With the pandemic threatening the world, economic crisis, fear, it is really easy to throw your hands in the air and give up. But that’s not what we stand for.

When people are being left without a job, and when many others are afraid whether or not they will find a job, any job they can find, we say go all in for what you really love to do.

In this article we will help you to write the best resume by sharing 5 powerful advice pieces that can help you. With this you can maximize your chances of getting hired, if being a lawyer is what you want.

This article is specific for lawyer resume because of most of our readers requests. But this guide can work for other professions too as this principles apply to most professions.

We will try to write guides for other common professions some other day, but if you are in a hurry you can use these general advices for every type of job.

In today’s market, there is fierce competition for the most coveted legal jobs and the only way to make a good impression on the recruiter is through a resume.

Your resume sets the stage for your employment status with the recruiter as it determines your chances of landing the job. In this guide, we will cover aspects of a legal resume that will help you display your skills effectively.

5 Important Advice to Write a Good One:

1. Craft a work experience section.

The professional experience section of your resume displays your work profiles and determines how your career achievements are relevant to the target job.

It proves that the work experience is extremely important for your profile.

There are a few factors that you need to master to craft a stellar work experience section.

For instance, making sure that the readability of your resume does not suffer and the information you include in it is easy to read. Here are few guidelines.

Keep it shorter. Avoid writing the job duties and responsibilities by using long paragraphs, frame one liner points that begin with an action verb like overseeing, administering, steering, etc.

Highlight keywords and figures in all your statements to improve the readability. This will ease the recruiter’s work and direct them towards the information you aim to showcase.

Create subheadings for 3 to 4 statements. For instance, subheadings for a lawyer resume can be “Asset Reconstruction & Resolution”, “Legal Agreements Drafting & Dispute Settlement”, etc.

Use full sentences. Avoid adding full stops while framing the statements as these points are not complete sentences and include your work profiles in reverse chronological order.

2. Include your skills.

Your resume should showcase your expertise effectively. Every lawyer specializes in a different field.

Most firms hire legal experts in different demesnes such as divorce, property feuds, living trusts or will or criminal law.

No matter what your expertise is, you should clearly mention it in the skill sections so that whether it is an agency or a client, they are facilitated while making a decision to hire you.

Again, your domain expertise is of paramount importance but you need to think of the required soft skills as well.

For instance, proficiencies like “Communication or Negotiation” are just as important as “Risk Assessment or Legal Due Diligence”.

3. Create a summary.

A resume summary is extremely important for your legal resume.

The idea is to place the summary at the top of your resume right below the name and add career accomplishments so that it is the first thing that a recruiter notices as it is a composition of your most revered achievements and job related skills.

Also, it is ideal to focus on what you can do for the organization or law agency you wish to join, instead of going into details how it can be beneficial to your career.

Below is an example of a resume summary for a lawyer, it will help you understand how to curate one:

“4+ years experienced Corporate Lawyer with a proven track record of understanding the client’s needs to steer the legal process. Proficient in drafting commercial contracts and transactions for achieving business objectives. Skilled at negotiating and concluding agreements with key stakeholders in the market.”

4. Make your resume job specific.

Most candidates draft one resume and use it for applying to multiple job posts.

It is highly likely that each job post you encounter will have a different set of requirements, so it is important to modify your resume as per the job description.

For instance, if the job post states that the organization requires candidates who possess the skills “Trademarks & Intellectual Property” then it should reflect on your resume.

This modification can dramatically improve your chances of getting hired and make your resume specific to the job you are targeting.

But it is not limited to skills, the job post may require you to have a master’s degree in international law or have 4+ years of experience.

The idea is to curate your resume by tracing these essentials in the job description.

5. Add your education details.

Include your education details in the resume in reverse chronological order. Also, be specific about the degree you have.

For example, do not just write “bachelor in administration”, include the honors category as well.