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Does anyone keep an interests section post-law school? I'm going to be starting biglaw once my clerkship wraps, but will likely be seeking out a COA clerkship before too long. What's the norm for practicing lawyers?

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:51 pm

Does anyone keep an interests section post-law school? I'm going to be starting biglaw once my clerkship wraps, but will likely be seeking out a COA clerkship before too long. What's the norm for practicing lawyers?

If you have anything actually interesting there, keep it. Doing clerk hiring and firm hiring, many resumes look exactly the same, and genuine-seeming, specific interests help a candidate stick out. (E.g., reading, running, and hiking don't count. Hosting a Dickens podcast, being an ultramarathon runner, and hiking the Appalachian trail in segments over the course of a decade do.)

I interview post-clerkship candidates at my firm and almost everyone we see has an interests section. I just looked through the last ten applicants I interviewed and 9/10 had an interests section on their resume. (I think that's probably not representative and if I went further back it'd be more like 75-80%, but it's a strong majority either way.) Personally, I really prefer when people do list interests, because I want at least one chill/conversational question to ask and it's usually about something listed there.

edit: totally agree w/ polareagle. List something interesting if you have it, and be specific. Literally one of the nine I looked at above had "running, travel, cooking." I, too, am interested in staying alive and going on vacations, but it's hard to create a meaningful connection with just that.

I kept it for midlevel lateral interviews. I have generic interests. I had like “avid [sport] fan” and the interviewer and I had an entire conversation regarding a certain trade that happened. I don’t think it’ll help in any way, but it’s nice to talk about things other than work in an interview.

Is politics too potentially divisive for an interests section? I imagine yes, but it's also probably my only interesting side hustle.

My most significant non-practice/"running/hiking/cooking" interest is that I'll occasionally advise political candidates on digital strategy. This is a volunteer gig I kept doing through law school because it was my job years ago.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 21, 2021 5:18 pm

Is politics too potentially divisive for an interests section? I imagine yes, but it's also probably my only interesting side hustle.

My most significant non-practice/"running/hiking/cooking" interest is that I'll occasionally advise political candidates on digital strategy. This is a volunteer gig I kept doing through law school because it was my job years ago.

Why not just drop the political part of it and say something along the lines of "digital media consulting."

I have interests on my resume, including some of the “generic” one mentioned here. It’s unfortunate that they are defaults for many people because mine really are genuine. If I run 50+ miles a week, should I capture that so as to escape the generic simple “running”? E.g. running (60 mpw) or something. Cooking might be easier to specify with type of cuisine of homemade whatever. I guess for hiking is the way to do it like: mountain hiking or 20mi hikes?

What are some more unique interests that others have shared? I have the generic as well, like sports and I specify which teams I'm a fan of, but looking to develop some new ideas on what I can add.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 21, 2021 8:43 pm

What are some more unique interests that others have shared? I have the generic as well, like sports and I specify which teams I'm a fan of, but looking to develop some new ideas on what I can add.

I have "hobbyist calligrapher, typographer, seamstress, and prop-maker" (replace the last two with "cosplayer" for the couple of firms that do a lot of nerd-adjacent work) on my resume, and calligraphy seems to be the one that most interviewers are really interested in.

I have "karaoke enthusiast," specifying the particular genres of music I most enjoy.

(Note, people will want to talk about these things, so don't make something up. For example, I've been asked what my go-to 3 songs from X genre are. It can be really hard to think of that sort of thing on the spot even when it is true.)

A friend who had "reading" on her resume once got asked for her 10 favorite books during a screener. I think she started listing harry potter books at some point . . .

Yeah, developing new ideas doesn’t make sense unless you’re choosing from a wide range of genuine hobbies that you actually do. You are very likely to get asked about these and someone who asks because they’re genuinely interested in that hobby will know instantly if you’re bullshitting. As someone suggested, if you can tweak into something a bit more specific that’s probably a good idea (long-distance running vs. running; French cuisine vs. cooking; sci-fi novels vs. reading) but if your interests are generic, I wouldn’t torture myself over this.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 21, 2021 8:42 pm

I have interests on my resume, including some of the “generic” one mentioned here. It’s unfortunate that they are defaults for many people because mine really are genuine. If I run 50+ miles a week, should I capture that so as to escape the generic simple “running”? E.g. running (60 mpw) or something. Cooking might be easier to specify with type of cuisine of homemade whatever. I guess for hiking is the way to do it like: mountain hiking or 20mi hikes?

I would do this. It makes the generic more interesting but still accurate. I have "Traveling without an itinerary" and get to tell cool stories about my adventures. It's more interesting than "Traveling" by a lot. My wife has "Cooking without recipes" for similar reasons. I think the distance thing is good enough for you. Just something a little different. Or you could list a couple of your favorite hiking spots.

Try to put yourself in the other person's shoes. What would be cool w/o overboard while still accurate.