Getting the most out of your TotallyLegal job alerts

One of the most effective ways to enhance your search for legal jobs is by setting up a TotallyLegal job alert. The way it works is simple: you tell us about the type of role you are looking for, and we send the latest relevant jobs directly to your email inbox. Not only does this mean that you save the time you would have spent searching for jobs, but you also get the chance to be one of the first to apply.

There are several steps you can take to get the most out of your TotallyLegal job alerts, so if you’re not being sent enough jobs or feel that the jobs you are receiving aren’t quite right, you can help us to help you by adhering to the advice below.

Keywords & job titles

Of all the useful tips we have for optimising your job alerts, this is one of the most important. If you haven’t selected your desired job title and provided keywords related to your ideal role, it will be difficult for us to send you the most relevant roles. So, for example, if you are a Paralegal looking for a role in Litigation, select ‘Paralegal’ as your chosen job title and use keywords like “litigation paralegal” and “disputes resolution paralegal” to receive the most appropriate alerts.

Revisit your alert criteria

Revisiting your job alert criteria can be all it takes to turn a hit or miss job alert to one that gets it right every time. It may be that a significant amount of time has passed since you set up your alert, or maybe things have changed since your job search began, either way, a quick check-up on the location, job title and practice area selected on your alert should tell you whether any updates need to be made.

Expand or narrow your search

If you are not receiving enough roles in your job alert emails, it may be worth thinking about how you can broaden your search. Are there any similar practice areas you could select? Would you consider expanding the location radius of your search? Alternatively, if the roles you’re receiving aren’t quite lining up with your vision, it may be that your current alert is too broad. Revisit your alert and make sure you’ve selected all the desirable features of your next role. Don’t forget to click on ‘More options’ to choose your PQE level plus your desired salary, hours and contract type.

Create alternative alerts

You can have up to five TotallyLegal job alerts running at any one time. So, if you’ve followed the above steps and still aren’t satisfied with the jobs being emailed to you, think about creating some further alerts. If you are a Commercial Solicitor, you could set up alerts for Commercial Lawyer and Commercial Contracts Solicitor jobs, or if you are a Legal Secretary looking for a job in Manchester, you could set up further alerts for Legal PA and Administration roles in the area.

Upload your CV & create a profile

To further increase the number of job opportunities to which you are exposed, we recommend uploading your CV to your TotallyLegal account and creating a jobseeker profile. While this won’t affect your job alerts, it will give hiring managers and legal recruitment consultants the chance to headhunt you for their latest roles - some of which aren’t advertised online. Your chance of getting headhunted for these roles pivots on the quality of your profile, so make sure to fill out all sections as accurately as you can.

We hope that these simple steps will help you to optimise your TotallyLegal job alerts and, ultimately, help you to find your next role. Please contact cs@totallylegal.com if you have any issues in creating or editing your job alerts.

Go to your job alerts now.