Legal Resume Tips

Compiled by Davidson Legal Staffing's Professional Recruiters

Our resume tips come directly from our professional legal recruiters, who see countless numbers of resumes (good and bad) every day. Heed their expert advice and you'll dramatically increase your chances of having the right person notice your resume! Making your resume easily readable and to the point will ensure a better opportunity to make it into the interview pile.

Do's...

• Do make an honest assessment of your educational background and experience to determine if you are directly qualified for the position for which you are applying.
• Do make sure that you reflect your skills that pertain to the job. If you're a paralegal for example, your ability to organize, analyze, communicate effectively, and pay attention to detail are key strengths an employer will look for on your resume.
• Do list any of your accomplishments that saved time and money for previous employers. Law firm administrators and partners are very interested in how you can save or make the firm money.
• Do list memberships in professional organizations. Employers and law firm administrators find this to be of importance because it demonstrates an applicant's dedication.
• Do provide a short summary of qualifications and accomplishments at the beginning of the resume.
• Do provide technical and practical skills as a follow up to the summary.
• Do list education and affiliations as a follow up to skills.
• Do always follow a uniform font and format.
• Do list dates of employment in a consistent format. For example, if you use the date format 11/98-12/00 on one job, don't use 1998-2000 on another.
• Do include both the months and years of employment so potential employers won't assume you have something to hide.
• Do keep clean alignment - all bullets, dates, tables, etc. in tab lines.
• Do make sure that you list your employment history in chronological order, beginning with the most recent or current job at the top down to oldest at the bottom.
• Do list skills used/learned in bulleted, partial sentence structure, under each position. This shows a timeline of what skills were acquired when and where.
• Do only list the last ten years of experience, unless your current position or a significant part of your experience dates back further.
• Do leave off all church affiliations and personal information (age, sex, etc.)
• Do list all firms and length of time when working as a temporary/contractor under the staffing firm name.
• Do send a cover letter with resume in the mail or by email. Be brief and to the point and explain how your background fits the position you are applying for. Customize your cover letter to the job ad.
• Do remember to personalize each cover letter and sign it!

Don'ts...

• Don't list personal information such as marital status, the number of children you have, your birth date, or high school graduation date. This information does not pertain to your ability to do the job.
• Don't use paper with designs on it. Use cream or white paper with black ink.
• Don't stretch the length of your resume to more than two pages.
• Don't use more than two fonts.
• Don't refer to yourself in third person (he, she, and it).
• Don't list emails with personal or pet names. If you list your email address, make sure that your email name is professional.

Finally, remember that many of your legal skills may be transferable to other legal specialties. Evaluate your skills to determine if they are transferable, and design your resume around the specifics of the job ad.

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