Major Legal Services®: Candidates: How to Prepare an Effective Resume

You have probably heard the expression that one should not judge a book by its cover. As it pertains to judging people, I believe the expression holds firm value in our daily lives. Inasmuch as a resume is a person's "cover," however, many are judged regularly based on their resume alone.

It is a fact of the hiring process that your resume will be the first, and perhaps only, look an employer will have at you as a candidate for employment. It is imperative, therefore, that you present yourself well.

Be brief and simplify. Try to keep it to a page. Save the details for the interview. Most persons who screen candidate resumes scan the resume page; they do not read every word. Your job is to make sure they read the most important words on the page.

The conventional format for presentation on a resume of a legal professional is: Objective (optional), followed by Education, then Employment History with the most recent first, Professional Affiliations, and finally Special Skills relevant to the position. Some people believe that being unconventional in format will afford them special notice or consideration. I disagree. Any presentation of you which causes the reader to work harder to find the information they are looking for will cause you to be set aside as "special," but not likely in a positive way.

Use boldface, italics and indentation on your resume to help make your credentials easier to read. For example, you might boldface the words "Objective, Education, Employment History," etc., as well as titles or practice areas worked at each firm. Then perhaps italicize each company or firm name at which you have worked. Use indentation to offset one bit of information from another. For example, under the heading Experience, indent the dates worked, and below that indent your title or the practice areas worked, below that the name of the firm or corporation. Beneath the name of the firm, describe your work in brief sentences. The use of bullets or hyphens before each descriptive line can help separate distinct experiences or responsibilities.

Focus on experience and training that is pertinent or at least translatable to the job for which you are applying. Highlight your most substantive experience and abilities as they pertain to your work. Don't dilute the substantive experience with lightweight experience. For example, if you end a brief description of substantive work with "...arranged for court reporters and subpoena service" you have just entered a question mark in the reader's mind as to the true depth of the "substantive" experience.

Stay away from "professional" resume writers. These people usually don't know anything about what you do (so how would they know how to present it?) and sometimes don't know much about what they do. They may make your resume look and sound like a professional resume writer created it. This is not helpful.

Proofread, proofread, and proofread. Then have other people proofread your resume for you. Spelling, grammatical, and typographical errors will speed your resume's trip to the vertical file.

I'm a believer in the plain paper resume. Anything from white copy paper to high quality white, gray or ivory stock is reasonable. Printing your resume on colored and fancy paper not only does little to enhance your resume, but it may lower your credibility and tarnish that all important first impression of you. At best, this paper is a distraction from what you are communicating in words in your resume; at worst, you are grouped with a multitude of candidates that use pretty paper as a means to help bolster an otherwise lackluster career.

Finally, if you include references, use professional references, rather than coworkers and friends.

I have discussed some considerations for presenting yourself through your resume. The central idea is to make your resume an easy read while ensuring that the salient points of your experience and other credentials are not missed. Therefore, if you are qualified for the position, your resume will make them want to "read the book" after they've "seen the cover!"