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Making Your Resume Work (Part II)
In Part I, I discussed the importance of the first-glance appearance of your resume, given how little time you have to make an impression. Today, we continue with that theme, as well as take it a step further with some details on how to lay out your resume to properly display your attributes.\par
- Try to create as much white space as possible throughout a resume and to make it easy for the eye to quickly scan the page. When you have several different indents and some information in the right-hand column (or inconsistent formatting), it makes it difficult to quickly find the information you want. \par
- Either put dates in the right-hand column or not, and either put them next to your school/job or not. Use italics for all job titles or none. The important thing is to pick a format and stick with it! \par
- Don’t use two words when one will do (e.g. “Relevant Experience” should be “Experience.”) \par
- Remove the hyperlink in email for resumes that will be printed and sent to employers. We really discourage any hyperlinks at all, as they are just another underline shouting for attention. \par
- I do not recommend an objective or summary statement for legal resumes. Let’s cut to the chase–what are your qualifications? \par
- Candidates often use generic statements when describing their prior work experience, such as “performed legal research.” Be more specific (without disclosing too much information) about the work you performed. When applicable, include objective measures of success such as an increase in sales, etc. (Though we recognize that can be hard to do for a legal clerkship or internship position.) \par
- Use action verbs to describe your work experience, and make sure they are in the correct tense (i.e. drafted v. draft or drafting). \par
- Understand the difference between hyphens, en-dashes and em-dashes, and use them appropriately. \par
- More bullets and short descriptions, less long sentences and paragraphs. \par
- Activities or interests sections are not required, but if appropriate and compelling can be a great way to stand out and build a connection with an employer. Use your judgment, but here are a couple of examples of when you might or might not want to list something in one of these categories:\par
- “Running” – no, “Compete in triatholons” – yes \par
- “Play video games” – no, “Design and test video games” – yes
- Do not include personal information (e.g. age) or a headshot. \par
- Do not include references. If an employer asks for references, list them separately from the resume. \par
- For “survival jobs” you might have had during college or law school (e.g. waiting tables, retail), don’t feel as though you have to list bullets describing your role. However, if you were a team leader or manager, you would definitely want to describe those duties. \par
- Don’t include college or law school entry exam (e.g. LSAT) scores. \par
- Check, double check and triple check for typos and grammar mistakes (that goes for all your application materials including cover letters and writing samples). I’ve had several employers say they will immediately trash the resume of someone who has a typo, regardless of their other credentials. Don’t let that happen to you!