When writing your resume, always remember that its purpose is to make you interesting enough to a potential employer to secure you an interview. Your resume should be considered as an advertisement for yourself and, like a good ad, it should be visually attractive, brief, and informative. Above all, it should create interest in its product. In this case, you are the product.
Who Are You? Identify Yourself
Always start with your name, address, and telephone number in a conspicuous position. If your resume is longer than one page, be sure that your name is placed conspicuously on every page.
TIP: Start with your name.
It is amazing that people would actually go to the trouble of organizing, writing, and having a resume printed, and then fail to include the essential information that identifies them. We don't know how people can do that, but they do. It happens almost every day.
How Long?
If there is one single cardinal rule in writing a resume, it is this: Keep it brief!
TIP: Be concise and to the point.
No matter how superior a work history you might have, do your utmost to consolidate it into one or at the very most, two pages. Our survey showed that all resume readers concur in a preference for a concise resume-not more than two pages. These are some of the comments we received:
A personnel manager: "I read about fifty resumes a day and never go beyond the second page."
An electronics executive: "I want facts and only the ones I need for a judgment."
A book publisher: "If it's more than three pages, I assume it's an autobiographical manuscript and send it to a junior reader."
A partner in a law firm says: "If the applicant tells me he is expert in probate law, that is all he needs to say on his resume; I don't need to be told that he knows how to file a will or contest one."
Job Objective or Career Goal
Even though the statement of a job objective is frequently advised in a resume, a recent survey indicates that its inclusion is optional, as most employers are indifferent to its use. If it is stated, it should be placed right after the initial identifying data (name, address, and phone number).
TIP: Connect the job objective with the rest of the information.
The job objective should be brief-one or two lines-and your goal should be justified by the educational and work experience that will follow it.
You should avoid stating an objective that is too confining; you do not want one that will cancel out opportunities you might be interested in. On the other hand, avoid the use of clichés-"A challenging position where I can meet people"-or overly vague generalities -"A job that will interest me and stimulate my best efforts."
Often the job objective can be replaced by a capsule resume. Not only is the capsule resume more informative and more interesting to the reader, but it is more likely to have an efficacious result. And that is what you expect from every element of your resume.
Capsule Resume
A capsule resume is a summary in three or four lines of the most pertinent information contained in your resume. It is the best way of emphasizing a solid work background and of highlighting qualifications appropriate to a specific job opening. While it often involves retyping the resume, the capsule resume is a means of directing it to a very concrete offer of employment without having to reorganize the resume completely.
TIP: A capsule resume highlights your marketable features.
The capsule resume, if used, should follow your name and address and serve as a headline for the body of your resume.
Basic Information
The body of your resume should contain a brief history of your work experience and a concise summary of your education. You can start with either one of the two, but we believe it is best to place the most marketable information first. An experienced person usually starts with the work history, but a newcomer to the job market, with little more than summer or part-time work behind him, would be wiser to begin with an educational summary.
TIP: If you've had experience, start with your work history, but if you've just graduated from law school or paralegal school, start with your educational background.
Educational History: College and/or Advanced Degree
Your education, like your work history, is arranged in an inverse chronological order. Begin with your most advanced, or most recent, educational experience, and work backwards until you reach your bachelor's degree. If you have already had significant work experience, simply give the date, the degree, and the name of your school.
TIP: List your most advanced or most significant degree first.
If you are a college graduate, it stands to reason that you finished high school, so it is not necessary to list it. If your high school or preparatory school is very prestigious, however, naming it may enhance your prospects in certain fields of employment. On the other hand, it may be considered snobbishness on your part and work to your detriment.
TIP: List all dates.
Be sure to list all dates of attendance at college as well as date of graduation and the degree received. A recent graduate should include the major and minor study sequences, as well as any academic honors that were earned. If you maintained a high scholastic average (three or four points out of a possible four), you should mention your academic standing. Don't call attention to a mediocre average by mentioning it in your resume. Of course, any merit scholarships or fellowships should be mentioned.
TIP: Extracurricular activity can be important.
If you are a recent graduate, you should list all of your extracurricular activities. Not only does such a list paint a more rounded portrait, but it also indicates talents that are outside of your work experience or areas of study. Membership in your college debating society implies an articulate, poised personality. A class officer will be pictured as an outgoing individual with leadership potential. A staff member of a college publication would usually be seen as appealing.
TIP: Recent graduates should mention summer or part-time employment.
Recent graduates should list all of their summer and part-time jobs, even if they have no relationship with present job goals. This experience should, like any other, include names of employers, dates, job titles, and duties. Simply showing that you have worked before is significant to a prospective employer. Experience as a clerk-typist, waiter, babysitter, or anything else will demonstrate an already proven ability and willingness to work. A part-time history establishes the applicant's preparedness to accept responsibility.
Professional Societies and Publications
List all professional associations and organizations that have a bearing on your career goals. Membership in job-related organizations implies dedication to your field of work and an ability to get along with others.
List titles of all publications and note when and where they were published. If the list is extensive, merely highlight it and offer a complete list if wanted.
Arranging Your Employment History
Begin with your present or most recent employment and then work backwards in an inverted chronological order. In this manner, the most important information, which is usually the most recent, is emphasized.
TIP: Start with your present or most recent experience and work back.
Each entry should include the name and address of the employer, the dates involved, the job title, and a brief description of your responsibilities. The description should be succinct and to the point, but should still include all basic activities of each particular job. Use implied pronouns and clear, simple language.
