Resume Tips & Tricks
Are you dreading updating your resume or otherwise concerned about it? This is a typical and understandable feeling. Resumes are still a vital piece of the job search process, especially in obtaining an interview and getting in the door. Don’t worry: we can help.
We’ve seen thousands of resumes. As part of our typical recruiting process, we review a candidate’s resume and provide feedback to improve it in order to put the candidate in the best possible position. Here are some common tips that we use to improve them:
Format clearly, consistently, and conservatively
While some professions value creativity that can be shown on a resume, the legal world is not one of them. We recommend keeping formatting pretty basic. Be consistent and preferably use a font size of 11 or 12 point, and no lower than 10 point. Use bullets versus paragraph format so that people can easily read and understand your experience.
For law firms, skip the summary paragraph
Many experts recommend a summary section prior to experience; e.g. “experienced litigator who gets results for his clients.” For law firms, these should generally not be included and the particular experience obtained should speak for itself. In-house positions are an exception, but focus on why you are a good fit for the position vs. using too many superlatives.
Generally, lead with current experience
For most candidates, current experience will be the greatest factor in obtaining a new position. Additionally, reviewers expect a chronological order to experience. Therefore, current experience should almost always lead first. Exceptions include junior associates graduated from excellent law schools or when candidates have particular experience outside of current experience that is much more applicable.
Hard skills > soft skills
Lead with hard legal skills, as these are much more applicable to positions, and much less subjective. Action verbs such as draft, research, negotiate, litigate, argue, etc. are more valuable than soft skills like “effectively communicating with clients.”
Include specific examples if you have great ones
In addition to general experience, you can add specific examples to your experience so long as they are impressive examples of your work product. Examples may include first-chairing a particular trial, or representing a client on a particular transaction.
Present vs. past tense
Current experience should be in the present tense unless using specific past examples that are unique, which then should be past tense. Past experience should be past tense.
Tailor your resume to the position (within reason)
Generally, you will want to shift your most applicable to the position towards the top, and may want to further expand it as well. Example: if you handle both patent prosecution and litigation, you may want to shift one or the other on the top depending on which type of position you are applying to. Be careful: you still want to include non-applicable experience, even if you decide to diminish it, so you are not dishonest about it.
Experience obtained during and prior to law school ages very poorly and should be limited or deleted
Experience obtained during and prior to law school ages very poorly, which, when you think about it, makes complete sense. It also can make it look like a candidate moved more often than they actually have done so, and can diminish current experience since it generally will not be as sophisticated. Therefore, we typically recommend taking experience obtained during law school and moving it under your law school section in a single line. We almost always recommend deleting experience obtained prior to law school if it is legally-related (e.g. an internship). If candidates have a career prior to law school, then this may be kept and is generally discussed on a case-by-case basis.
We hope this helps you create an effective resume for your job search. If you are an attorney and would like to discuss your resume in relation to a job search, please reach out to us.