Resume length? Forum

[calgoldenbear]

Even though schools give you up to two pages, should you use it? I have a lot of dedicated extracurricular activities, jobs throughout college, and my job since graduation.

[rinkrat19]

I fit undergrad and law school (both with extracurriculars), 6 jobs, 3 volunteer gigs, a personal interests line and an engineering certification on one page. Do you really, truly have enough to need two?

For law school apps, it doesn’t really matter. But you'll need to get it down to one page to apply for your 1L summer job, so it wouldn't kill you to do it now.

[sjp200]

I fit undergrad and law school (both with extracurriculars), 6 jobs, 3 volunteer gigs, a personal interests line and an engineering certification on one page. Do you really, truly have enough to need two?

For law school apps, it doesn’t really matter. But you'll need to get it down to one page to apply for your 1L summer job, so it wouldn't kill you to do it now.

Can I see a version of it through PM? I have 3 jobs on mine, extras, and school and just barely fit it on one page so I'd like a little insight into how I can also fit more

[calgoldenbear]

I fit undergrad and law school (both with extracurriculars), 6 jobs, 3 volunteer gigs, a personal interests line and an engineering certification on one page. Do you really, truly have enough to need two?

For law school apps, it doesn’t really matter. But you'll need to get it down to one page to apply for your 1L summer job, so it wouldn't kill you to do it now.

Can I see a version of it through PM? I have 3 jobs on mine, extras, and school and just barely fit it on one page so I'd like a little insight into how I can also fit more

I would also love to see a copy, if possible.

8 jobs/internships (2 jobs since college, 2 during college, 4 internships), leadership in 4 campus organizations, 1 undergraduate research, and a line for honors and a line for languages. Maybe I could fit this if I just listed things with very little detail, but I feel like that would then you might not really know what the heck I was doing.

I generally cut this down to one page when applying to jobs by only including what's most relevant to that position. For law school though, I imagine they want to know more than just things related to law. It really comes out to about 1.5 pages, which is kind of awkward, but I don't know how else to format it.

[Aeon]

A couple tips for fitting information onto a single page: Increase the margins and decrease font size. Cut down job descriptions to bare minimum; if an interviewer is curious about a job, they will ask.

[rinkrat19]

I only had 2 volunteer things on it at this point, but here's one version of it that I've shared before http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... d#p8733067.

[lymenheimer]

My resume undoubtedly should be on one page, but I submitted a 1.5-2 page resume for my law school applications. Intention is to cut it short for job search. Schools have seen all types of resumes before. You'll likely be fine with what you have.

[Hildegard15]

I submitted a 1.5 page resume because it would have required too much finagling to get it down to one page. For law school, if it's easy to read and has good content I think you're fine. I had an admissions officer explicitly tell me not to worry about making it exactly like your job resume because law schools are gonna care about different things.

[Aeon]

Unless a law school specifically requests a one-page resume, it's fine to include a CV-type document. But keep in mind that once you apply for jobs, you really need to whittle it down to one page. It might be useful to have two running and current copies: a detailed CV and an abbreviated resume. You never know when you might one or the other.

[tt3]

You can't have too much stuff on your resume. Seriously, put everything of note you've ever done.

[Right2BearArms]

If they ask for a resume, 1-1.5 pages should be enough. Make sure it is well formatted and easy to read. Longer is ok if you have a lot of WE, but really, unless they ask for a true CV, you should never need more than 2 pages. If its longer, it won't get read, or at least not read closely.

Once you start looking for a job, 1 page, no more.

And format it well. I've seen some very impressive resumes that looked like crap and were hard to read. Its a chance at a first impression, make it a good one.

[kaiser]

99% of people can and should fit it onto 1 page. Only in extenuating circumstances should it go onto a second page. Remember what the aim is. Its not to just detail everything you have done. Its a chance to draw attention to the more significant things you have done. So don't detract from it by making it too long unless totally necessary. They are going to glance at this very fast and you want them immediately drawn to the key aspects. I'd only extend past a page if its more of a CV, with listing of publicatons, speaking engagements, etc.

Any career coach or recruiter would tell you the same. Hell, my father had 30 years of work experience, and when he looked for a new job, whittled down his resume to fit on one page. So I am sure you can edit as needed.

[forlornhope]

If you feel that most of your information is relevant, I would recommend using table/columns formatting for things like job/location/dates. It allows you to fit all of that info into a much smaller space, and has a good organized appearance. Mine was two pages, but the only reason for that was due to it being a CV outlining graduate work and such. You can probably find plenty of single-page examples that show how to condense information in a clean way.

[Good Guy Gaud]

99% of people can and should fit it onto 1 page.

[ScottRiqui]

99% of people can and should fit it onto 1 page.

Yep. I fit a bachelor's, a master's and twenty years of military service on one page when I started the job hunt, so when I hear someone say they're struggling to fit everything on one page, my first reaction is usually serious side-eye. No one needs to read a full paragraph about your duties & responsibilities as fraternity treasurer.

