Legal Resume Writing Success for the Recent Graduate: General Formatting of Your Resume

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

by Shauna C. Bryce, JD, CPRW

As a recent graduate entering the legal job market, you may find the idea of putting together a coherent résumé can seem overwhelming. There are, however, basic formatting guidelines -- and they are not the same as what many generalized résumé books tell you.

Font

Many résumé books will tell you that you can use any legible font, even creative ones for your name, headers, and such. This is not true for the legal résumé. Legal employers tend toward formality and conservatism. The safest fonts for the legal résumé are Times New Roman, 12pt or 11pt, or similar fonts.

Of course, all text must be black. If you wish to emphasis something, then the preferred way to do so is bold text, italics, or "all caps." Underlines can confuse electronic scanners, so avoid underlined text. Remember: do not overuse emphasis.

Graphics

Again, some résumé books advise job candidates to use graphics to set their résumés apart from the crowd. It is true that using graphics in the legal résumé will draw attention to it --unfortunately, all the wrong attention. Almost no graphics are acceptable in a traditional legal résumé. Notable exceptions include simple bullets and graphic lines separating sections of your résumé. Graphics are a clear case of "when in doubt,leave it out."

Margins, Line Spacing, and Other White Space

Your résumé must be easy to read. White space around the edges of the paper (i.e., margins) help make your résumé easy to read. In most cases, your résumé should have 1-inch margins on all four sides. Margins may be shaved to keep content to one page.

Your text should be single-spaced. Between blocks of text, consider adding additional space. Large blocks of text should be broken up for easy reading.

Keep in mind that all this white space has another purpose: it allows prospective employers and recruiters to make notes.

Justification

Unlike most documents, much of your résumé will be full justified. This justification makes your résumé appear neat and tidy, as well as gives the page balance.

Length

For the vast majority of recent graduates, résumés should be a single page. Recruiters and hiring attorneys have reported that their eyes glaze over at the sight of long résumés, and some do not bother to turn the page. When a recruiter has hundreds of résumés to review in an hour or two, she cannot afford to spend time reviewing your high school achievements. One hiring attorney went so far as to say that unnecessarily long résumés suggest to him that the job candidate does not know how to prioritize.

Even second career graduates can usually keep their résumés to one page because many of the details about that first career will not be relevant to your legal job search.

Grammar and Punctuation

Legal résumés are not written in complete sentences. Rather, they are composed mostly of partial sentences. Generally, each partial sentence should begin with a capitalized verb and end with a period. For the purposes of your résumé, the exclamation point does not exist. Ampersands should be sparingly, as should acronyms. Within these conventions, your grammar and punctuation should be, of course, perfect.

Objective Statements

Objective statements are generally unnecessary for the legal résumé.After all, if your objective is anything other to excel at the target employer, then why are you sending her your résumé? Most of the time, objective statements state only the obvious, are too general, or sometimes even counterproductive to your job hunt.

Further, the harsh truth is that most employers are far more concerned with their objectives than yours. The bottom line is that the target employer wants someone who fill her needs.

Chronological Résumés

Almost all résumés fall into one of two categories: chronological or functional. The first is fairly self-explanatory -- it's a timeline of your relevant history. The functional résumé groups your experience by skill set. Usually, the appropriate format for the legal résumé is chronological.

Every Résumé is Different

At the end of the day, remember that every résumé is different. They are all different because they reflect the experiences, interests, goals, and potential of different persons. Just as no two persons are identical, no two résumés will be. Thus, even if you choose to begin with a template, you will need to deviate from it in order to present the unique you in the best possible way.

Final Thoughts

Express your creativity in content, not format. If your résumé is difficult to read, then prospective employers will not read it!

About the Author
Shauna C. Bryce is a graduate of Harvard Law School and The Johns Hopkins University and is a Certified Professional Resume Writer. As a lawyer, she reviewed countless résumés, conducted interviews, and served on a law firm's Hiring Committee. She then established a unique résumé writing service for legal professionals: Résumé Galleria LLC,specializing in The Art and Craft of the Legal Résumé™. www.ResumeGalleria.com

Source: www.goarticles.com