NYT’s Resume Tips: Are They Any Good?

I read with interest the New York Times’ resume tips. What applies to lawyers, and what doesn’t?

1. Yes, tailor your resume to the job. My March 7 post  covers ways to do that for lawyers.
2. Yes, use the same keywords in the job post. And yes use the most relevant keywords in the jobs at the top. If you talk about the key skill from some job you did a long time ago, that’s not so helpful.
3. Yes, quantify your experience. I agree that “Managed a team of five that increased sales by 40 percent over two years” is better than “Managed a team that significantly increased sales.” See my post here for more ideas for lawyers specifically.
4. No, you don’t have to stick with Word. The NYT says PDFs can mess up how employers’ systems read resumes. For lawyers, usually it’s an actual person so whether you use Word or PDF is not a big deal.
5. No, you don’t have to mention “all” your skills. Lawyers may know PowerPoint or Excel, but don’t mention basic skills like that, just the relevant ones. I would say out of the laundry list of requirements in a job description, the hiring manager truly care about three things. Figure out what those three are, and include that information on the resume. For example, for a commercial counsel job, for sure you need to draft and negotiate a variety of agreements ideally in that company’s industry, and you need to know how to counsel cross-functional teams (Sales, Marketing, R&D, etc.) in contract law, IP, etc. The third one could be scaling a fast-growing company (e.g., making playbooks), or could be counseling on privacy (or other substantive area), etc. Research the company to figure this out. And for tech lawyers it’s always helpful to list programming skills and courses taken.
6. Yes, “[i]f you are part of an underrepresented group, use terms that will let the system identify you to companies that are trying to diversify their work force.” For lawyers, examples include publications, affinity groups, law student organizations (APALSA, BLSA, SALSA, LALSA, etc.), your mentees, talks given, D&I efforts, etc.
7. Yes, do more than just send in your resume online. I agree you should update your LinkedIn profile and get recommendations. Also, I recommend asking a contact at the company to present your resume ideally to the hiring manager.