specialist positions.

"To qualify at the GS-7 level: All applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-05 level **** or **** a full four year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree and meet one of the following superior academic achievement provisions:"

Emphasis mine

Someone wit a BS in paralegal studies would also be qualified for contract specialist positions privided you have 24 credits in law.

"Do you understand one has to be high on a register to be considered for a federal job? When I mean high, I mean higher than 95."

Yes, I know how govt. hiring works. For the latest position I was refferred to, I got a 100. I was able to answer most of the questions relying on my current work experience even though it is not related to the job. When I answered questions for paralrgal positions, there were only 2 or 3 questions that were legal specific. The remainer of the questions were generic that one could satify with virtually ANY work experience.

I agree with this Donald. You are dead on! I thought I might add that the government HAS to give you credit for any legal related experience that you may have had even though it may have been 20-30 years ago.

True, true. Once again Donald, you are dead on the bulls eye. The government is the way to go. They are definitely more lenient than law firms, which is why I definitely don't want to work in one. Based on my own observations and experience, they tend to be very snotty when they leave a lot of characteristics to be desired. It's rather hypocritical if you ask me.

What "register' are you talking about? I hae never heard of such a thing.

KSAs will officially be gone this November.

Competitive quals include a four-year college degree and a paralegal certificate....Paralegals usually have specialties. Your law enforcement background should transfer to criminal law. Any investigative experience you have from law enforcement should help you as a paralegal. IMO district attorneys' offices and criminal defense firms are two entities that may find your background of interest.-DLP

I agree with DLP and I would add that as far as the Bachelor degree is concerned, if you do not have it already, get your Bachelor degree in Criminal Justice, since that is your experience. You will have a 4 year degree which can only enhance your prospects with defense firms and DA offices at best. At worst, you will still have that 4 year degree which can only help you.

I have never met a paralegal who works in criminal law. Our criminal law teacher/attorney in paralegal school told us to put down our pens, don't take notes and just listen to his lessons because criminal law doesn't use paralegals.

We had 4 former probation officers in my paralegal class and none found work as a paralegal. They all thought their background would help them land a criminal paralegal job. But no....

In 2005 I graduated with an AS in Paralegal Studies and in 2010 with a BS in Paralegal Studies and I am still not employed in the legal field. I was fortunate and unfortunate to continue working at a hodge podgy firm that I completed my internship with. I was grateful for the opportunity to be employed in a law firm before even graduating. However, this group of attorneys did not teach me a thing. They abused the paralegal internship program at my University in order to get FREE help. Then they just left me high and dry once their firm dissolved and they closed their offices. The only good thing that came from that experience was the ability to put on my resume that I have at least 6 years of legal experience.

I have had a few temp jobs over the past few years as well. In my opinion it seems as though you have to be placed in a progressive firm during your internship and you have to prove to them that you are an asset to their team. That lands your first job right away. There have been months where I have applied to over 500 jobs and have only gotten 1 interview, and then this past month I applied to 5 different firms and have had interviews with every one! However, have not gotten any job offers. It goes back to what everyone is saying about firms wanting to hire a paralegal that possesses 3-5 years experience in a specific specialized area of law. The 6 years that I have been in the legal field I have primarily worked for Bankruptcy Attorneys. That's not going to get me a job working as an experienced paralegal for a firm that specializes in corporate law. Which by the way, seems to have a higher salary than a bankruptcy paralegal.

It's all about location, location, location. I do a daily job search for paralegal positions all over the United States. There are cities that constantly have new job postings every day, and then there are cities that have new job postings once a month.

In this economy, the likelihood of finding a job with a law firm is slim. Have you considered working for yourself and preparing bankruptcy petitions? Federal law has legalized the activities of BPPs under 11 U.S.C. §110. If you follow the rules, you might carve out a niche for yourself. Don't be surprised if lawyers show up asking you to prepare their personal bankruptcy papers!

The reality is the law schools are pumping out many lawyers who can't find jobs. These lawyers have MAJOR DEBT and take the available paralegals jobs hoping to get their foot in the door at some law firm. Why would some law firm hire a paralegal with only a high school education and an associate degree in paralegalism when they can hire a real attorney and pay that attorney paralegal wages? My paralegal instructor wanted me to go to law school and was mad when I refused to take the LSAT. It is always a feather in her cap when her paralegal students become lawyers. I told her there was no way I was going to take on 200K in debt and not have a way to pay it back. I know too many broke, jobless, bankrupt lawyers with a mountain of debt that they will never be able to pay back.

