Be Concise

Rather than writing long paragraphs detailing what you did at a previous firm, use bullet points and keywords. Recruiters and hiring managers alike will be more inclined to read through your bullet points than they will through a mini essay about what your past role entailed. It is also important to ensure that the skills that are most relevant to the current role you are applying for are listed in the first few bullet points followed by the rest.

Equally as important is to declutter your resume. For the most part, your casual employment at Target back when you were in school is not relevant to a role within the legal industry, so a simple date of employment and company name will suffice for these roles. After all, you want to save space for the important information that is relevant to the role you are applying for.

Include your professional skills

First and foremost, it is really important to include which area of law your work at a particular firm focused on (for both legal support and professional roles). A simple thing, yet many to most candidates forget to include this on their resume.

Whilst the required skills will certainly vary from a legal support role to a senior associate role, it’s a good idea to list some skills that are not just role-specific but relate to managing relationships and situations within the workplace. For example, are you a good communicator? What are your problem-solving abilities like? Are you flexible and able to work well within a team? These are skills that every employer wants you to have, regardless of the seniority of the role.

Be Professional

Avoid using your email account that you set up when you were 14… this may mean you have to create an account purely for job applications. You also want to ensure that you have used a professional font and size, for example, Times New Roman or Arial in size 10-12 (use different font sizes to either fill blank spaces or spare some room).

What about a photo? These days, we don’t believe it is necessary to include a photograph on your resume. However, if you are choosing to include one, make sure it is a simple headshot of yourself dressed the way you would to turn up to an interview.

Proofread!

We cannot stress this enough. As a recruiter, it is astounding how many resumes we see that have clearly not been proof read or had a spell check run through them. Particularly when a candidate has listed ‘excellent eye for detail’ as a skill, yet their resume is riddled with spelling mistakes… it’s not a good look. So, take the time to have a thorough read through it and if possible, get someone else to look over it for you with a fresh set of eyes!