Resume Tips that Do NOT Work for Lawyers

I review a lot of legal resumes, and I forward the good ones to my clients, so I know what works and what doesn’t. I see a lot of tips that do not apply to lawyers.

5 tips not to follow:

1. (Do not) put the job you want at the top of the resume. That’s just weird. I’ve never seen that done. That was recommended I imagine for an algorithm to find keywords and sort for good candidates. The searches I work on all use humans, not robots, to sort because legal jobs are so nuanced. Where did you train and for how long? Does your employment history make sense? Were you growing into adjacencies and expanding responsibilities? Is this job the logical conclusion? Not sure how a robot would know.
2. (Do not) put a general objective at the top of the resume either. That’s wasting valuable real estate (the portion that actually gets read) on something the reader already knows, the job you are applying to. Use the space to impress the reader about yourself!
3. (Do not) use color. Lawyers are boring. We use black and white. Clients don’t want to see creativity in your resume, just your skills and accomplishments.
4. (Do not) use graphics. You don’t need graphics to lay out your achievements. (Use $, numbers and % to be effective!)
5. (Do not) put a photo of yourself. None of my candidates who have gotten jobs have ever done this. That’s what LinkedIn is for.

For tips on what you SHOULD be doing, click here.