RESUME WRITING TIPS
What Employers Expect to See on a Resume
You only have one chance to make a first impression; your resume is your one opportunity to open the door to a prospective employer. That is why it is imperative that your resume represents your professional history in the best possible light. It needs to market your skills and abilities and is a reflection of your writing ability. Your resume should stress your legal skills and accomplishments.
A common mistake that experienced professionals make is that they try to keep the resume to just one page. We are told in our undergraduate years that we should keep the resume to one page because there is no sense in going into a lot of detail about summer jobs and course work. Now that you have legal experience, it is important to sell all of your skills and abilities. Employers respond quickly to resumes that have a detailed professional history that matches the requirements of their job specifications - you must spell it out for them. Be specific about the legal skills that you have used and/or developed and the accomplishments/contributions you have made. Don't assume that you have the legal skills required for their position. Proofread your resume before sending it to anyone, grammatical errors or problems with sentence structure are unacceptable and are deal killers.
Following is the format for a well written legal resume:
Name
Address
City, State Zip
Phone Number
E-mail Address
LEGAL EXPERIENCE
Title in (insert department) Dates
Overview of the work that you have done while with the firm, in that specific capacity. Make sure to highlight any particular cases/transactions worthy of highlighting. Be as specific as possible as to the work that you performed - mention the type of client, i.e., Fortune 100 company, $100M private company, leading hedge fund, top financial institution, REIT, CEO of Fortune 500 company, etc. and make sure you demonstrate results that were specifically generated by you.
**List all positions separately
***List all previous positions in the same format, in reverse chronological order. Be sure that the current position lists activities in present tense, and past positions in past tense.
****Do not list irrelevant positions that just clutter the resume. Make sure that you are selling yourself for the opportunity you are applying for. Don't simply list your skills, illuminate your key attributes and let them know how you will be an asset to their team.
EDUCATION
You only have one chance to make a first impression; your resume is your one opportunity to open the door to a prospective employer. That is why it is imperative that your resume represents your professional history in the best possible light. It needs to market your skills and abilities and is a reflection of your writing ability. Your resume should stress your legal skills and accomplishments.
A common mistake that experienced professionals make is that they try to keep the resume to just one page. We are told in our undergraduate years that we should keep the resume to one page because there is no sense in going into a lot of detail about summer jobs and course work. Now that you have legal experience, it is important to sell all of your skills and abilities. Employers respond quickly to resumes that have a detailed professional history that matches the requirements of their job specifications - you must spell it out for them. Be specific about the legal skills that you have used and/or developed and the accomplishments/contributions you have made. Don't assume that you have the legal skills required for their position. Proofread your resume before sending it to anyone, grammatical errors or problems with sentence structure are unacceptable and are deal killers.
Following is the format for a well written legal resume:
Name
Address
City, State Zip
Phone Number
E-mail Address
LEGAL EXPERIENCE
| Current Employment, City, State | Start Date - End Date |
| Title (?th year), Department & Practice Group(s) **If summer associate of same firm, denote here |
Overview of the work that you have done while with the firm, in that specific capacity. Make sure to highlight any particular cases/transactions worthy of highlighting. Be as specific as possible as to the work that you performed - mention the type of client, i.e., Fortune 100 company, $100M private company, leading hedge fund, top financial institution, REIT, CEO of Fortune 500 company, etc. and make sure you demonstrate results that were specifically generated by you.
**List all positions separately
***List all previous positions in the same format, in reverse chronological order. Be sure that the current position lists activities in present tense, and past positions in past tense.
****Do not list irrelevant positions that just clutter the resume. Make sure that you are selling yourself for the opportunity you are applying for. Don't simply list your skills, illuminate your key attributes and let them know how you will be an asset to their team.
EDUCATION
| Law School, City, State Extracurricular Activities (i.e. Clubs, Law Reviews, etc.) |
Juris Doctor, Month Year Honors |
| Other Graduate School(s), City, State | Degree, Month Year Honors |
| Undergraduate Institution, City, State Major Extracurricular Activities |
Degree, Month Year Honors |
ACTIVITIES Committees Volunteer Work |
Dates |
LANGUAGES |
Fluent in X Languages |
ADMISSIONS |
State Bar |
