Is This True: 5 Things that Should Never Be on Your Resume?

I take giving legal professionals good career advice very seriously. So I am reading clickbait like “I’ve helped people land jobs at Google and Facebook—here are 5 things I never want to see on your resume” so you don’t have to. Let’s go through the list and see if the advice holds true in the legal space. It turns out this unlikely source is absolutely correct!

1. No personal summary. Yes! I agree having a personal summary wastes valuable space. Your resume should be so clean and crisp that in a quick skim the reader can grasp your top skills, making a summary unnecessary. The one exception I can think of is if you are very senior and want to highlight eye-popping stats, e.g., you grew various businesses in ABC technologies XX%, launched in DEF markets, and led your companies to EFG successful exits (IPO, acquisition, etc.).
2. No packing keywords. Agreed. The reason some people stuff keywords in the resume is to pass automated reviews or algorithms. But legal positions are generally reviewed by actual people, who would screen you out for an awkward resume. I do think you should use the keywords from the job description to show you can do the job and not use synonyms, like use the word “contract” instead of “commercial” if that’s what the job description says. But don’t stuff the resume with words everywhere.
3. No irrelevant experience. Yes, do not include old, outdated experience. Think ahead of time what the hiring manager is looking for and include that information in your resume. Anything else leave off.
4. No images (pictures, graphs, icons). Agreed. Definitely do not include pictures of yourself (even though that’s standard in some non US countries) – US employers do not want to be accused of bias. Law is a pretty conservative field, and resumes are literally black and white. You do not want to stand out for your style. Rather, you should stand out for your substantive experience, which should be laid out simply.
5. No filler roles. Yes, this is the same as #3. Was the author of this post trying to stretch content to make five points? No matter, I agree with the analysis: “Your resume should demonstrate you’re the perfect candidate for the specific job you’re applying to. So only include experiences that relate back to that job. The best way to make your resume impactful is to contextualize and support your achievements through numbers and percentages. Numbers allow you to paint a before and after narrative, clearly showcasing your positive impact on your working environment. Maybe you increased sales by 50% or increased email clickthrough rates by 500%. Either way, you made a real, measurable, positive impact.” If you need ideas on how to show metrics in a legal context, see here.