I HAVE a Bachelor's degree and a post-bac paralegal certificate from an ABA approved program. In 5 years, I have never gotten ONE interview. Why? I can't and won't work for $12 an hour. That's ridiculous. That is a grocery store worker wage. The whole "experience" line is a tactic to get you to take a lower starting wage. I have years of experience in medical and insurance offices. Let's be honest. Most paralegals are secretaries. They aren't doing legal research or legal writing. I go to the paralegal association meetings and the people I meet COULDN'T do legal research or writing if they wanted to. I don't care if they have 20 years of experience; they can't do those things. They have 20 years of experience pushing papers. I can do legal writing and research right out of the gate. And lets be TRULY honest: men are not welcome in the paralegal field. The wages are too low, and many women see any male as a threat to their own career advancement. Hey, I don't care if the truth makes you mad. I'm done with trying to be a paralegal. It would be about a $30K paycut for me anyway.

Dude, your post is rather confusing. Why would you be looking for a paralegal job for five years if it were going to be a $30K pay cut?

I agree with some of the other things you said.

A paralegal can and will be expected to do anything from the most menial things up to lawyer work. Some will do legal research and writing, but most won't. You sort of get thrown work and, if lucky, then get thrown more of the sort of work at which you excel, while at the same time being thrown whatever else they want to throw you.

The only lawyers who ever threw me real legal research work were either lazy or in over their heads.

Lastly, breaking into the legal field was extremely difficult for me. I eventually got in and got experience, but it's not doing me very much good now. It's not a growth field like they've been saying for the last 20 years.

I have to sadly concur with Dude and Parafreegal. As Dude from Chicago commented, the field is now flooded with JD's who are now more than willing to take on traditional paralegal work and non-partner track just to get their foot into the door at most firms. Even in-house is not hiring that many paralegals now. Honestly, it is very hard for non-attorneys to market themselves a job in this economy.

Just last week, I was considered for a Sr Paralegal position only to have the company cancel my second interview last minute. Three days latter, the same company placed an advert looking for an attorney with 1-2 years of post law school experience. As some attorneys see it, hiring a recent grad or entry level attorney removes the extra step in supervising and proofing a non-attorney's work. And as Dude mentioned, entry level attorney salaries are now the same salary as an experience paralegal in most states and most law firms offer today. (On a side note: it will be interesting to see how this trend plays out in the long run--from my experience, law school does not teach the basics).

You also have to consider that if you do market yourself a paralegal position today, chances are your salary may just peak in the high 40's to low 50's (if that) **if** you have 5+ years of experience. I have 12 years of experience and with my last job, not only did it end up turning into a temp position, I had to take a 30% paycut. For me, working in law is no longer worth sacrificing salary, and even your time away from family and friends; the career track really isn't there for professional legal support staff. I recently decided to cut my losses and I am using my skill set to other fields which fortunately, I have been receiving calls. Not exactly glamorous work, but then again law never really was glamorous to begin with ;-)

Dude in Chicago, you pretty much nailed it. It's nothing more than an advanced Girl Friday role. I remember hearing lawyers refer to the male paralegals as flunkies who couldn't make it to law school. Frankly I don't see why a guy would ever want to be a paralegal. A construction worker, yes. An engineer, yes. A pilot, yes. But a paralegal?

Dude in Chicago. You pretty much nailed it.

BG in Carlsbad, California said: Dude in Chicago, you pretty much nailed it. It's nothing more than an advanced Girl Friday role. I remember hearing lawyers refer to the male paralegals as flunkies who couldn't make it to law school. Frankly I don't see why a guy would ever want to be a paralegal. A construction worker, yes. An engineer, yes. A pilot, yes. But a paralegal?

In the 90's and early 00's, this profession really wasn't all that bad. However in the US, we have been pretty brainwashed by academia to take it to the next level (not to mention, the US Gov were handing out student loans like candy on Easter). Unfortunately because there are some attorneys out there who do not know how to manage staff, and allocate work, paralegals were not utilize efficiently. I can say that my last two temp assignments bordered on Admin Assistant (which of course there is nothing wrong with that type of work). I do however feel that these paralegal programs need to be a little more realistic with their approach to their students. I would say more emphasis should be placed on computer skills than research which is more or less conducted by the attorneys.

When big corporate clients decided paralegal activities were "clerical" and not billable, that pretty much ended the professional highly educated, highly paid "cheaper alternative to attorney" paralegal positions. Legal work is either attorney work, or it's not.

