Critique my resume Forum

[rinkrat19]

I have a question and didn't want to start a new thread, so hopefully someone here has the answer.

Is it acceptable to remove your address from your resume? I read somewhere that it is, and it would save me a lot of space on mine, but I'm not sure what TCR is.

No.

+1

There are ways to present your contact information that put your entire address on one line, or at most two. Getting rid of it shouldn't be saving you that much space, unless you're writing your address like it's going onto an envelope.

Thanks for the advice - I appreciate it. Another question:

Should I keep my "Computer Skills" section? This has been required for all of my professional jobs (very finance heavy), but I don't know how relevant it is for adcomms.

You can probably lose it. I'd there's something in it you really want to keep, work it into a bullet point under the relevant job. (Under no circumstances should you have Office programs listed, in case I need to mention that for someone.)

[Leaborb192]

I'm surprised nobody noticed this -- you misspelled achievements (the title) in the last section.

[lastsamurai]

You can probably lose it. I'd there's something in it you really want to keep, work it into a bullet point under the relevant job. (Under no circumstances should you have Office programs listed, in case I need to mention that for someone.)[/quote]

Thanks - I'm going to have to do a complete overhaul of this thing. For all of my professional jobs, it's been required that I directly list the extent to which I'm familiar with Excel and Access...gonna have to figure out what to fill the space with.

[20141023]

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[rinkrat19]

You WILL have an interests section for legal hiring, so you might as well fit it now. Believe me, it fits. I have a 10 year career plus volunteer work and my law school and 1L job info on there.

Ah ha... I was wondering why you mentioned that. In the non-legal professional world, when I've gone over someone's resume and they have a section devoted to "interests," it is usually a sign of immaturity / lack of achievements. (Because a lot of people usually get confused with "interests" and "hobbies." I've literally seen the resume of someone applying to my company who listed "Video Games" under his "interests" section. )

I guess the more that I learn about law school OCI / hiring / resumes, the less impressed I am because you have to mention trivial, unprofessional-sounding things like interests and ties. Oh ties...

It's because legal hiring is a lot more about A)name of the school and B)your personality than any actual qualifcations you would normally put on a resume. Your first employer will do most of the "teaching you how to be a lawyer," so they want to know that A)you went to a school that will look good on their website, and B)you're not a nose-picking, basement-dwelling sociopath whom clients will hate and other lawyers won't want to work with.

The interests section on a legal resume IS personal hobbies. Listing video games would be fine, assuming they had some less nerdy stuff to balance it. The interest section provides interview conversation fodder and is evidence that you're a well-rounded human. Mine reads:
Snowboarding, recreational ice hockey, camping, digital photography, cooking, and reading fiction.

[20141023]

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[rinkrat19]

Mind... blown........................

Well, it makes sense when you realize how legal hiring works and what they're actually looking for.

[20141023]

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[jn7]

I've always had one line for interests on my resume. I was taught to have it in undergrad b-school. Maybe the relevance diminishes after your first actual job?

I'll definitely mention my interests at the very end regardless when they ask me "Tell me about yourself."

[bk1]

The interests section on a legal resume IS personal hobbies. Listing video games would be fine, assuming they had some less nerdy stuff to balance it. The interest section provides interview conversation fodder and is evidence that you're a well-rounded human.

Agreed, except I would avoid video games as an interest. In spite of the fact that plenty of people play video games these days, there are people who will judge you negatively for it and think you are childish or irrationally worry that you will play video games at work. Shitboomers gonna shitboom. And this is coming from someone who loves video games and does not think it's childish (read: me).

[rinkrat19]

The interests section on a legal resume IS personal hobbies. Listing video games would be fine, assuming they had some less nerdy stuff to balance it. The interest section provides interview conversation fodder and is evidence that you're a well-rounded human.

Agreed, except I would avoid video games as an interest. In spite of the fact that plenty of people play video games these days, there are people who will judge you negatively for it and think you are childish or irrationally worry that you will play video games at work. Shitboomers gonna shitboom. And this is coming from someone who loves video games and does not think it's childish (read: me).

Fair enough.

There are some things I wouldn't include. I remember one TLSer asking if "celebrity gossip" was ok. Um...no. The overall point is to look interesting and well-rounded, not like a vapid twit. I guess it'll take another half-generation or so before video games is a safe one.

[20141023]

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[lastsamurai]

What do we think about margin size? I've had employers tell me that when you stretch the margins, it makes it seem like you're trying to trick them into thinking you can be concise. Same for law school? 1"? .5"?

[rinkrat19]

What do we think about margin size? I've had employers tell me that when you stretch the margins, it makes it seem like you're trying to trick them into thinking you can be concise. Same for law school? 1"? .5"?

My resume margins are pretty thin, but that's because I basically have to defy the laws of physics to fit everything on one page. I think resume margins are flexible. Keep it readable. Google "harvard law resume samples" and look at those; plenty of white space on some of them.

[rinkrat19]

Here's my current resume, genericized and redacted. Red is stuff that has been added since starting law school. The resume I applied to law school with was basically the same design before cramming the new stuff in, except with more relaxed spacing. There may have been a third bullet point under the older jobs.

[Lincoln]

Here's my current resume, genericized and redacted. Red is stuff that has been added since starting law school. The resume I applied to law school with was basically the same design before cramming the new stuff in, except with more relaxed spacing. There may have been a third bullet point under the older jobs.

That's scarily identical to mine, down to the horizontal lines, small caps, and number of jobs.

[sighsigh]

^ Does the N. between First and Last stand for nickname? Am I supposed to put my nickname in quotes? I was thinking something like: first name "The Hammer" last name. Or... what do you think about "The Bulldozer" ?

[itachiuchiha]

^ Does the N. between First and Last stand for nickname? Am I supposed to put my nickname in quotes? I was thinking something like: first name "The Hammer" last name. Or... what do you think about "The Bulldozer" ?

I think quotes should be fine. So they don't think that it is part of your actual name

[PRgradBYU]

^ Does the N. between First and Last stand for nickname? Am I supposed to put my nickname in quotes? I was thinking something like: first name "The Hammer" last name. Or... what do you think about "The Bulldozer" ?

I think there are already too many lawyers nicknamed "The Hammer," but "The Bulldozer" is pretty solid to the extent that you incorporate it into your signature.