5 Most Common Resume Mistakes by Lawyers

The resume is one of the few things about your career in your control now. Give it proper attention so you present yourself crisply, and avoid these 5 mistakes:

1. Too long! Your resume must fit on 1-2 pages, 1 if you graduated fewer than 10 years ago, and 2 for everyone else. One exception is if you have amazing business or technical experience. Another exception is a representative matters/deal list as a separate document or additional page.
2. Not including your location. In the Bay Area, traffic is horrific, so employers use location as a screen. If you live near the job or in a central location, definitely list your city.
3. Weird format. Pick a font with serifs like Times New Roman, use round bullets with clean indents, omit the objective section, and avoid multiple columns. Employers are not impressed by creativity with formatting on a resume.
4. No narrative. Can readers get a sense of why you moved where and why it would make sense for you to join them? Delete irrelevant information, and add helpful explanations, e.g., your prior company was acquired, you were recruited by a former client, your partner changed firms and you were invited along.
5. No details. Most lawyers lay out what they do in the order they do them. Think instead about what the prospective employer values and use concrete details to illustrate that, e.g., supporting executives, cross-functional teams, % growing/$ revenue businesses, etc.