Very weird: I just got my first-ever call, at work, from a legal recruiter. He asked our receptionist for me by name. How did he know who I am and where I work? (Although he apparently didn’t know enough to know that this is an immigration-only firm, and that someone who works for an immigration firm is unlikely to have experience with complex litigation, which is the position he was trying to fill. However, this may come in handy, because my mom is currently unemployed and has LOTS of experience with complex litigation. Of course, I passed along contact info both ways.)
I mean, I’d like to think I know my stuff, but it’s not like my fame has spread far and wide or anything. I don’t belong to any professional associations, and my name isn’t listed on the firm’s website. So how did he know who I was?
(Alright, which one of you guys gave me away?)
Eva Luna, Immigration Paralegal
(hmmm, maybe this means the economy is finally starting to heat up again?)
My company is way too small to have stuff in the newspaper. Nor have I had any activity recently that should be public record (that I can think of, anyway; the only places I remember listing my occupation recently were my lease application and my tax return).
Somebody else in the biz knows your name, and gave it to the headhunter. Back in the good old days, when they were calling oil companies, I think they sometimes called blind and just asked for a geophysicist or a geologist.
When my daughter was in high school, she worked for a slimy tech recruiter making cold calls. What they’d do, in the evening, was to call the switchboard of companies. Many had a feature that let you type in a name. She’d type in the first letters of a typical name, and see who it connected to. Since it was late, no one ever answered, and she could collect their numbers.
I think some buy subscription lists for magazines. About half of the ones who call me up have no clue about what I do.
There’s no such thing as a state paralegal license, at least in Illinois (or anywhere else I’m aware of). Nor is there any specific minimum educational requirement; it’s a field that is still in the process of professionalizing.
Some paralegals have completed a particular degree or certificate program, such as an ABA-approved post-baccalaureate certificate program offereed by Roosevelt University locally, but many have not and have simply learned on the job. I’m in the latter category; most paralegal programs don’t teach anything about immigration law anyway. They stick to more mainstream stuff like litigation, corporate, real estate, probate, and family law.