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Anyone have any insight/advice regarding how to describe a SA position in your resume for OCI? Should you describe the specific types of projects you worked on (thereby taking up a lot of space on the resume), or do you think you can get away with being more general (as most hiring firms will know generally what a SA position is like), and rely on going into the details in the interview process?

If willing, samples would be great appreciated. Thanks!

Arelikefoxes wrote:If willing, samples would be great appreciated. Thanks!

Mine goes something like this:
-Researched topics in intellectual property litigation, energy and tax policy, environmental law developments, child custody, and civil procedure.
-Assisted in drafting letters and documents relating to the sale of [deleted bc of specificity] assets.

Georgiana's looks good. Everyone knows the kinds of things 1L SAs do and it's very unlikely you can stand out in a positive way. Try to make it look substantive but don't do something like claiming you second chaired a trial or ran a deal. Legal recruiting and legal jobs are uniform enough that you don't need to knock your action words out of the park the way you might on a generic business resume. People will be totally familiar with your situation just by looking at the job title 95% of the time.

Why don't you ask your employer where you are SAing now? Doubt anybody on TLS can come up with anything better than that.

Anonymous User wrote:Why don't you ask your employer where you are SAing now? Doubt anybody on TLS can come up with anything better than that.

"Hey there, 1L SA firm. I know you just gave me an offer, but can you help me tweak my resume so I can hunt for other firms to work for next summer?"

thickfreakness wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Why don't you ask your employer where you are SAing now? Doubt anybody on TLS can come up with anything better than that.

"Hey there, 1L SA firm. I know you just gave me an offer, but can you help me tweak my resume so I can hunt for other firms to work for next summer?"

Super surprised from somebody who has >1k posts. It is posters like these that bring the helpfulness of TLS down.

Who says you need to tell the other firms you are hunting for other firms or even other jobs? All you are asking is how do you portray/list what you did this summer. It is common sense, especially ITE, that 1) people are always looking for other jobs, and 2) you can ask your employer for assistance on what is the best way to accurately reflect your experiences on the resume - but looks like both of these are uncommon to you.

Judgment Affirmed. So ordered.

Why are you posting anonymously?

Anonymous User wrote:

thickfreakness wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Why don't you ask your employer where you are SAing now? Doubt anybody on TLS can come up with anything better than that.

"Hey there, 1L SA firm. I know you just gave me an offer, but can you help me tweak my resume so I can hunt for other firms to work for next summer?"

Super surprised from somebody who has >1k posts. It is posters like these that bring the helpfulness of TLS down.

Who says you need to tell the other firms you are hunting for other firms or even other jobs? All you are asking is how do you portray/list what you did this summer. It is common sense, especially ITE, that 1) people are always looking for other jobs, and 2) you can ask your employer for assistance on what is the best way to accurately reflect your experiences on the resume - but looks like both of these are uncommon to you.

Judgment Affirmed. So ordered.

Disagree entirely actually. There is no reason that in August you would all of a sudden need to change your resume and/or ask for recommendations unless you were applying to other firms. This is basically the same as saying to your current firm "Hey, I appreciate everything and all but you're not my first choice or anything so I am gonna interview with a bunch of others who I obviously like more than you (otherwise you wouldn't be interviewing if you already had an offer from current firm) and if I strike out everywhere else I guess I'll come back to you as the consolation prize". I am sure this will go over well.

Anonymous User wrote:

thickfreakness wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Why don't you ask your employer where you are SAing now? Doubt anybody on TLS can come up with anything better than that.

"Hey there, 1L SA firm. I know you just gave me an offer, but can you help me tweak my resume so I can hunt for other firms to work for next summer?"

Super surprised from somebody who has >1k posts. It is posters like these that bring the helpfulness of TLS down.

Who says you need to tell the other firms you are hunting for other firms or even other jobs? All you are asking is how do you portray/list what you did this summer. It is common sense, especially ITE, that 1) people are always looking for other jobs, and 2) you can ask your employer for assistance on what is the best way to accurately reflect your experiences on the resume - but looks like both of these are uncommon to you.

Judgment Affirmed. So ordered.

No, it's posters who abuse the anonymous feature that harm TLS. You shouldn't be lecturing someone about their number of posts and quality of advice while hiding behind the anonymous feature.

FWIW - you should never have to ask an employer how to write your resume. Honestly an entry that says name of firm, city, summer associate and a single bullet below it captures most of what you need.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I tend to agree that bringing up what to put on a resume with an employer who wants/expects you to return the next year would probably be poor form. But CR to Georgiana, thesealocust, etc...I guess I shouldn't spend too much energy explaining something most employers will know all about.

Arelikefoxes wrote:Thanks for the advice everyone. I tend to agree that bringing up what to put on a resume with an employer who wants/expects you to return the next year would probably be poor form. But CR to Georgiana, thesealocust, etc...I guess I shouldn't spend too much energy explaining something most employers will know all about.

Good decision. You need to focus more on how to describe your 1L SA experiences in an interview during 2L OCI than how to describe it. The attention grabber on the resume for OCI purposes will be that you already have firm experience as a 1L. You just need to use that (among other things) effectively during the interview so that you can try and snag a callback.

(Is that more helpful, anon haterz?)