Resume Guide
It is important to remember that a resume is not a life history, but instead a marketing tool for a specific job. Studies show that employers spend about 15 seconds looking at each resume. Therefore, a quality resume must combine content with clarity. This brief guide will help with the basics of writing a resume. You should consult with a career counselor for specific deviations or questions about your resume.
General Rules:
- Keep your resume to 1 page. Some public interest resumes require more than one page, but the maximum that you should allow is 2 pages.
- Make sure that the layout of the resume is clear.
- 10 pt. font is the minimum. 11 pt. is preferred over 10 pt.
- Use past tense for any jobs/accomplishments/classes that you are not currently in.
- Feel free to use sentence fragments to describe accomplishments. Employers will look elsewhere for your ability to write in complete sentences.
- Use colorful and descriptive action verbs to describe your experiences.
- Put the most relevant experience/accomplishments at the top. An employer may only look at your first employment listed, so it should be the most relevant/useful to the job that you are applying for.
- Be conservative. Do not use a crazy format or have too many lines or arrows.
Specific Contents
- Name, Full Current Address, Telephone Number, and Email Address
- Always put these at the top for easy reference.
- Many people have funny or inappropriate email addresses. You should use an appropriate address for your resume even if you have to set up and check a completely new account.
- Include your home/permanent address in another state if, for example, you want to return to that state after graduation. This can be useful to show your ties to the region if you are applying to jobs in a different region than your current address.
- Educational Background
- List the name, city and state, dates of attendance and degree conferred/to be conferred in reverse chronological order.
- List academic honors and significant activities in which you participated (e.g., moot court, clinic, law review).
- cum laude is lower case and italicized.
- Include your rank and/or GPA. There are exceptions to this rule varying with the employer, job type, and student. If you have been out of law school for an extended period of time, GPA may not be necessary, but can still be positive. Some employers are not as interested in grades, and putting the GPA could backfire. Please consult with a career counselor if you have any questions about when to list grades.
- It is sometimes appropriate to list one or two specific classes that you feel are particularly relevant to an employer.
- Employment Experience
- List name, city and state, job title and dates of employment.
- List jobs in order of relevance with reverse chronological order. The employment experiences that you want the employer to focus on should be at or near the top of this section, but the person reviewing the resume should still be able to follow your career progression.
- Include internships and externships as employment experience.
- Be specific about your responsibilities and accomplishments on the job. Instead of writing "wrote briefs," write "wrote brief for associate concerning..."
- Use short statements to convey your duties. There is no need to use complete sentences. Ignore some duties. These can be revealed in the interview process. You should only list the most relevant/impressive duties.
- Awards and Honors
- This section is not necessary to convey honors. Usually, you should put these under the specific experience in which you received the award. For example, educational honors should be listed only under the education heading.
- Publications
- Publications are a great way to show that you are an effective writer. You should list any publications that you have during or outside of law school.
- Admissions
- Many legal employers will require a bar admission or prospective bar admission.
- Current students usually will not need this section, but lateral applicants should include the admission and the year, e.g. Admitted to New York State Bar, 2001.
- Skills & Abilities
- If you have skills that enhance your ability as a lawyer, especially for the specific job you are applying, list them.
- Examples of skills that you would want to include: proficiency in a foreign language, professional certifications or licenses, etc.
- You do not need to list computer literacy as a skill or ability. These skills are assumed by employers. Exceptions include employers that ask specifically in the job listing for ability to use a certain type of software.
- This section can also be modified to include significant community involvement or volunteer activities.
- Group memberships can be listed, but you should avoid listing controversial "political" groups that could distract from the purpose of the resume/job. Certainly, if the membership is relevant to the job or if someone at the firm/organization is also in the group, and you are using that to improve your status, then you can include these groups.
- References
- Include these if the job listing asks or if the references are relevant to the job you are applying for.
- These can be on a seperate sheet.
- Do not write, "References Available on Request." You do not have to inform the employer of the obvious, and it wastes space on the page.
- Objective/Goals
- These are unnecessary and are not used in legal resumes unless they are specifically asked for in the job listing.
- Cover letters will generally cover anything that you would add in this section.
- These can distract from the purpose of the resume. The immediate purpose is obviously to get the job for which you are applying, and any other purposes/goals listed can be counterproductive.
Common Resume Mistakes
- Forcing your resume into a preset format or template from a software program like Word or WordPerfect.
- Font is too small. Remember, 10 pt. is the minimum, and 11 pt. is preferred.
- Plural of Memorandum is Memoranda, not Memorandums.
- Language skills should be referred to as Conversational, not Conversant.
- Shifting verb tense within descriptions or between descriptions. (Remember to use present tense only in describing experience in which you are currently involved.)
- Using first person singular in the employment descriptions.
- Failure to include your GPA or class rank when they are within the employer's range.
- Typos that are not identified in spell check. Be sure to review your resume carefully, and it is a good idea to have someone else review your resume as well.
- Highlighting the job title over the name of the organization. This is only necessary if the job title is extremely impressive.
- Using acronyms or terms of art that are not generally known outside of the field.
- Correct spelling of Lexis-Nexis, not Lexis-Nexus.
- Formatting may look correct on the screen, but it may change slightly during printing. A change in the margin size can significantly alter the format of a resume.
- Too flowery or new-age format. Conservative resume formatting is usually the best option.
Action Verbs
Use action verbs to describe your work experience and other activities on your resume. Action verbs help the potential employer understand what you have accomplished, show that your "skill sets" are transferable to the advertised position, and demonstrate confidence. Replace passive descriptives with verbs such as:
| achieved accelerated acted active in adapted addressed adjusted administered advised advocated allocated analyzed applied appointed appraised approved arranged articulated assembled assessed assigned assimilated assisted assumed attained balanced budgeted catalogued chaired clarified classified |
collected communicated compared compiled completed composed coordinated conceived conducted consolidated consulted contacted contributed controlled corrected corresponded counseled created dealt with defined delegated demonstrated described designated designed determined developed directed distributed documented drafted |
edited educated effected eliminated encouraged enforced engages enlarged enlisted established estimated evaluated examined expanded expedited facilitated followed up forecasted formulated founded functioned gathered generated guided handled helped identified illustrated implemented improved improvised |
increased influenced informed inspected instituted instructed integrated interpreted interviewed initiated introduced investigated involved launched led learned lectured located maintained managed marketed mediated modified molded monitored negotiated observed ordered organized originated participated perceived |
performed persuaded planned pinpointed prepared presented processed procured produced programmed promoted proposed proved provided proficient published purchased received recommended reconciled recruited reduced referred reformed reinforced reorganized reported represented researched resolved revamped |
reviewed revised scheduled screened selected set up sold solved spoke started stimulated structured streamlined studied submitted succeeded suggested summarized supervised supplied supported surveyed taught tested trained translated tutored updated utilized wrote |
