Interview for Legal assistant/paralegal?
Asked by Clever Mary Jane Shoes
I have a interview thursday for a legal assistant/paralegal position. I have no previous work experience all I have is volunteer experience. They did say they will train the right person. I got my ged in November and Im 20 yrs old. Any Idea on how the hell Im gonna pull this interview off? All ideas and positive serious input is greatly appreciated. Also is this a entry level position and do you think I have a chance I mean he did call me back right so he did read my resume? What do you think they mean by "will train the right person" Thanks

Best Answer:
Some of the most important things that firms are looking for in legal assistants are punctuality, ability to work under extreme pressure, organization, and great communication skills. Show the interviewers that you have all these skills, don't let your nervousness show through at all. Connect the experience you have gained from volunteering to tasks you may have to do in a law firm. Before I got my first legal job, I had worked at a hospital and I was able to connect a lot of their questions to my experience working in a totally different field. For example having to deal with lots of stress and learning to adapt to the different personalities of different people. Just because you don't have experience in the legal field doesn't mean you don't have relevant experience. Stress your typing and computer skills, those are BIG when you are a legal assistant, they want people who can type fast and know their way around Microsoft Office, etc... Make sure you let your personality shine through, you sometimes need to have tough skin in order to deal with attorneys under stress and someone who is overly shy is not always appealing. If it is an entry level position you definitely have a shot, most firms will want to train any assistant that they hire to the specific way that they do things, so if you have the personality and they think you can handle it and do a great job, of course they will be willing to put a little more into training you (are they going to teach you how to type? NO...but they will teach you the complicated things and you will learn quick!) So, wear a nice simple suit, be OVERLY organized, let your personality shine, and don't let them see that you are nervous, and you have as good a shot as anyone! Good Luck!

2 years of schooling are required to be a paralegal. so if u didnt go to college, i doubt they're gonna wait 2 years for u. they prolly meant if u havent been a paralegal yet, but have the degree, they'll train u.
Answered by veronicamars

I work in that field for a living, I’m a contracts administration manager and I started here a year ago with no experience in legal. I however did have 6 years experience in clerical/administration work so that helped a lot on my behalf. Yes he/she did read your resume prior to giving you a call back, they may have seen something they liked in your resume and now they want to match that with the person and see if they see potential in you. What they mean by training the right person is if it looks like you have potential and are going to be an asset to their company then they have no problem training you and putting you to work. However, if they see you aren’t fit for the job they aren’t going to waste their money training you. The best most important piece of advice I can give you is to remain calm and confident in your interview, I interviewed with my current Director and VP of the department I work in for the #1 Technology Distribution company in the world so it wasn’t an easy interview to say the least. But I stayed calm and confident, I didn’t lie on my resume that way I was able to back up everything on it. Give short but descriptive answers to the person interviewing you, remember you are selling yourself but you don’t want to over sell yourself at the same time. Have a friend or family member who works in management, or has a lot of experience interviewing give you a test run interview. They will know the right questions to ask, just be calm, confident, and know in your head that you are the right person for the job. The rest should just fall in place, try and over sell yourself or make yourself look smarter and better than you are and they will catch it and wont call you back.
Answered by Dom

Chances are they saw someone they could pay peanuts. Attys. are notoriously CHEAP.
Answered by ~girlfriday~