[totesTheGoat]

I'm going to come in with a different point of view. I've read tons of resumes that had 2 pages of relevant information crammed into 1 page. It's not pleasant.

I'd much rather have 2 pages to read than 1 page of a wall of text. On the other hand, nobody gives a shit about your high school job.

I'm of the opinion that you should shoot for 1 page, but that you should let it go as long as needed to get the relevant information in front of the reader. My resume is currently at 2 pages. I have 2 degrees, 6 jobs, and 2 publications within the last 8 years that are at least somewhat relevant to the jobs that I'm looking for. At a reasonable font and with a reasonable description of each piece of experience, I have a solid 1.5-2 pages of resume.

If you've just got a UG degree and a coffee shop job, you should be struggling to get to 1 page.

[ScottRiqui]

I'm going to come in with a different point of view. I've read tons of resumes that had 2 pages of relevant information crammed into 1 page. It's not pleasant.

I'd much rather have 2 pages to read than 1 page of a wall of text. On the other hand, nobody gives a shit about your high school job.

I'm of the opinion that you should shoot for 1 page, but that you should let it go as long as needed to get the relevant information in front of the reader. My resume is currently at 2 pages. I have 2 degrees, 6 jobs, and 2 publications within the last 8 years that are at least somewhat relevant to the jobs that I'm looking for. At a reasonable font and with a reasonable description of each piece of experience, I have a solid 1.5-2 pages of resume.

If you've just got a UG degree and a coffee shop job, you should be struggling to get to 1 page.

Including stuff that's merely "at least somewhat relevant" is how you get down to 1.5 - 2 pages; it's when include only the *necessary* stuff that you get down to one page, and you can do it without playing games with the font size, margins or spacing.

[totesTheGoat]

I still don't buy into this "one page or bust" mentality. Over the many interviews I've done while in law school, interviewers have honed in on different parts of my resume each time. Some are interested in my law school experience, some are interested in my UG research, some in my publications, some in my engineering work experience, and some in my legal work experience. I guarantee that my 1 page resume (I have a 1 page resume and a 2 page resume) wouldn't have gotten nearly as much interest, because I have had to cut out some relevant and interesting work experience along with some substance to get it all to fit. I created the 1 page resume to meet a page limit for a scholarship application, and I've never had any other situation where there was a hard 1 page limit.

Having been on the other side of the table many times, I really appreciated when people included a little bit more information about themselves. It saved me from having to spend half the interview probing into their past to find something interesting. It's a fine line to walk, but I think that including a little bit more information at the sacrifice of "one page or bust" is a good thing. This also helps distinguish an applicant from others. The fact is that entry-level resumes are all just about the same. You have a GPA, a few extracurriculars, some honors, and an internship or two. Those all have to be on your resume, and they take up a large portion of a page. If you have additional qualifications, you're almost immediately spilling onto a second page, or you end up gutting any substance from your resume to save space.

Granted, I've seen plenty of resumes that were 2-3 pages of "I was a treasurer for my fraternity, and I made sure that we had enough money for this event, and then we ran out of money for this other event, so I did this and that and it was great because we got to host both events and didn't run out of money..." However, it doesn't really matter whether the pointless fluff is 1 page long or 3 pages long, it's still pointless fluff. The focus on your resume should be on getting all relevant information in front of the interviewer in a concise and organized manner. I don't think your focus should be to cram everything into 1 page at the sacrifice of relevant experience or substance, and it shouldn't be to keep inserting irrelevant fluff until you hit 2 or 3 pages.

[kaiser]

I'm going to come in with a different point of view. I've read tons of resumes that had 2 pages of relevant information crammed into 1 page. It's not pleasant.

I'd much rather have 2 pages to read than 1 page of a wall of text. On the other hand, nobody gives a shit about your high school job.

I'm of the opinion that you should shoot for 1 page, but that you should let it go as long as needed to get the relevant information in front of the reader. My resume is currently at 2 pages. I have 2 degrees, 6 jobs, and 2 publications within the last 8 years that are at least somewhat relevant to the jobs that I'm looking for. At a reasonable font and with a reasonable description of each piece of experience, I have a solid 1.5-2 pages of resume.

If you've just got a UG degree and a coffee shop job, you should be struggling to get to 1 page.

THats the thing. For the vast majority of people, there are not 2 pages worth of relevant information. They are simply allowing the relevant information to take up 2 pages.

[ScottRiqui]

THats the thing. For the vast majority of people, there are not 2 pages worth of relevant information. They are simply allowing the relevant information to take up 2 pages.

Pretty much. Brevity is a valuable skill in legal writing, and there's no reason that someone with a couple of degrees and ten years' worth of work experience can't condense their resumé to a single page. Mere "relevancy" is not the criterion for inclusion.

