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When submitting your CV, it's vital to know what it is your potential employer is looking for in the perfect candidate.
OK, so you’ve got the qualifications and skills that employers are looking for, now all you need to do is convince a potential employer that you are the best candidate for the job on the two pieces of paper that have the power to kick-start your new legal career – your CV.
With the legal profession being one of the most popular career destinations for graduates, competition for entry level places is high. And employers, especially those with a large intake of new recruits, will take as little as half a minute scanning your CV. So you need to make sure that yours stands out from the crowd.
Your CV has just one purpose in life – to get you an interview, which means that the information contained within it needs to be tailored to the job you are applying for and hits all the right notes that turn an employer on. As its unlikely that you will have any direct work experience within the legal profession you will need to use a skills-based CV that uses the basic building blocks of the more traditional chronological CV( which you will be using as your career progresses), but places more emphasis on the work-related skills you have developed and can demonstrate.
If you have just graduated from university and this is the first ‘proper’ job you’ve applied for, make your Education the centre piece of your CV. Include relevant coursework that has relevance to the job you are applying for, awards, publications, qualifications and grades.
You should also include information on any work placement you have done during the course of your studies and the skills you have acquired during the course of your university career.
In the previous section we look at the key skills and attributes employers look for, some of which will be stated in the job advert itself.
But if the advert states that the employer is looking for ‘Demonstrable technical ability’ or ‘Good analytical skills’, for example, don’t fall into the trap of simply listing these skills on your CV, demonstrate how you have used them in a practical setting regardless of whether you have any legal work experience or not. Perhaps you wrote a key research paper on employment law, or worked alongside a legal executive in the preparation of a case.
But don’t forget who your audience is. Your CV is likely to be vetted first by someone in the company’s human resources department who may be unfamiliar with some of the legal jargon used in this profession. So avoid getting too technical in your choice of language and make your CV clear, concise and easy to read.
Wondering what to do now? Check out our expert career advice, find out more about the Legal industry or search for the latest Legal jobs.