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Secretarial jobs and administrative assistants, managerial experience, legal field, in Charlotte, North Carolina area, federal government executive assistant options, real estate law, notary public
My fiance' and I (in 3 months my husband) would like to move to the Charlotte area soon after our wedding. Hopefully my hubby will get a job transfer w/the same or possibly higher salary. I have 16 years of secretarial/managerial experience in the legal field (10 years working in NYC). I am worried that it will be hard for me to find a job. I do realize that I will have to take a pay cut. I just hope that there are enough of jobs in the Charlotte area. Did it take any of you a long time to find employment?
My fiance' and I (in 3 months my husband) would like to move to the Charlotte area soon after our wedding. Hopefully my hubby will get a job transfer w/the same or possibly higher salary. I have 16 years of secretarial/managerial experience in the legal field (10 years working in NYC). I am worried that it will be hard for me to find a job. I do realize that I will have to take a pay cut. I just hope that there are enough of jobs in the Charlotte area. Did it take any of you a long time to find employment?
Just did a search on CareerBuilder.com for legal assistant:
Good luck! I have 10 years of experience as an executive assistant in the Federal Goverment and I have been looking for a job for 2 months. There is a lot of positions available but they are not paying enough...IMHO. I think it will be easier if you are open to change careers like I did.
I am an executive assistant, from LI, and I found a job within 2 weeks. I have 20 years experience, although the pay is a little less, but everything is much cheaper down here. M
I had a hard time finding a job with over 7 years in the legal field, mostly secretarial in FL but a couple of years in NC many years ago, mostly litigation (insurance defense - legal and med mal, product liability, premises liability, auto neg) and a few other odds and ends. I went back to work for an old boss of mine that just happened to move to Charlotte years back and he doesn't pay much. I only looked for about a month without any interviews in my field before accepting a job from him (interviews regarding hostess positions for real estate popped up but didn't pay or provide commissions). I lost 45.45% of my income coming from Tampa but I am now being retrained in NC procedures and law. He is also giving me paralegal duties, which I've got 5 more classes to complete my associate's degree.
I think the competition is very stiff here to get a job and your resume probably will be devalued because of it. You will also need retraining. I do know a paralegal that left the field and went a completely different route because she couldn't find a legal job here. I've tried contacting a couple of members of the local paralegal association to no avail, even though I am elligible for student membership. Staffing agencies do not call or return your calls and if they do, they are just filling their "pool" of candidates with no real jobs for you in mind. They also make you pay the $8 in parking because they don't validate, at least that's my past experience. There seems to be a general consensus on this board about agencies, maybe with a few exceptions. I've also heard of neighbors taking 6-8-10 months to find jobs but there are some that find jobs quickly. I don't know if it's the field or what it is. I do know there are a lot of people moving here without jobs. I would not do that without a year's pay in the bank account.
On the other hand, there is some training and things that might help you like TCA training at Meck. Courthouse, VCAP training from NC, obtaining your Notary, networking, getting your skills/programs up to speed, etc. I would recommend knowing the entire Office Suite inside out and backwards, including Access and I've even seen requests for Publisher. In FL, they usually wanted Word, Outlook, and Excel, occasionally PowerPoint. The ads seem to want more here, I've even seen requests for shorthand, which I rarely saw that in FL. I will probably be updating myself on all of these once I'm done with college. My degree has a deadline, updating my skills doesn't. Although it will help, I just can't put off finishing my classes any longer, been doing it mostly p/t and only have 5 years to complete it. My classes are much more expensive to have to retake than updating a couple of programs.
If you have real estate experience, you might be in decent shape but then again, I see requests for NC or SC experience. I thought closings were very similar state to state? HUD, deeds, etc.? There may be some stuff that is slightly different but it's mostly form work and can be performed with a checklist, how I understand it. RE also appears to pay very well here for secretaries and paralegals.
I wish you luck! I'd appreciate you keeping me posted if you have any ideas. Maybe by the time you get here, I'll be of more help to you. It hasn't been easy...
I moved here at the end of September last year with 20 years administration experience. Took a retail job just to have some income and the flexibility to interview. Took me 2 months to find a job that I had for a month and HATED!! Took another month to find the one I have now that I absolutely LOVE! There are jobs here...careerbuilder, charlottehelpwanted. If you factor in cost of living differences ( I too am from NY) I am actually making more here. Although my salary is less, my expenses are as well.
Good Luck to you!
And congrats on the upcoming wedding.
I don't know about Charlotte, but administrative or clerical positions in the Raleigh area are hard to find. I also have 20 years worth of secretarial experience and in two years I have had one brief temporary assignment as an Administrative Assistant. I've been working as a call center rep just to pay the bills. We have decided to leave our lovely home here and move back to New England. By the way, with the exception of real estate and taxes, I think it as just as expensive to live in NC as it is in the northeast. Since I'm earning much less here, I'm realizing that in many ways I was much better off living in New England.
I've been here from NY, just 3 months. I'm a Legal Secretary in Real Estate at a large firm. Previously, I worked 12 years in RE at a large bank. My advice is since you have contacts in NY, have them pass your resume out to firms in Charlotte. Utilize your resources. My job search was a little easier, I utilized my resources in NY. The NY firm pushed my resume to Charlotte where I now work. This is not the norm. I will definitely say utilize your boss or other trust-worthy people who want to help.
From my little experience with the ladies at the firm. I've been told that it's very hard to get a job and it takes several months. The reason is because no one leaves the firm that pays them well. Everyone that I work with has been with the firm for 4 years or more.
My salary is a NY salary, they took off $3,450 off my salary. That's a drop in the bucket with all the savings that I save in rent, insurance and medical. I'm told that average salary for para legals is about $42,000 and legal assisants $35,000.
I moved here at the end of September last year with 20 years administration experience. Took a retail job just to have some income and the flexibility to interview. Took me 2 months to find a job that I had for a month and HATED!! Took another month to find the one I have now that I absolutely LOVE! There are jobs here...careerbuilder, charlottehelpwanted. If you factor in cost of living differences ( I too am from NY) I am actually making more here. Although my salary is less, my expenses are as well.
Good Luck to you!
And congrats on the upcoming wedding.
Thanks so much for the info. Sorry for the delayed response. I was so busy with wedding planning. I'm glad to hear that you love your job now. I really want to move ASAP. I hope that my husband and I have good luck and are able to find something. My husband is looking to get a job transfer.
I've been here from NY, just 3 months. I'm a Legal Secretary in Real Estate at a large firm. Previously, I worked 12 years in RE at a large bank. My advice is since you have contacts in NY, have them pass your resume out to firms in Charlotte. Utilize your resources. My job search was a little easier, I utilized my resources in NY. The NY firm pushed my resume to Charlotte where I now work. This is not the norm. I will definitely say utilize your boss or other trust-worthy people who want to help.
From my little experience with the ladies at the firm. I've been told that it's very hard to get a job and it takes several months. The reason is because no one leaves the firm that pays them well. Everyone that I work with has been with the firm for 4 years or more.
My salary is a NY salary, they took off $3,450 off my salary. That's a drop in the bucket with all the savings that I save in rent, insurance and medical. I'm told that average salary for para legals is about $42,000 and legal assisants $35,000.
Thank you so much for your reply. I'm glad you found a job. I don't have experience in real estate, just personal injury/insurance defense.
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Legal Assistant opportunitites
Hard time...
