Addressing Common Problems in Your Resume: Gaps, Age, Job Hopping, Stagnation, Switch in Practice Areas

LinkedIn’s GetHired column recently discussed how to overcome stumbling blocks in resumes, like gaps between jobs, job hopping, perceived stagnation, ageism, and desire to change practice areas. Below are techniques I’ve seen successful in the legal world.

• Gaps. Employers can be understanding about gaps if they know the reason. You may want to add a line in the resume addressing it, e.g., raising a family or caring for sick relatives. But in my mind even better is if you kept up with your line of work or took relevant classes so you can account for that time. Include some bullets on consulting for old clients, taking classes, or passing relevant tests (e.g., CIPP privacy certification or USPTO bar).
• Job hopping. LinkedIn says the stigma of job hopping has gone down. But I find law to be a conservative profession. Many employers expressly tell me they do not want to see candidates who have moved around too much. I agree with LinkedIn’s suggestion to explain the moves. Sample successful explanations for legal resumes: you changed law firms with your partner, were recruited to the next job by a former colleague, your company’s headquarters moved, your division was shut down, or your company was acquired. Also, you can consolidate older related jobs under one heading, e.g., prior jobs at law firms or government agencies. Finally, I recommend that if you worked for the same employer multiple times, list that employer only once and include the various dates of employment. This way is visually cleaner versus multiple entries of the same employer.
• Stagnation. If you were at one job a long time, show how you grew your skills or the company. For example, you could show your started doing commercial work, then picked up privacy, and then products. You also can show you helped scale the company from $X to $Y over your time there. These examples dispel any perceptions of stagnating.
• Ageism. LinkedIn suggests deleting your graduation year if you are an older candidate, but I’m not sure that applies to lawyers because our bar admission is public and easily findable (e.g., see here for California). But I do agree with LinkedIn’s other suggestion mentioned above to group together early work in one section, e.g., for lawyers a section titled “private law firms” or “government work,” so you don’t have a huge list of employers. Another suggestion by LinkedIn is to follow a modern, streamlined resume format and list an updated email address like Gmail. I agree. Do not use a Yahoo or AOL email address (only people of a certain generation have clung to those accounts).
• Transition.If you want to change jobs, I agree with LinkedIn that you must show the necessary skills and experience. List the relevant classes taken and related work you’ve done. (You might have to do it pro bono to get it.) Ideally your resume should show that everything you’ve done leads up to the job you are applying for. I also like LinkedIn’s recommendation to use your cover letter and LinkedIn profile to explain how your proposed transition makes sense. On top of that, I think you should get a personal recommendation from someone the prospective employer knows and trusts to vouch for you.