resume advice

[Bertha Venation]

Last edited Thu Dec 4, 2014, 11:57 AM - Edit history (1)

Hi.

For the last 13 years, I worked as a legal secretary. In July I left my job. After caring for my wife post-back surgery, I began looking for a job near home.

I've applied for over 40 jobs since then, admin, clerical, and secretarial jobs, jobs I know I would kill, I mean I would just knock it out of the park.

I haven't had one single bite. Not a reply email, not a phone call, and in all but four cases, not even a "thanks but no thanks."

I am imagining that employers see 13 years in legal and don't look any further. This is very frustrating because I have the skills and experience all of these employers require! And I'm drawing on 20 years' admin and 15 before that in jobs so varied that it's nearly impossible to quantify their value to what I have to offer.

My resume is pretty standard: employers/experience first, then skills. I am wondering if I could make my resume unconventional, put a summary of experience and skills first, then just a list of employers and dates. Or something like that. What do you think?

Any advice for me other than re: resume?

Is there a relevant forum I can cross-post this to?

Edit: I am not looking for work as a legal secretary.

[Sanity Claws]

1. HI Bertha

I'm sure you'd do a great job as a legal secretary but the reality is that there are few of those jobs around. As you know, there are attorneys straight out of law school who can't find jobs. I have no doubt that some of them are filling some paralegal and legal secretary positions at the small firms in order to get some experience.
Bear in mind that there are fewer law firms around. There has been a lot of consolidation among the large firms in the past decade and many smaller firms just disbanded because people can't afford legal services.

So what does all that mean for you?
I don't think the years of experience listed on your resume is the problem.

Have you thought about applying to nonprofit legal services organizations? Have you thought about recasting yourself as a paralegal?
I work at a nonprofit legal services organization and frankly, we don't hire legal secretaries. We might hire paralegals. We expect attorneys to do their own calendaring and other tasks that are often done by legal secretaries in large firms.

Have you thought about using your transferable skills to do something else?

[Bertha Venation]

3. I failed to make a point: I'm not looking for work as a legal secretary.

In fact, if possible I'd like to stay out of legal. And I certainly do not want to be a paralegal.

I'm looking for anything that I can do. And as I said, I can kill the things I'm applying for.

I've applied at local governments, the courts (for court clerk), public schools, private schools, Marriott, sheriff's offices, accounting firms, a pesticide company, etc. . . . . Anything I come across that I know I can do.

So yes, I've thought about using my transferable skills... The problem, I believe, is that the transferable skills are not being seen by the employers.

Grr.

[rug]

10. I think Maryland has just put a freeze on hiring.

My daughter got a job at Towson University this past summer and now she says there's a freeze on spending and hiring.

I hope it doesn't last long. You're a perfect fit for the courts. I would still take the test to get on the list if it's offered. Those calls tend to pop up out of the blue.

[adirondacker]

2. I changed my own a couple of years ago and have had better success using the following format...

Objective

Skills

Relevant Experience

Education

Relevant Courses

Research

References

You can stand out by pointing out your "skills" in a few bullet-ed strongpoints that are relevant to the position and are backed up with your work experience.

I use two pages plus a coverletter and reference page

Best of wishes.

[Bertha Venation]

4. Thanks, adirondacker

Good advice.

[chrisa]

5. What are you using to look for jobs?

I used / currently use job boards like Indeed, but one thing about these boards I've noticed is that a good portion of the jobs on there are either left on by an employer who is too lazy to take it off after filling the position, fake jobs posted by recruiters to get your information, or jobs posted to meet quota rules.

As a rule of thumb, I've looked for jobs that are posted within the last 2 weeks. I don't bother if it's older. I try to avoid recruiters, but you might want to contact a few - they might help you with your resume, even. Just watch out for the unprofessional and/or rude ones. Those are the ones most likely to be useless.

Try upping your use of keywords: Microsoft Office, Word, Powerpoint, etc. - Many employers just go by keywords. I don't have an objective - I think it's useless, personally, and I don't think anyone reads that. Just useless clutter.

Honestly, I've been told a million different things to change on my resume. Everyone will say something different.

[mnhtnbb]

6. I would echo this comment.

Also, check the local town websites for towns or county offices near you for job listings, and also
any colleges, universities, junior colleges near you. I suspect many of them
don't bother to list their openings with services/recruiters/job sites.

Think about going directly to the websites of local companies to find job openings.

[Sweet Freedom]

7. Some general notes…

Do not list an objective. Instead, list a summary of qualifications and include any special software that you may know. if you have extensive areas of expertise, you can make a bulleted list of those as well.

If I read your post correctly, you have 35 years of experience? I would downplay that. Unfortunately, employers may assume that you are too old to hire. (I know they shouldn't do that, but they do.)

Under your work experience, don't just list your responsibilities; quantify them. Explain how you made something more efficient or how you saved the company money and then measure it. For example: did you implement a service that saved the company a specific amount of money? Say that. Or did you eliminate something inefficient that freed up other employees' time to take on another project that saved the company money? That's the type of thing they want to see under your work experience.

Also list any volunteerism related to the type of job you want, any groups that you belong to where a teamplayer attitude is needed, and any type of leadership recognition and/or awards.

Finally, have somebody else read your resume to check for errors.

Good luck!

[DryHump]

11. Sweet Freedom

nailed the resume format - drop the objective and open with a mind-grabbing, bullet point summary that toots your horn about millions saved for the company, special awards, supervisor to thousands, etc. Also - I went back to school to become a paralegal and didn't like it BUT my paralegal job, once landed, morphed into that of a Civil Investigator: I find people, assets, next of kin - it's a blast playing detective all day. One job can morph into another that you helped create...good luck!!!!

[Lars39]

8. If you use sites like Monster.com, tweek your resume every week just a tad,

Like changing something minor like punctuation ,and then changing it back. This kicks it back up for eyes to see it.
I hope Mrs V is doing great. Best of luck in your search.

[riderinthestorm]

9. Try to go through a temp agency for work. I've heard a lot of success stories that way

Good luck!

[Habibi]

12. Check out Liz Ryan on the modern job hunting experience

http://www.humanworkplace.com/?s=Job+hunt

She has lots of great advice.

Also, if you haven't already done this, join a professional networking group (or two). Yes, lots of people you meet there will also be looking for jobs, but the wider your network, the greater your chances of finding something. These days, more than ever, I think, it's more about who you know, and who knows you.

Also: do friends and family know you're looking? Can they ask around to see if they know anyone hiring?

Good luck!

[bettyellen]

13. If you are applying at new types of business an objective explaining your desire to work in X kind

of place because Y, and you can bring your experience doing Z, A and B to the table helps their HR imagine it can work. If you do it well, ou can convince them you are perfect for the job!

Read the ads for the place that you are applying, and USE THEIR WORDS to plug in your objective paragraph. Make sure you have all the skills they want highlighted, if you don't have them, pretend you are eager to learn them. Use whatever adjectives their Ad uses to describe yourself.
Treat this objective as a Mad Libs kind of template that you customize for each job you apply to. Then save a copy named w/ what add you applied to, so you can keep it all straight. Customize your resume for each company. This way, you don't need much of a cover letter, which most won't look at anyway.