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Making Your Resume Work (Part I)
“Am a perfectionist and rarely if if ever forget details.”\par
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Skills: “I can type without looking at thekeyboard.”\par
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Experience: “I’m a hard worker, etc.&#x\par
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here.\par \par There is one document which recruiters and employers will be looking at more than any other to initially gauge your candidacy for any open position: the resume. Oh sure employers will look at transcripts, cover letters and writing samples too; albeit some more than others. But virtually every employer will in some way use your resume as an initial screening tool to determine whether or not to consider you further. So let’s talk about resumes, because as you can see above, it’s not at all apparent that students and graduates take them as seriously as they should.\par \par According to experts, your resume has six to ten seconds to positively impact the person reading it. That’s it. Therefore, it is critical your resume quickly and without error tells a compelling story of why you’re worth further review. Notice I say “worth further review,” as opposed to “get you the job” or even “get you an interview.” That’s because the vast majority of entry level jobs you’ll be going after will receive a large number of resumes. So the resume acts as a filtering tool which the reviewer can quickly sort the contenders from the pretenders.\par \par What are the employers looking for that it takes them less than 10 seconds to find (or not)? It depends. For a big law firm looking at 2Ls for OCI, it could simply be meeting a class rank requirement and/or law review. For a smaller firm looking for a full-time associate, it will likely be combination of academic performance, indication of a specific practice area, leadership positions and prior work experience, among others. \par \par One thing all employers will be likely to notice, even if not looking for it specifically, is the presentation of the information on your resume. They will want to see you can communicate in a crisp, clean manner. If you can’t do it with your bio, how are you going to do it with a complicated landlord/tenant dispute? Take a look at these two examples? Forgetting the qualifications of either candidate for a minute, who do you think is most/least likely to survive the first cut? \par \par
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Without a quality presentation, it’s entirely possible an employer may not look at any substantive material in your resume at all. Remember, they’re sticking with an average of 10 seconds. That means there will be some that take longer, and some even shorter. You can bet the ones taking two – three seconds are those looking more like the one on the left above.\par
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The CDO (a.k.a. Angela) does a ton of work with students and their resumes. If you’re not taking full advantage of her expertise you need to be. That said, just take a look at the two examples above and do your best to get a decent resume into shape before sending it to her. When resumes like the one on the left come in, it’s hard for us not to think the same thing an employer would.\par
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So take the extra time and put together a good, solid first draft of a resume. Then let Angela help you fine tune it and make suggestions you may not have thought of. Be sure your resume is one that will get you past the first round of cuts, so your education, experience and skills get an audience with the employer.\par
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In Part II, we’ll discuss how you can craft your resume such that it not only gets through the initial screening, but also prompts the employer to invite you for an interview. Stay tuned!\par
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Connect with Daniel at Daniel_Hare@Baylor.edu and/or @BaylorLawDaniel on Twitter.\par
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Job of the Week: Each week I highlight a job in Symplicity you might be interested in but may have missed. This week's job is: Fall 2014 Legal Intern with the Office of the Governor – Office of the General Counsel (1L, 2L, 3L) Log in to Symplicity to view this job and apply.
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here.\par \par There is one document which recruiters and employers will be looking at more than any other to initially gauge your candidacy for any open position: the resume. Oh sure employers will look at transcripts, cover letters and writing samples too; albeit some more than others. But virtually every employer will in some way use your resume as an initial screening tool to determine whether or not to consider you further. So let’s talk about resumes, because as you can see above, it’s not at all apparent that students and graduates take them as seriously as they should.\par \par According to experts, your resume has six to ten seconds to positively impact the person reading it. That’s it. Therefore, it is critical your resume quickly and without error tells a compelling story of why you’re worth further review. Notice I say “worth further review,” as opposed to “get you the job” or even “get you an interview.” That’s because the vast majority of entry level jobs you’ll be going after will receive a large number of resumes. So the resume acts as a filtering tool which the reviewer can quickly sort the contenders from the pretenders.\par \par What are the employers looking for that it takes them less than 10 seconds to find (or not)? It depends. For a big law firm looking at 2Ls for OCI, it could simply be meeting a class rank requirement and/or law review. For a smaller firm looking for a full-time associate, it will likely be combination of academic performance, indication of a specific practice area, leadership positions and prior work experience, among others. \par \par One thing all employers will be likely to notice, even if not looking for it specifically, is the presentation of the information on your resume. They will want to see you can communicate in a crisp, clean manner. If you can’t do it with your bio, how are you going to do it with a complicated landlord/tenant dispute? Take a look at these two examples? Forgetting the qualifications of either candidate for a minute, who do you think is most/least likely to survive the first cut? \par \par
\par
\par
Without a quality presentation, it’s entirely possible an employer may not look at any substantive material in your resume at all. Remember, they’re sticking with an average of 10 seconds. That means there will be some that take longer, and some even shorter. You can bet the ones taking two – three seconds are those looking more like the one on the left above.\par
\par
The CDO (a.k.a. Angela) does a ton of work with students and their resumes. If you’re not taking full advantage of her expertise you need to be. That said, just take a look at the two examples above and do your best to get a decent resume into shape before sending it to her. When resumes like the one on the left come in, it’s hard for us not to think the same thing an employer would.\par
\par
So take the extra time and put together a good, solid first draft of a resume. Then let Angela help you fine tune it and make suggestions you may not have thought of. Be sure your resume is one that will get you past the first round of cuts, so your education, experience and skills get an audience with the employer.\par
\par
In Part II, we’ll discuss how you can craft your resume such that it not only gets through the initial screening, but also prompts the employer to invite you for an interview. Stay tuned!\par
\par
Connect with Daniel at Daniel_Hare@Baylor.edu and/or @BaylorLawDaniel on Twitter.\par
\par
Job of the Week: Each week I highlight a job in Symplicity you might be interested in but may have missed. This week's job is: Fall 2014 Legal Intern with the Office of the Governor – Office of the General Counsel (1L, 2L, 3L) Log in to Symplicity to view this job and apply.
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