We’ve all been told that a resume’s purpose is simply to get you an interview.
Sound familiar? I used to say this to lawyers years ago, and I believed it. Today, I’m not so sure, and I don’t espouse this any more.
Over the years, I’ve seen how resumes — marketing pieces more pressure-inducing on us than prospects of a root canal — can achieve so much more. The angst is worth the effort.
Let me explain. Borrowing LinkedIn terminology, consider your “connections” in life — colleagues, former colleagues, teachers, friends, family, etc.
For a minute, think about this collection of people. Honestly consider how many in this patchwork group you think may have a perfect job for you. I will go out on a limb and guess, maybe 1 percent? Maybe none? Either way, it’s slim pickings.
I apologize for this negative spin. There is immeasurable optimism, too.
Going back on that limb, here’s another prediction. I estimate that about 100 percent of those on your patchwork quilt — 100 percent of any group of people — have concerns that are important to them, their “needs and interests.” Do you know anyone who isn’t worried about something?
If you’re a job-seeker, this simple fact of life may help you. When you meet someone new or reach out to someone you know, he or she has needs and interests. If you think about it, perhaps you can strike a chord and become needed.
Here’s how your resume can work wonders. I suggest that this dread-inducing marketing piece should (and can) resonate with the people you know. In fact, I’ve seen countless situations where a well-written resume has awakened potential employers about their own needs — even when they were never looking to hire anyone in the first place.
Great resumes have inspired unsuspecting employers to find ways to hire both in traditional and non-traditional ways.
I contend that if you can clearly showcase your value in your resume, you can inspire your Starbucks job-prospect date to do four things: consider ways to use your talents, find a budgetary source to pay you, clear a desk for you and transfer a back credenza upon it — ecstatically.
To help you stir this kind of response, I offer three suggestions for your resume.
First, make it very easy to “get you.” You’ve heard that your resume won’t get a potential employer’s attention on a good day for more than 30 seconds. Therefore, make it easy for him or her.
Pretend your audience has the attention of a third-grader. (I don’t mean to demean. Rather, think about a busy law firm partner’s office — clients are calling, associates are knocking, a messenger awaits a signature. Maybe it’s the attention of a fifth-grader, my apologies.)
In order to be clear and concise, use bullet points to describe what you’ve accomplished. Flush dates to the right margin. Don’t let dates, which don’t really help sell you, get scrambled in with your successes.
Second, clearly delineate your bullet points and showcase what you have accomplished. For each bullet, include (a) the issue(s) you solved, (b) for what type of clients, (c) under what circumstances and (d) what value you gave.
Did you win or settle favorably? Can you quantify your results in some way? Most importantly, how did you change your clients’ life, increase their sales or save their nest eggs? (The use of semicolons helps encapsulate your work and achievements clearly.)
Don’t throw more than one major achievement into a bullet. Pull apart your victories, describing each thoroughly and independently of each other. Think of each like one thread of a spider’s web that needs to be stretched out to its edge. When you stretch each thread of the web, you increase your chances of catching more flies sitting on your Starbucks date’s back credenza.
Showcase what you can offer not only in the depth of your bullets but in breadth, too. Hypothetically, if you have 15 jaw-dropping bullet points describing the tremendous value you gave clients during your 1L or 2L summer, I’m great with that.
Frankly, if I’m hiring, I care more about what you’ve done and what you can do more than I care about your 1-inch margin around the page. Others will surely disagree with me about this, but I value substance over form. I’d rather err on the side of knowing what you’ve accomplished for clients with matters like mine.
Against popular opinion, I also believe in ½-inch margins all around. This rule-breaker, to me, immediately tells someone who doesn’t know you that you are a busy, accomplished person. The “meat and potatoes” of your resume is the substance of what you have done.
True, it may be unorthodox to showcase 15 bullets about your successes for one position. Again, if I am hiring someone to provide exceptional services to my clients, the heart and soul of my practice, an attorney who effectively communicates his or her value gets my attention — even if I haven’t realized that I’m hiring yet.
Third, you want to shine? As mentioned above, quantify your successes. Go back to those 1L or 2L firm partners if needed and ask how their clients fared after you researched and advised about their legal issues. Did the clients heed the advice you espoused? What did they save or gain?
With this last suggestion, I have been accused of being too tough on job-seekers, requiring them to follow up with previous employers. I’ll concede, I’m demanding. Still, a job-seeker only has to ask.
If the partner doesn’t know the answer, ask for permission to contact the client and politely inquire. Especially if the result was a good one, this request will only serve as a positive reminder. In fact, the client may have a new legal issue, leading to more business for that firm.
Legal work has increased tremendously in the last quarter of 2014. The job market has opened up as a result. While some lawyers on either side of the Starbucks table will feel more comfortable with traditional resumes (and new graduates may appropriately be dissuaded from these suggestions entirely), I know that lawyers are hired regularly in nontraditional ways.
If you are looking for a new opportunity, you should assess your own comfort level in breaking some of the rules. I won’t promise you an open-minded audience every time. You may be surprised, however, that your unconventionally delivered message may strike a chord, leading to a job, even when a position was never envisioned before the latte.