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Hi all,

Is there a point at which it's okay for a PI resume to exceed 1 page? Or should you start cutting out some of your experience/education? If it's better to cut out, where do you start cutting, with the oldest? I'm a recent law school grad at my first job out of law school, but it's for a limited term so I've been applying for positions. I'm particularly interested in working at a nonprofit. At this point, I may be able to continue to fit my resume on 1 page, but I've been doing things like messing around with spacing/font size to make things work, and I'm not sure how much longer I can do that (or if it is the best option). Thanks for any helpful advice!

There's lots of places to cut. Cut down on the descriptions. Cut out non-legal experience. Cut out anything on the undergrad section unless you got honors. Cut out student organizations. Cut out any interest section.

Nebby wrote:There's lots of places to cut. Cut down on the descriptions. Cut out non-legal experience. Cut out anything on the undergrad section unless you got honors. Cut out student organizations. Cut out any interest section.

So to clarify, you are suggesting that the 1 page resume limit should be a hard limit even if an organization doesn't restrict it right?

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CaptainLeela wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Nebby wrote:There's lots of places to cut. Cut down on the descriptions. Cut out non-legal experience. Cut out anything on the undergrad section unless you got honors. Cut out student organizations. Cut out any interest section.

So to clarify, you are suggesting that the 1 page resume limit should be a hard limit even if an organization doesn't restrict it right?

yes. until you have at least a decade of position-relevant experience. based on what you've told us, there's absolutely no reason for your resume to be longer than 1 page.

I think this is actually even more true in PI than big law because almost all non-governmental places don't have an HR department reviewing your resume. It's supervising attorneys, so you want to keep things as concise and relevant as possible.

I worked in BigFed for a bit before law school, and I would just add one caveat: if you have to deal with USAJOBS, multiple-page resumes are strongly encouraged. Usually they'll tell you what their expectations are, though.