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Managing Your Legal Career

King County Bar Bulletin

Resume How-To's

By Karen J. Summerville

Q. I have been practicing law for five years with the same firm. Recently, I decided that I want to explore opportunities in other firms or, possibly, in-house. My resume is out of date, and I would appreciate your suggestions for updating it.

A. Legal resumes look quite different than they did even five years ago, so you are wise to ask for suggestions. In the past, a lawyer's resume was a boring litany of work history and education. Effective resumes now contain information about an attorney's accomplishments, as well as a more generalized job description (e.g. "Extensive experience in civil litigation; responsible for case management from inception through trial."). Lawyers used to shun bullet points (it looked too much like ad copy). Now they use bullet points to highlight specific contributions and to differentiate themselves from the scores of other lawyers with similar areas of expertise.

Before you sit down to redo your resume, take a little time to reflect upon your professional accomplishments. What is an accomplishment? It is a specific, quantified contribution you have made in your practice. For example, if you were successful on a recent appellate brief, you could list:

Drafted winning appellate brief to overturn $1 million judgment against a Fortune 500, high-tech company.

This accomplishment highlights your writing abilities, experience working with high-tech companies, and your successful result. Merely describing the nature of your practice would not have as much impact as this accomplishment statement.

In essence, you want to demonstrate to a prospective employer that you will add value. Updating your resume by adding appropriate accomplishments can turn your resume into a more effective tool in your successful career search. Good luck!

Q. Recently I saw a classified ad for a non-legal position with the City of Seattle that looked perfect for me. Although I submitted my resume and cover letter, I never heard back. Because my qualifications appeared to be such a good fit, I couldn't believe that I didn't at least have an opportunity to interview. In discussing the situation with a friend, she asked if my resume was "scannable." Since I don't know what a scannable resume is, I can assume that mine probably wasn't. Please tell me what makes a resume scannable. And why is it so important?

A. Your friend is right to suggest that maybe you weren't called because your resume could not be scanned. More organizations, especially larger ones, are storing resumes in computer databases. When a resume is received, an electronic scanner takes a picture of the resume, and it is then analyzed by the optical character reading (OCR) software to convert it to letters and words that can be stored and later accessed. If the print is too small or an unusual font is used, the OCR software may not recognize the letters, and the resume stored in the database will be garbled.

In his book Resume Power (Mount Vernon Press 1996), Tom Washington outlines the simple steps to creating a scannable ("electronic") resume:

• Use sans serif typeface (e.g. Arial or Univers, not Times Roman).
• Use 12-point font in the text of your resume.
• Avoid use of italics and underlining.
• Limit your lines to 80 characters or less. (Spaces count as characters.)
• Avoid shading, columns, boxes or vertical lines.
• Do not compress spaces between letters or lines.
• Use white or very light paper for maximum contrast.
• Print your resume on a high quality laser printer.
• Do not bend or fold the resume.
• Send it in a large (9 x 12) envelope.

Following these guidelines should result in your resume being properly scanned and stored in most databases. Just getting your resume into the database is important, but it is equally important that it contain the appropriate key words so that it will be easily accessed in the future. Imagine that a person will later be assigned the task of searching the database for qualified candidates. The search is generally done using keywords, in many ways resembling a Lexis search. Unless your resume includes the requisite keywords, your resume will never show up in the search. Make sure to include synonyms and acronyms to ensure that your resume will not be missed.

To be safe, it is always best to make sure that an organization doesn't have additional or different requirements. Check the website or make a telephone call to make certain that you aren't missing something. For example, the City of Seattle's website provides specific guidelines for submitting resumes that differ in some respects from the general rules for preparing an electronic resume.

How do you know whether an electronic resume is required? If the organization is identified, call and ask if they scan resumes. (While you have someone on the line, ask for the name of the person to whom the cover letter should be addressed. If you need a scannable resume, your cover letter should also be scannable.) If they don't scan resumes, send one that is visually attractive (electronic resumes are not pretty). If you don't know which one to send, send both and attach a note to the one that is intended for scanning.

Yes, creating a scannable resume takes a little more time and effort. But there is no reason to submit a resume that will be garbled in a computer database and never be seen by the people making the hiring decision.