Signal URM on Resume Forum

[Anonymous User]

Trying to get ready for OCI season and all that..

I'm at a T14 with no affinity group and I'm wondering how I can include on my mass mail resumes something to just signal to employers. I see that saying member of BLSA or NALSA is a common way to do this, but I can count the number of NAs at this school on a couple fingers lol.

I am pretty connected to family and heritage, but I haven't really done anything official wth them, and it seems weird to just put on a resume 'Oh yeah btw my dad is NA..

[20130312]

I would think your best option at this point is to figure out a way to signal this in your cover letter.

[Void]

http://nationalnalsa.org/ pay $25 to join, then add to resume.

[Anonymous User]

Literally the first thing under "[school] law review" (which itself is right under my GPA), is "[minority] law student association."

For good measure, I include the name of a similar group in my undergrad activities(but that will have to go soon cause I'm pressed for space).

I don't mention it in my cover letter. It's long enough, would be overkill I think, and I wouldnt know how to weave it in, since unlike some other areas of law, my urm status has zip to do with my field.

Bottom line, join the relevant minority group/club on campus today. If your school is anything like mine, all it means is that you are on their email list. You don't have to do anything more.

[Pokemon]

Put it on your resume dude, join a minority organization/bar whatever. How are you going to put on your cover letter, "I am a student at bla bla bla school, and by the way I am a minority?".
Also, if you want your URM status to be a boost, you must be able to advertise it; that is why you join the organization. If I was gay, but I had not joined a single such organization, kept it a secret, it would not be much of a boost if I told partner in the interview, "though nobody can know about it, I am gay." I am an immigrant and I advertise that via the foreign languages that I speak and by volunteering for immigrant rights groups. That is all in my resume.

[Anonymous User]

Have you ever done anything related to your heritage? Group in college, volunteer work on a reservation, etc.? There's probably something.

Even if there isn't, you could say you're a member of a the NA student group on campus as long as you make clear it's an unofficial group (and even if there are only 2 Native Americans at your school).

[20130312]

Yes, lying is better than nothing OP. Follow these last two posters' advice and just make it up bro.

[thegrayman]

If you can't join one on campus, join a national and list yourself as a "student member" or something along those lines. You WANT to get that on your resume somehow, and there is a way.

[Void]

If you can't join one on campus, join a national and list yourself as a "student member" or something along those lines. You WANT to get that on your resume somehow, and there is a way.

Yeah, there is a way. Follow the link in my post above.

[Anonymous User]

Have you ever done anything related to your heritage? Group in college, volunteer work on a reservation, etc.? There's probably something.

Even if there isn't, you could say you're a member of a the NA student group on campus as long as you make clear it's an unofficial group (and even if there are only 2 Native Americans at your school).

No nothing on campus, and there wasn't at my UG earlier. my connections are pretty much just family and heritage, general interest etc.. Unfortunately lived far from the midwest my whole life so was never really able to do anything "real"

Thanks for the replies... never thought of just joining the national branch. I guess it just seems kinda odd putting it under law school when it really has nothing to do with school itself..

@InGoodFaith... would it really be lying to put member of the national group on my resume since theres.no school chapter?? I'm really just worried about doing something that the hiring attys will find shady or disingenuous :-\

[Ave]

If you can't join one on campus, join a national and list yourself as a "student member" or something along those lines. You WANT to get that on your resume somehow, and there is a way.

Yeah, there is a way. Follow the link in my post above.

Do this. It seems to be a better choice than saying you're a part of an NA student group that's unofficial on campus.

[Void]

@InGoodFaith... would it really be lying to put member of the national group on my resume since theres.no school chapter?? I'm really just worried about doing something that the hiring attys will find shady or disingenuous :-\

This wouldn't be lying at all. I am a "member" of my state's bar association and I proudly proclaim that fact on my resume, even though I have never been involved in a single activity relating to the association and I usually delete their emails without reading them.

Just like on-campus groups, these sorts of groups exist mostly so that people can put them on their resumes.

[Torney12]

Trying to get ready for OCI season and all that..

I'm at a T14 with no affinity group and I'm wondering how I can include on my mass mail resumes something to just signal to employers. I see that saying member of BLSA or NALSA is a common way to do this, but I can count the number of NAs at this school on a couple fingers lol.

I am pretty connected to family and heritage, but I haven't really done anything official wth them, and it seems weird to just put on a resume 'Oh yeah btw my dad is NA..

Ideally, you would find some way to fit it under your activities in law school or undergrad, so that anyone examining your resume would see it near the top. Did you do any NA-related volunteer work at all?

You can also put it in the additional information/misc/interests portion of your resume. It's actually not weird to mention that your dad is NA. I see resumes with bald statements like "half-xyz, half-abc" and that's fine. Just get the information out there. Something like "member of xyz tribe", "born on xyz tribe's reservation in xyz state" (if you actually were), or "spent four years as volunteer firefighter with my father's tribe, the Cherokee nation". I'm sure you can think of some connection to your NA heritage that can be mentioned (and if you can't then maybe you shouldn't get the URM boost if you're that removed from your NA roots).

http://nationalnalsa.org/ pay $25 to join, then add to resume.

This is good advice too. Pay the $25, attend a meeting or do something with the group, and list it on your resume. You should add more info in the additional info/misc/interests section though because everyone knows that white person with less than 1/132 NA blood, if any, who is putting NA on his resume to be sneaky. Think Elizabeth Warren. So, just being a member of an NA-related affinity group might not necessarily generate interest if your name sounds Caucasian.

[20130312]

Yeah, I didn't mean it was lying if you are actually a member of an org. I was concerned that some people seemed to be saying "just put your school chapter bro" even though you had made it clear that you weren't a member. Joining the national org. sounds like TCR.

[target]

how helpful do you think being an URM is compared to having good grades and being a confident interviewee?

[thegrayman]

how helpful do you think being an URM is compared to having good grades and being a confident interviewee?

There's not a lot of evidence out there regarding URM hiring to my knowledge. The generally-accepted answer seems to be that if you don't have the grades or interview skills, URM status won't fix that. But, if you have the grades and interview skills, being a URM will only help.

[nickb285]

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[Anonymous User]

This is good advice too. Pay the $25, attend a meeting or do something with the group, and list it on your resume.

Bolded step is unnecessary. If you pay your dues, you're a member, you can list it on your resume. If you want to feel like you're actually "doing something" as a member, then read all E-mail updates and news stories and conference invitations you're about to be bombarded with.

[target]

how helpful do you think being an URM is compared to having good grades and being a confident interviewee?

There's not a lot of evidence out there regarding URM hiring to my knowledge. The generally-accepted answer seems to be that if you don't have the grades or interview skills, URM status won't fix that. But, if you have the grades and interview skills, being a URM will only help.

I know that. I was trying to get OP realize that s/he is focusing on the wrong factor in legal job search.

[BruceWayne]

how helpful do you think being an URM is compared to having good grades and being a confident interviewee?

There's not a lot of evidence out there regarding URM hiring to my knowledge. The generally-accepted answer seems to be that if you don't have the grades or interview skills, URM status won't fix that. But, if you have the grades and interview skills, being a URM will only help.

This. If you're below median it won't mean much at all. If you're above it means a lot. URMS that are top 1/3 at top 14s can often get firms that normally only hire top 10 percent students. Top 1/3 URM at a top 14 isn't shut out of many firms based off of grades. If you're top 1/3 and law review you probably have a shot at any firm.