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It is now common to see stiff competition for lawyer jobs. The latest associate attrition report reveals that there is an estimated decay of around 50% in associate hiring. However, the important aspect is that candidates that are specialized in labor employment, bankruptcy, intellectual property, data security, healthcare, and insurance are in peak demand.
Surveys show that law school graduates are finding it difficult to land into the right jobs, but if they work on some specialized field expertise, they can enter the law firm of their choice with ease. Before you apply for a job and become a part of a huge crowd of applicants over there, it is important to equip yourself with the essential tools, and making a great resume should be your first priority.
When you are willing to prove your edge among others, it is good to optimize your resume to get short-listed for the interview. Whether you are looking for tips on how to make your accomplishment worth noticeable, or are in need of some tips on the design, the below article can help you create a winning resume for your legal job. If you follow these expert tips, your resume will definitely get noticed, and you will have hired changes to land your dream job.
Work on design
While preparing your legal resume, the first impression matters the most. Same as you cannot appear at the law firm in sweatpants, you should not send them a disorganized resume lacking adequate professional polish. It is not just about the content; your lawyer resume should look professional as well. A ready-to-read design with a simple appeal can help you boost your chances of getting short-listed. Instead of spending several hours designing and organizing your resume, you can use some graphic design tools to achieve desired outcomes.
Add a summary statement
In your profession, you are trained to make persuasive and concise arguments – you can use this skill to make your resume more impressive. You should add your lawyer profile or summary statement as the opening line of your resume. Only two to four effectively written sentences are enough to summarize who you are while demonstrating your abilities and accomplishments. For instance, you can write who the lawyer is, what is your passion or type of practice and the areas of expertise in which you are successful.
Highlight your skills
Before listing a few basic skills that may commonly come to your mind, think of the specialized skill set that can prove your edge over others. The attributes you choose to write in your resume must be significant, and they should highlight your specialties. Note that your employer wants you to showcase legal industry-specific skills along with some interpersonal skills. You can talk about your critical thinking ability, mediation, conflict resolution, ability to handle pressure, negotiation, legal research, oral arguments, and persuasive writing.
List your educational background
Instead of providing information about your entire academic career, you should highlight the most relevant parts of your education that are suitable for the law firm you are applying for. Include legal honors and designations along with notable accolades, certificates, and memberships. If you are interested in expanding on your educational background in the future to add value to your career, you can also mention those details in the cover letter. Do not forget to talk about your legal experience.
Demonstrate your tech-savvy expertise
Law firms these days are looking for people that can work efficiently with the latest technologies. There are plenty of software tools that you can utilize for streamlining the entire legal process, such as CRM software, client intake management tools, and cloud-based legal practice management software. It is also possible to facilitate remote work routines with advanced tools to ensure an enhanced client experience. Technical skills can help you gain the confidence of potential employers that they need not spend more money to train you on systems and software.
Define your legal practice area
What specific position you are expecting in your job hunt. Do you prefer working in immigration law or wish to specialize in your career field in family law? No matter what was your past work profile, you can list the career preferences that you want to opt for or that you are not interested in as well. There is no point in presenting a generic resume to the employer; you should tailor the details with added focus to keywords, work history, and skills that are relevant to the preferred legal practice area.
Carefully craft content and language
As soon as you have prepared a lawyer resume with specific career preferences, it will be easier to customize its appeal. You can also try to match the tone and language of the specific firm to which you are applying. The best way is to go through their website to understand their writing technique and tone. Based on the learning, you can work on various sections of your resume to make it more relevant to the hiring firm. You can also take help from some latest resume scanning software and language correction tools to craft the most accurate content.
Use keywords creatively
Experts advise integrating key phrases and keywords creatively into lawyers’ resumes. It may help you highlight what specific legal job you are applying for. This tip is more important if you are submitting a job application at a big firm. Do not copy-paste words from some random documents; you have to customize details as per the job requirement. As law firms these days use high-end algorithms to screen resumes, your application can get short-listed if it has the right set of keywords.
Now you have learned various lawyer resume preparation tips from experts. You can use them to create an attention-grabbing resume, and it will soon help your skills and expertise get noticed for a vacancy in your targeted personal injury litigation law firm. Make sure you keep relevancy, experience, and skills in mind while applying for a job to succeed.