TIP: Avoid the third person (he or she). Don't overuse the pronoun "I."
Writing in the third person is stylistically objectionable. Overuse of "I" is redundant-the person reading the resume knows you are the subject of your own resume. For example, don't write: He supervised a staff of twenty, or I supervised a staff of twenty, but instead: Supervised staff of twenty.
Using implied pronouns avoids an impression of boastfulness on the one hand and, on the other, it gives your resume a brisk, businesslike air which results in a more professional impression.
Nonetheless, even though you want to strive for brevity in your resume, avoid the use of abbreviations except in listing your university or professional degrees, such as B.A., J.S.D., J.D. or L.L.M. Also be sure that all dates are correct, providing an unbroken sequence, and that there are no spelling or grammatical errors.
Personal Data
Personal data may be included, at your option, in order to provide a more fully rounded picture of you as an individual. This section, by definition, should contain material pertinent to the job seeker and his or her qualifications.
TIP: Keep personal data to the minimum-and be honest.
Information concerning your age, marital status, number of children, height and weight can be included, but this is strictly optional. You might want to include your height and weight in order to give a more three-dimensional picture of yourself. However, if you are overweight-please try to lose weight!
It is true that overweight people have more difficulty in finding a job than those who are slim. It's not only a question of appearance; it has to do with the policy of many companies which require a physical examination before making a job offer. Being overweight is considered a health hazard, and many employers are sensitive to this. We once referred a very well qualified, but 30 pounds overweight, attorney to a Wall Street firm.
TIP: Marital status need not be mentioned.
Marital status is completely optional. Since marital status has absolutely nothing to do with your job qualifications, it really isn't necessary to include such information in your resume. Keep in mind that according to the Equal Employment Opportunity act, it is against the law to discriminate because of marital status. Remember, we said before that the only information necessary to include is that which describes your educational and work history.
Hobbies and Leisure Activities
Should you include hobbies and leisure-time activities? You must decide for yourself. If you feel that a description of your avocations will enhance your image, by all means include them.
TIP: List only those hobbies and activities that can help to describe you.
An indication that you play chess could be of interest on your resume if you were looking for legal writing work or real estate work. It would show that you have patience for details and an ability to concentrate. A lawyer we know was granted an interview by a small, attractive law firm because of his table tennis championships; the prospective employer wanted to see what a table tennis champion looked like!
If you include your hobbies on your resume, there are two things you must remember. First, keep it brief. You don't want to create the impression that all of your time and energy is spent on your hobbies or that you are unable to sustain an interest in one or two avocations and need dozens to fight off boredom. Second, be completely honest! Don't put down orchid-growing or gliding because you feel that they are exotic and will make you appear more interesting. They are liable to make you so interesting to the interviewer that things will start off with a discussion of the strange coincidence that the two of you share a common interest in such an esoteric hobby!
Military Service
Completion of military service is of interest to any employer in times of universal conscription. Completion of that service, or a draft-deferred status, should be mentioned on the resume as a means of assuring the employer that you have an initial intention of being a permanent employee. The draft is not in effect right now, however, and the completion of military service would be of minimal interest to most employers.
Another reason would arise from your military service having a direct effect on your job capabilities. If you had received special training in the service and your nonmilitary specialty resulted from that training, both of those facts should be mentioned along with relevant dates and the highest rank achieved.
TIP: Mention your military service so that there is no time lapse in your history.
If your military service has no relevance to your intended work area, it would be best to simply state that you completed military service and were honorably discharged. You could add arm and branch of service if you desire. If you are beyond draft age, there is no point in elaborating on military service unless it adds important occupational information to your resumed
Personal History
A short paragraph describing your personal background can be included if you feel that it would offer information not readily discernible from your work or education but which would add to your marketability. Our survey showed that very few resume readers feel that it should be included. Most agree that, with only the rarest exceptions, all pertinent information is already included in the resume.
TIP: Use personal history only if it makes you more employable.
Personal References
You should never supply the names of your references in your resume. Not only is it unprofessional, but it can also cause unnecessary bother to the references listed. You should only give permission to call your references when an employer has indicated that he is really interested in someone with your qualifications.
TIP: Don't list references.
Always, of course, get permission from all parties involved to use them as references before releasing their names. Be sure, also, that your references can be reached quickly. List people who can be reached by phone rather than by mail. If giving the business phone of a reference, always ascertain that they are still employed by that company.
If your name has changed through marriage or for any other reason during your work or educational history, be sure that your references know you by your new name. It is wise for married women to indicate their maiden as well as married names on the resume, if the change occurred during any of the resume history.
Reasons for Leaving Past Jobs
Your resume should be a brief summary of your own particular talents, abilities, and qualifications. Since the reasons that you have left previous employment do not add to that summary, they should not be included in your resume. Like salary requirements, your reasons for having left earlier jobs should be discussed in the interview.
TIP: Don't tell why you left previous jobs.
The Business of Money
Never discuss salary in your resume - neither minimum salary requirements nor your earnings in the past.
TIP: Never mention salaries.
Most employers consider salary a most confidential subject. Your resume will probably be seen by many people in the company who would not be entitled to know your rate of pay, so no indications of it should appear in your resume. You will have an opportunity to discuss it in the interview. The interviewer should be the one to introduce the subject, and almost certainly will.
- See 6 Things Attorneys and Law Students Need to Remove from Their Resumes ASAP If They Want to Get Jobs with the Most Prestigious Law Firms for more information.
