David King, Director of Recruiting at Tower Legal Staffing, is involved in all levels of business development and candidate recruitment. Prior to legal staffing, King was a Senior Litigation Paralegal at Steptoe & Johnson LLP, and the case manager for the firm’s IP practice.

The Legaco Express for Paralegals (LEX):

Why did you choose to work for a staffing agency and what do you like best about your job?

David King:

Working in legal services in a management capacity was a natural fit for me. Coming from a retail career and moving into the paralegal work that I did, it was the logical next step. I wanted to remain in the legal field but I was looking for a change from the pace and schedule of a litigation paralegal. It was the right time for me to consider that type of change and luckily for me it worked out well.

LEX:

You are now Director of Recruiting, how did you go up the job ladder and what qualities set you apart and helped you succeed?

David King:

What set me apart is what helped me go up the job ladder.

I came to the legal industry as a paralegal with about ten years of a career experience in executive management and analysis prior to joining the firm I was at. While at the firm, I was a senior paralegal, being the primary coordinator and point of contact for practice services for an IP litigation group.

That experience, coupled with the management experience that I already had, pretty much opened the door for me to advance in the legal services and client services side of the industry.

I left my job as a paralegal to become a recruiter and, in the early stages of my tenure as a recruiter, opportunities became available for me to take on more of a management role. And then this trend continued over the course of the last five years.

LEX:

How do you deal with concurrent deadlines, what are your time management tips?

David King:

Making a list and prioritizing things on that list are critical, but it is also very important to regularly review that list of priorities along with the other stakeholders. I am not operating in a vacuum.

We all have people we report to, so making sure that everyone involved in our priorities, tasks, and objectives understands how they fit into the greater scheme of things is really important.

Another thing that I would advise, and this is very important especially for paralegals, is to seek help before any situation becomes a crisis.

LEX:

How do you deal with work-related stress?

David King:

Developing outside interests apart from work can help ground someone and enable them to remain calm and focused when they are working. For me, those outside interests include creative pursuits like writing but also exercising or running at the gym, finding a way to have an outlet definitively helps me deal with stress.

LEX:

What's the best way to get an interview with a staffing agency?

David King:

It certainly begins with the resume. I would recommend every candidate spend significant time developing a resume that almost jumps off the page. That is the chance to make a good first impression. People generally don't spend enough time making sure that what they are presenting offers them an opportunity to be viewed in the best light.

My philosophy is that a resume is a document that should give the feeling from the candidate of “this is why you should hire me”.

Resumes that are poorly constructed, do not have good formatting, have multiple fonts on the page, or are not easy to read nor to understand, are not doing a good service to the candidate. Having a fantastic resume is a first step.

In addition, every candidate should develop an interesting cover letter that basically introduces them as a candidate and perhaps points out areas of difference for them in terms of why they should be considered as a great candidate.

The resume and the cover letter should be clear and should be interesting. Whether at a staffing agency or at the HR department of a law firm, we are looking at so many resumes that we are always craving to find the resume that impresses us. The recipients of these resumes are coming into that process thinking “Please, someone, impress me.”

LEX:

What are some of the most common mistakes paralegals make on their resume?

David King:

Specific mistakes that happen are typos. Every piece of information on that resume should be fact-checked and should be presented appropriately. Details are important. The resume writer should have a friend or another paralegal or someone else review the resume just to proofread it. I don't think you can have too many people proofreading your resume prior to sending it out.

A resume, as the first document being set forward for consideration of employment, should be free of those types of errors because, when we find them, we think that this could be a negative sign of what the work style or habits of that person would be.

Another common mistake in resumes is incompleteness of information. Resumes tend to have gaps in employment. We understand that it has been a bad economy, but a resume can and should be written in such a way that all of the timing in a professional career is accounted for. Candidates should find a way to creatively address and highlight what they have been doing for the entire length of their career, to help minimize questionable resume gaps.

Formatting is also very important. Resumes with bad formatting happen arrive on a daily basis. Candidates should do their research and find out the best formatting for their resume, the one they are comfortable with, and they need to make sure that the formatting that they do select is consistent throughout the document. For example, that includes abbreviating the states in which they work in a consistent manner. Sometimes candidates will use a two-letter abbreviation and then somewhere else in the document they will refer to the same state using the full word.

LEX:

What are some of the most common mistakes paralegals make during an interview?

David King:

The most common mistakes are behavioral. Sometimes, candidates can come into an interview and come off too strong. There is a significant difference between a candidate that is confident versus a candidate that is arrogant. The latter is generally a turn-off for employers.

Another thing to consider is body language. Fidgeting or other less than perfect professional behavior during an interview can have a detrimental effect to someone's candidacy.

Candidates should practice and prepare how to sit still and be relaxed while having a professional discussion about their job history and their interest in the job opportunity.

Another thing that is also behavioral is tone and volume of speech. Sometimes candidates speak too loudly or too fast (too soft is bad as well ), or even speak too much. Candidates should practice being measured in their speaking. An interview is actually a conversation and it should be a fluid exchange of information. So, the interviewer should have a free hand to direct the interview in the way that he/she sees as most interesting, and, at the same time, the candidate should be able to adapt to the speed and the subjects of interest that the interviewer inquires about.

The goal is to keep your interviewer interested. Find a way to tell your story and do that in such a way that it is interesting. You need to prepare for the interview ahead of time, so that you will have interesting and relevant information to share.

And keep in mind that the resume and the interview are both a way for the candidate to explain “this is why you should hire me.”

LEX:

What can a paralegal do to make a good impression during an interview?

David King:

Two primary things: arrive on time and be dressed for a fully professional presentation, meaning business attire or a suit.

LEX:

What are the questions a paralegal should ask during an interview?

David King:

Paralegals should ask specifics about the work atmosphere and the work environment of the practice area they could potentially be working in. Paralegals should ask questions that demonstrate that they are seeking opportunities for advancement and that they are seeking opportunities to do fantastic work for the attorneys.

They should also ask questions about the work style of the attorneys and also try to know a little bit about the environment of the law firm or corporate culture that they could potentially be hired into

LEX:

The legal world is changing a lot, what do you think are the main skills that a paralegal will need to master to succeed in this new world and how do you see the paralegal profession evolving?

David King:

Paralegals must remain current with technology. That includes litigation software, especially word processing software, and the ability to master Excel for analysis and charts. These skills, I think, are critical.

They also need to stay current with their cite-checking skills.

Paralegals should also have the ability to multi-task in order to satisfy the various priorities of one or multiple attorneys and, at the same time, they must remain very focused so they can keep an eye on the details of each task that they are given. It is not enough to multi-task and have ten things done, these ten things will also need to be done well.

LEX:

What was the best advice you ever received and what advice would you give to paralegals entering the field?

David King:

The advice I would give would be the advice I was given when I became a paralegal.

Paralegals should keep in mind that attorneys are looking for people they can go to “war” with. As paralegals, we support the attorneys in their efforts and we need to understand that attorneys are looking for people who are committed to the mission at hand.

Paralegals maintain a schedule that is similar to the attorneys' schedules. Attorneys are looking for paralegals who are willing to work when the work is available. A good piece of advice that I received from an attorney I fondly remember working for, was: “Work when the work is available and then take your breaks where you find them.”

LEX:

Mr. King, thank you for your time and for sharing your experience and insights with us.