With that in mind, here's a (non-exhaustive) list of things people don't give a damn about on your resumé:

1) Biographical information on yourself (where you were born, where you've lived, where you went to high school, etc.). If you're trying to show that you've got ties to the region where you're interviewing, that's what your cover letter is for.

2) "Career Objective" or "Mission Statement" section. Most of us are cookie-cutter applicants applying for cookie-cutter jobs. You're not going to "wow" anybody here, so just don't.

3) Any address/contact information on schools or prior jobs, beyond city and state. Interviewers don't need the telephone number, address and nine-digit ZIP code for the Cinnabun in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

4) Any name or contact information for past professors, supervisors, or bosses. Put in a blurb to the effect of "references available upon request" and leave it at that. You may have to enter all of this in a later part of the application/interviewing process, anyway.

5) Verbose descriptions of mundane or common jobs. Interviewers already know the duties and responsibilities of baristas, retail workers/managers, food service employees, and all of the various fraternity and sorority positions. Likewise, they don't need you to explain the mission of Teach for America or the Peace Corps; they've seen it before. Besides, if you pique their interest, it will give them something to talk about during the interview. I was an Electronics Technician and nuclear reactor operator in the Navy, and that portion of my career takes up exactly 15 words on my resumé. You don't need three lines to tell them what you did at Blockbuster Video the summer after high school.

6) A list of your publications. If you're applying for a job in academia, you should have a separate C.V. anyway. For non-academic positions, I might make an exception if you only have one or two publications, AND they're in the legal field. In that case, a separate C.V. would look pretty barren, and there's a chance the interviewer might actually look up one of your publications if they can use it to judge your legal writing ability. But for the most part, a line saying that you have a list available upon request, possibly with a hint as to what field you were writing in, will suffice.

That's it for now, but I'm sure there's more.

[rinkrat19]

I would add that you shouldn't even include "references available upon request." Because that's the default; you'd damn well better be able to produce references if someone asks. (Which they don't usually do.)

[ScottRiqui]

I would add that you shouldn't even include "references available upon request." Because that's the default; you'd damn well better be able to produce references if someone asks. (Which they don't usually do.)

Good point.

[hew]

I used more than two, but the first page and a half was literally just relevant WE. If you have enough relevant information (be it jobs, volunteer/extra-curriculars, awards/publications, etc), I would say use the full two pages, and if you have more, then go over those two pages. I think the whole point is just that they don't want you to put down random things (obviously). But say you have A LOT of stuff, then yes, tell them! This is your chance to show law schools how awesome you are!

[totesTheGoat]

I used more than two, but the first page and a half was literally just relevant WE.

How much relevant WE did you have? Unless you're 40 and you've been hopping from legal job to legal job for the last 20 years, I can't imagine 1.5 pages of WE.


To the point of this thread, I've taken some of the advice in this thread to heart, and I've cut down from 1.5 pages to 1 page. I retract what I've previously said about 2 pages being entirely reasonable. I don't think any entry-level lawyer (let alone a 0L applying to law school) should have so much that they can't fit it in one page.

Here's my format. I haven't really cared about condensing it besides just removing crap that's no longer relevant/important. I could probably format it better and get it even smaller, but it's a 1 page, so I don't really care.

First 4 lines (header): Name, address, email, phone
"Patent Bar Eligible"
EDUCATION
Law school
JD Candidate - *Grad Date*
Honors
GPA
Most prestigious extracurricular
Next most prestigious extracurricular
Other extracurricular

Undergrad School
Bachelor's degree, *Grad Date*
Honors
GPA

WORK EXPERIENCE
Current Full Time Job
Job Title, Dates of employment
3 lines describing my job responsibilities

1L SA #1
Job Title, dates of employment
2 lines describing job responsibilities

1L SA #2
Job Title, dates of employment
2 lines describing job responsibilities

Engineering job prior to law school
Job Title #1, dates of employment
Job Title #2, dates of employment

Engineering job during undergrad
Job Title, dates of employment

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Research Title
2 lines describing the research

I have 6 relevant jobs, research experience (that I keep on there because legal interviewers think it's really interesting), 2 degrees, 3 law school extracurriculars, and enough detail to convey the important information all in 1 page. I probably have room for another line or two of info if I really needed it. With all due respect, almost nobody needs a 2 page resume. Cut out fluff, and you can get it to 1 page.

[calgoldenbear]

A lot of people are focusing on what you need in the professional world. Trust me, I know a 1 page resume is your best bet when applying to any professional job. I am more interested in knowing what is appropriate for law school applications. I have a lot of real work experience during undergrad and after undergrad and it can't always necessarily be explained by just the title or employer/organization. Additionally, I have a lot of community service throughout my four years of college -- substantial volunteer experience that I dedicated years to. If I were to simply list the employer, position, location, and dates of all the significant things from my resume, that would take about a page. Now, including a one or two line description for each takes it up to 1.5 pages. Many schools said a resume of any length or of 1-2 pages. I'm just wondering what is the best practice here.