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5 Mistakes You Might Be Making in Your Job Hunt

Written by: Lunaria Partners
Published on: 10 Nov 2020

In their first guest post for our blog, specialist paralegal recruitment agency Lunaria Partners tell us all about the 5 mistakes you might be making in your job hunt.

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Paralegal job hunting is difficult enough at the best of times, but during a global pandemic when there are less roles and fiercer competition you must be extra careful in giving yourself the best chance of securing your dream paralegal role.

You will have spent hours preparing your CV, making sure the content and layout is on point. You’ve proofread it and asked friends and family to review it to make sure there are no typos or errors. And you’ve shortlisted the roles that fit your skill set exactly and applied for them.

And then you wait…

If you hear nothing, and are scratching your head as to why, make sure you aren’t making these 5 mistakes.

Top 5 Mistakes

These are common issues we come across, and unfortunately, we have seen candidates miss out on their dream job due to them.

Especially now, when recruiters and HR teams have been reduced due to redundancies and are receiving hundreds of paralegal applications a day, make sure you are not making these mistakes to give yourself the best chance of getting that role!

So, you’ve not worked since 2018?

The likelihood is you originally produced a CV a few years ago and, now that you have 1-2 years of really great experience, you went back to that original CV and updated it. You have probably (and if not, you should) given the file your name. But in applying for the paralegal role you have accidentally uploaded the old version with no work experience!

You might get lucky and the recruiter could spend half an hour working this out and request an updated CV… but more likely they will just move on to the next CV which clearly demonstrates the 1-2 years’ experience required.

Call Failed.

This could be due to the same reason; you used that old version of your CV and updated the work experience content… but forgot to update your telephone number. Or, as we also often see, the mobile number provided is missing digits, or has too many numbers. The recruiter is trying to get through but after a couple of attempts they realise that they have no way of getting in contact with you.

Leave a message after the tone…

Hands up: who sees a withheld number or one they don’t recognise and thinks it is someone asking if you’ve been in an accident? They are annoying, but if you are sending out your CV and applying to jobs, by not answering you are potentially missing out on golden opportunities. Recruiters will tend to leave a voicemail asking you to call back, but ideally you should be answering all calls if you are job hunting to give yourself the best chance. And you should always check your voicemails as soon as you can.

Whatcha gonna do with all that junk….

Recruiters will often follow up if they can’t get through on the phone with an email asking you to call back, or they may email in response to your application to set up a call or video registration interview. They may even have spoken to you, told you about the role and then sent the job spec, just needing you to read through and confirm you wish to be submitted to the role.

But you don’t receive any of this… because it’s gone into your junk folder! This is surprisingly common, so if you take just one thing away from this, it is to check your junk mail every day.

Oh, it was your perfect job?

Time is definitely of the essence when job hunting. So, to give yourself the best chance of securing your ideal role, make sure you respond quickly, returning calls as soon as you can, and replying to emails as soon as you see them.

You may want to take some time to review the spec and research the company (and we highly recommend this) but do this in no more than 24 hours. If you take longer, the line manager may have already received CVs and invited people to interview, and you could miss out on your perfect job as they will have closed applications.

So, to recap our 5 top tips for securing that paralegal role:

  1. Upload the right version of your CV
  2. Double check the contact details
  3. Listen to voicemails
  4. Check your junk mail
  5. Respond quickly

Lunaria Partners are an award nominated legal recruitment agency with specialisms in paralegal and legal compliance recruitment. We also believe recruitment can be and should be used as a force for good and are passionate about improving diversity in the legal sector.