Resume Ethics / Strategy Forum

[Anonymous User]

International + Transfer student here.

Finished 1L last May. I was only legally allowed to work beginning on May 22nd. I had a clerkship with a firm that only gives 1Ls 6 week contracts.

Contract ended on June 30, which left me 3.5 weeks until orientation/OCI at new school.

I took those 3.5 weeks off / found an appt and visited some schools I considered.

How should I refer to my clerkship on resume. I thought at first to just put Summer 2017, to be consistent with my other full-summer internships (K - JD). But, a few of my CB interviewers have asked me "so how long was it for" and seemed upset when I admitted it finished in June. Should I just come clean and put May - June 2017?

[mjb447]

International + Transfer student here.

Finished 1L last May. I was only legally allowed to work beginning on May 22nd. I had a clerkship with a firm that only gives 1Ls 6 week contracts.

Contract ended on June 30, which left me 3.5 weeks until orientation/OCI at new school.

I took those 3.5 weeks off / found an appt and visited some schools I considered.

How should I refer to my clerkship on resume. I thought at first to just put Summer 2017, to be consistent with my other full-summer internships (K - JD). But, a few of my CB interviewers have asked me "so how long was it for" and seemed upset when I admitted it finished in June. Should I just come clean and put May - June 2017?

If you want to preserve consistency, couldn't you say May - August 2015 or whatever for your prior full-summer internships? I do think you should clarify that this was a six week experience - lots of summer internships are almost twice as long, and it sounds like you may be confusing or disappointing interviewers with the way it's currently formatted. (It's probably not great that you had such a short time doing legal work during your 1L summer, but I'm not sure burying it is the answer, particularly if you're getting asked this question a lot.)

[Anonymous User]

International + Transfer student here.

Finished 1L last May. I was only legally allowed to work beginning on May 22nd. I had a clerkship with a firm that only gives 1Ls 6 week contracts.

Contract ended on June 30, which left me 3.5 weeks until orientation/OCI at new school.

I took those 3.5 weeks off / found an appt and visited some schools I considered.

How should I refer to my clerkship on resume. I thought at first to just put Summer 2017, to be consistent with my other full-summer internships (K - JD). But, a few of my CB interviewers have asked me "so how long was it for" and seemed upset when I admitted it finished in June. Should I just come clean and put May - June 2017?

If you want to preserve consistency, couldn't you say May - August 2015 or whatever for your prior full-summer internships? I do think you should clarify that this was a six week experience - lots of summer internships are almost twice as long, and it sounds like you may be confusing or disappointing interviewers with the way it's currently formatted. (It's probably not great that you had such a short time doing legal work during your 1L summer, but I'm not sure burying it is the answer, particularly if you're getting asked this question a lot.)

I take your argument about the strategy. And from a strategical perspective, you may be right given that least 2 CB interviewers have asked me.

This being said, those 2 cb interviewers might have been equally disappointed re: the length of it had I come clean about it proactively in the resume.

Now putting the strategic aspect aside, given that I had only 9.5 weeks to legally work, and that intern/clerking at a firm knowing I'd have to leave in 3.5 weeks probably would have been dumb/not fair to firm #2, do you really think labelling my clerkship as "Summer 2017" is unethical?

[mjb447]

International + Transfer student here.

Finished 1L last May. I was only legally allowed to work beginning on May 22nd. I had a clerkship with a firm that only gives 1Ls 6 week contracts.

Contract ended on June 30, which left me 3.5 weeks until orientation/OCI at new school.

I took those 3.5 weeks off / found an appt and visited some schools I considered.

How should I refer to my clerkship on resume. I thought at first to just put Summer 2017, to be consistent with my other full-summer internships (K - JD). But, a few of my CB interviewers have asked me "so how long was it for" and seemed upset when I admitted it finished in June. Should I just come clean and put May - June 2017?

If you want to preserve consistency, couldn't you say May - August 2015 or whatever for your prior full-summer internships? I do think you should clarify that this was a six week experience - lots of summer internships are almost twice as long, and it sounds like you may be confusing or disappointing interviewers with the way it's currently formatted. (It's probably not great that you had such a short time doing legal work during your 1L summer, but I'm not sure burying it is the answer, particularly if you're getting asked this question a lot.)

I take your argument about the strategy. And from a strategical perspective, you may be right given that least 2 CB interviewers have asked me.

This being said, those 2 cb interviewers might have been equally disappointed re: the length of it had I come clean about it proactively in the resume.

Now putting the strategic aspect aside, given that I had only 9.5 weeks to legally work, and that intern/clerking at a firm knowing I'd have to leave in 3.5 weeks probably would have been dumb/not fair to firm #2, do you really think labelling my clerkship as "Summer 2017" is unethical?

No, I don't think it's unethical - summer positions do vary a lot in duration and, while you could probably take this to absurd extremes (I likely wouldn't list a week of employment as "Summer 2017") I don't think characterizing a six week job as "Summer 2017" is unethical. The weirdest thing about it to me is that your "summer" job was over by the end of June - I wouldn't hesitate to say that a job that lasted six weeks but started in late June or early July was "Summer 2017." (All of this is obviously highly subjective, and since it happened after school was out "summer" still seems fair.) I just took from your initial post that you might want to head off interviewers seeming "upset" during the interview.

[BlueParrot]

Just put Summer 2017. When people ask say it was 6 weeks, and briefly explain this is how the firm runs their program. No need to say it ended in June or anything, which might make it sound even shorter than it was.

[ambrajdurbra131313]

Just put Summer 2017. When people ask say it was 6 weeks, and briefly explain this is how the firm runs their program. No need to say it ended in June or anything, which might make it sound even shorter than it was.

[dixiecupdrinking]

Do you have a good (i.e., visa/work authorization-related) reason why you didn't try to do something for the second half of the summer? If so, you should be including that in your explanation when it comes up. If you just decided to take the time off, unfortunately that's not an ideal answer, and I'm not sure there is a good way to spin it. Not a huge red flag, but if you're borderline it could help move you from "probably yes" to "probably no," given how little information interviewers have to go on.

That said, I agree I'd just leave "summer."

[mjb447]

Yeah, after reading what other posters have said I'm changing my answer: say Summer 2017.