When do you take non-legal stuff off your resume? Forum

[North]

I was procrastinating today by updating my resume. It kind of looks like I might finally have enough law-related stuff (two summers, anticipated post-grad job, clinic at LS, and some legal volunteer stuff) to be able to bump off old non-legal stuff. I don't have to for space reasons or anything, but I could. Made me wonder when people generally take the bulk of non-legal stuff off their resumes.

I'm thinking about chopping, e.g., my HS (and post-HS/pre-UG for a year or so) job and a couple UG jobs, but that'd make it look like the first time I worked was the job I had for the last couple years of UG and during my gap year before LS. No idea if any of that matters now post-LS.

[BigZuck]

I don't know anything about anything but just putting post UG stuff sounds good to me. I'd drop HS stuff at least IMO.

Guess it maybe depends on what the resume is for?

[zot1]

I haven't had non-legal stuff since 2L. Hasn't affected me.

[radio1nowhere]

Definitely wouldn't keep any pre-UG stuff on there unless it's really meaningful (which seems unlikely for most.. I'm thinking military service as the principal exception)

[stannis]

Nothing I did before law school is interesting or impressive so when I hit 3 legal externships/jobs, I deleted all other work experience, and renamed the heading "Legal Experience"

[RedGiant]

Resumes should not be laundry lists. They should be a reflection of the skills you have that help you get the job you want. If you have older WE, it can certainly come off, unless it shows some sort of rounding of skillsets that you cannot demonstrate with more recent WE. It's possible that you were doing something substantive and awesome way back when, but especially if you are K-JD, and you have enough more relevant work, then I would remove as much non-legal work as possible. Were you a lifeguard between sophomore and junior years of college? Did you work as a file clerk one summer? Great. Your legal employer could care less. Get rid of it.

[North]

Did you work as a file clerk one summer for multiple years? Great. Your legal employer could care less. Get rid of it.

DIRECT HIT.

Okay yeah, all this stuff is coming off.

[rpupkin]

I generally agree with the advice ITT. I'll just note one minor exception: when you're trying to get a job in a city that is sensitive to ties, and your only (or one of your only) connections to the city is summer employment in undergrad. If, for example, you're applying to law firms in Atlanta, and if you worked in Atlanta between sophomore and junior year of undergrad, I'd put the job on your resume, even if it has no relationship to law. It demonstrates a bit of a connection to the city, which can make a difference. it can also serve as a point of conversation during interviews.

[Anonymous User]

I had a full-time job for nearly 5 years while in UG (was part time student for some of it and full-time for some). I have kept it on and it has come up in every interview (mid-level about to go IH). For IH, I have used it to talk about how I like working in a big corp environment and all that jazz. If the resume lines are short-term standard UG/post UG stuff then maybe take it off.

[Anonymous User]

woops

[Anonymous User]

depends what you're going for (job wise) and how applicable your experience is to that end game. For instance, as a 1L looking for paid gigs, i wanted to be in house; as a 2L going into OCI I wanted to get into M&A/PEG/VC practice groups. With this in mind, it was fitting to keep on my resume the fact i helped start a few companies and sold one of them, while in undergrad. It was also pertinent to state the time i spent at an investment bank/consulting firm between undergrad/law school. Those elements landed me a job when my grades were well below my firm's cut-off.

[Anonymous User]

depends what you're going for (job wise) and how applicable your experience is to that end game. For instance, as a 1L looking for paid gigs, i wanted to be in house; as a 2L going into OCI I wanted to get into M&A/PEG/VC practice groups. With this in mind, it was fitting to keep on my resume the fact i helped start a few companies and sold one of them, while in undergrad. It was also pertinent to state the time i spent at an investment bank/consulting firm between undergrad/law school. Those elements landed me a job when my grades were well below my firm's cut-off.

Similar to this, I have some pre-law experience in engineering that is generally valued by IP firms. I plan on keeping that on my resume until I don't have space for it, which will not be for a while.

[Anonymous User]

Does this advice apply the same for LinkedIn? On there, I cut my older entries down to just (1) title, (2) employer, and (3) dates. Should I get rid of them entirely?