Dallas is correct. Corporate clients have whittled down what can be billed by paralegals as very little. The whole paralegal field is between a rock and a hard place. The jobs aren't there. And neither is the pay. The question is how one transfers skills out of this field and into another when nobody outside of the field knows what paralegal work consists of.

Parafreegal in Chicago, Illinois said: The question is how one transfers skills out of this field and into another when nobody outside of the field knows what paralegal work consists of.

Few options: Claims Analyist (if you have a litigation or personal injury background), Debt Manager (if you have litigation and bankruptcy background), Executive or Administrative Assistant (not glamorous, but hey being a paralegal these days isn't all that either!) Legal Assistant (which is the new code word for Legal Secretary in many places), and Human Resource Assistant (if you have a background in Labor Law). Those are some areas and related careers I can think of off the top of my head. Also if someone has Real Property experience, you can easily transfer those skills in working for a Real Estate Broker (friend of mine so happened to have landed a job with a major realator after her firm she had worked for closed).

I know some resume services also offer editing to enable people to switch into other fields. Also using a functional resume may help.

I tried the claims adjuster angle and got one interview out of it. Based on the job description given, I could have done the job. But I'm sure they wanted someone green and younger who they could train to do things the way they wanted. I sort of gave up on the claims angle at that point. I may look again. I just don't recall seeing much in terms of job openings in that sector, and the big corporate boys definitely won't hire me due to a gap.

Parafreegal in Chicago, Illinois said: I tried the claims adjuster angle and got one interview out of it. Based on the job description given, I could have done the job. But I'm sure they wanted someone green and younger who they could train to do things the way they wanted. I sort of gave up on the claims angle at that point. I may look again. I just don't recall seeing much in terms of job openings in that sector, and the big corporate boys definitely won't hire me due to a gap.

So sorry to hear. I have spoken to a few people since I last commented and some insurance carriers have placed a hiring freeze again. It is my understanding that Liberty Mutual, State Farm and GEICO are not really hiring now. It's a joke that this administration states that the economy is improving. How can things get better when there is a nearly 8.5% reported unemployment rate?

Hang in there...

tmf1977 in Yonkers, New York said: I recently decided to cut my losses and I am using my skill set to other fields which fortunately, I have been receiving calls. Not exactly glamorous work, but then again law never really was glamorous to begin with ;-)

Hi, tmf1977 in Yonkers, New York - May I ask what fields you are looking at? Were you a litigation para? I would really love to do something other than litigation paralegal. I am so burnt out; my health and personal life are really suffering. Thanks.

Searching in San Diego, California said: Hi, tmf1977 in Yonkers, New York - May I ask what fields you are looking at? Were you a litigation para? I would really love to do something other than litigation paralegal. I am so burnt out; my health and personal life are really suffering. Thanks.

I was a litigation paralegal (I worked for two property/casualty insurance companies), as well as contract administration. My last job (which turned out to be a temp assignment) was a generalist which I delt with a variety of legal matters, as well as performing a lot of administrative duties.

Right now I am giving it a go in applying to Office Management and Executive Assistant positions. I have pretty much given up on applying to law firms since many of them in NYC and White Plains have hiring freezes. I'm not keen on doing secretarial work, however the last few years of my career I was doing more administrative work than paralegal work when I first started. There are also far more job opportunities for Admin work than mid level paralegal jobs right now.

Good luck. Not sure if what I wrote helps, but its hard out there so please don't blame yourself.

tmf1977 in Yonkers, New York said: I was a litigation paralegal (I worked for two property/casualty insurance companies), as well as contract administration. My last job (which turned out to be a temp assignment) was a generalist which I delt with a variety of legal matters, as well as performing a lot of administrative duties.

Right now I am giving it a go in applying to Office Management and Executive Assistant positions. I have pretty much given up on applying to law firms since many of them in NYC and White Plains have hiring freezes. I'm not keen on doing secretarial work, however the last few years of my career I was doing more administrative work than paralegal work when I first started. There are also far more job opportunities for Admin work than mid level paralegal jobs right now.

Good luck. Not sure if what I wrote helps, but its hard out there so please don't blame yourself.

Thanks for the response; this is helpful. I've been applying to Admn jobs too. I found that some of my duties as a paralegal intersected with admn work. There doesn't seem to be a lot of law firm paralegal work here in SD. I have to say that the thought of working in a law firm again turns my stomach. We will see. I know it's a tough market, so, I try to focus on the positive things and stuff I have control over - like how I react to the situation. Thanks again.