MASSACHUSETTSSCHOOL OF LAW

OFFICE OF CAREER SERVICES

PREPARATION FOR THE JOB SEARCH

Telephone: 978-681-0800

Michelle Hebert: ext. 62

Ro Bhasin: ext. 48

Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday- Friday

Evenings by appointment

CAREER SERVICES

Appointments are available with members of the Career Services staff to assist you in formulating your career plans and to provide you with information and material that will help you develop an effective job search plan.

CAREER FAIRS

When attending Career Fairs, be prepared. Come to the fair in business attire, with a polished resume, a “quick story” of your background and skills, and a positive attitude.

SELF-EVALUATION

Self-analysis is the most important and most frequently overlooked step in the job-search process. If you do it well, and are totally honest with yourself, the remainder of the job search will proceed much more easily.

Evaluating yourself involves identifying:

  • Your values: What is important to you?
  • Your skills: What are your strengths and weaknesses?
  • Your interests: What would you really like to do?

This self-assessment can be a lengthy process. However, unless you take the time and make the effort to consider these questions, it is unlikely that you will find a job that will satisfy you. There is enormous pressure during law school to find a job. Before you become involved in this process, it is important for you to start to think about the type of work and environment that you really want.

To assist you with this process, we have included several techniques to help you focus your preparation. In addition, the MSLAW career services office offers personalized instruction on resume and cover letter writing. Contact Michelle Hebert or Ro Bhasinto make your appointment.

Skills Inventory

List all the areas in which you have some competence and state your level of proficiency. A few categories of skills are:

  • Research
  • Writing
  • Leadership
  • Human Relations and Interpersonal
  • Communication
  • Client Development
  • Oral Advocacy

Experience Inventory

You will need to compile a complete job history for your resume. This experience inventory will help in writing your resume, as well as allow you to be better prepared for questions during an interview.

List all of the "substantial" jobs you have held, either paid or volunteer. Include all the tasks and responsibilities you had. Be sure to list what you accomplished in each position.

Focus on leadership and fiscal responsibilities, supervisory duties, opportunities for communication, initiative, independent problem solving and creativity. Employers look for functional skills, (i.e., those skills which are transferable from one job situation to another).

Lifestyle Considerations

You need to determine exactly what type or types of jobs you would like, where you would like to do it/them and how your particular lifestyle will affect the choice you make. Too often, people look for a job doing something that is contrary to their basic beliefs (e.g., an environmentalist working for an oil company, or someone interested in public interest law who accepts a position in a large corporate law firm).

Consider the following issues:

  • Geographical Location: major metropolitan area? Small town? East or West Coast? Midwest? Southwest?
  • Size of Employer: large (51+) vs. medium (26-50) vs. small (2-25)?
  • Hours: overtime required or expected? Vacation schedule? Flexibility? Family obligations?
  • Job Satisfaction: What are your goals: power? Prestige? Security? Salary? Dealing with complex issues? Dealing with social issues? Representing the under-represented?
  • Job Environment: client contact? Training? Independence? Responsibility?

There are likely to be many other lifestyle considerations that are important to you. Make sure that you address all of them. You do not want to look for or accept a position in a company or law firm that is the wrong type for you or in a location where you will not be happy.

Strengths and Weaknesses

At some point in your job search, you will be asked a question about your strengths and weaknesses. It will come in a variety of ways:

  • "What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?"
  • "Why should I hire you, and not the next person I interview?"
  • "What can you bring to our organization?"
  • "In what areas do you think you need to improve yourself?"

Use the following to identify your strengths and your weaknesses. You should highlight your strengths during an interview and provide specific examples of achievements which demonstrate that you posses these attributes. Be sure to pick out those areas of your background that you may feel uncomfortable talking about: your G.P.A., your lack of legal experience, your reasons for changing careers, any gaps in your schooling or jobs, and be prepared to discuss them. When identifying your weaknesses, try to choose areas in which you have improved and which do not directly relate to job performance. You should be able to talk openly and comfortably, even when discussing a difficult subject. Practice answering questions about your weaknesses in a positive and concise way. Do not dwell on the subject - instead, move on to how you have learned from the experience and segue into strength.

Ability to communicate
Clear speech and writing, good listening skills.

Intelligence
Common sense, as well as a high GPA.

Self-confidence
A self-assurance and trust in one's own ideas and abilities.

Willingness to accept responsibility
Acceptance of a challenge and ability to see tasks through to completion.

Initiative
Demonstrated enthusiasm in undertaking and following through with a task.

Leadership
The ability to guide and motivate others.

Energy level
Demonstrated ability to work hard and put in long hours when necessary.

Imagination
The ability to generate and contribute new ideas.

Flexibility
The ability to adapt to different people and situations.

Interpersonal skills
The ability to relate well to others. The art of diplomacy.

Self-knowledge
Knowledge of personal goals, capabilities and limitations.

Ability to handle conflict
The ability to function effectively under pressure.

Goal achievement
The ability to set realistic (or even lofty) goals and achieve them.

Competitiveness
An alert, alive, competitive spirit.

Vocational skills
The ability to think and reason in applying technical skills.

Direction
Knowing where you are going and why.

(From a survey conducted by the College Placement Council. Adapted from Cover Letters and Resumes, TulaneUniversityLawSchool, Office of Career Services.)

RESUMES, TRANSCRIPTS AND WRITING

About Resumes

A resume is a marketing tool - an advertisement of your qualifications. It is a summary of your education and experience, rather than an exhaustive personal statement. The resume serves to introduce you to a potential employer, to focus the attention of the interviewer on the pertinent areas of your background and to remind the employer after the interview is over of the important facts about you.

The resume is initially the only impression a prospective employer has of you. Thus, it is important that it reflects you as favorably as possible. There is no single perfect resume. Every employer has different criteria when reviewing a resume, and every individual has different qualifications and objectives. The most frequent criticism of resumes is that they say too much and end up being unfocused and vague. The content of the resume should be restricted to information that demonstrates why you would be an asset to that particular employer. It is often better to create several different versions of your resume - each tailored to a different practice area or type of work - than to try to make one resume appeal to all audiences.

When writing a resume, every word should be relevant - the text translating directly into benefits for the potential employer. Follow these four rules when deciding what information to include or exclude:

  • Illustrate your capacity to perform the job.
  • Convey your commitment to the geographic area.
  • Communicate your genuine interest in and knowledge of the practice area.
  • Distinguish yourself from the other applicants.

Once you write your resume, edit it vigorously, eliminating all details that are not essential to the message you want to convey.

Content of a Legal Resume

Heading
Choose from the samples provided (see Sample Resume Headings), or create your own. The heading includes:

  • Your Name, as you wish to be known professionally. This is the first piece of information that appears at the top of the resume and serves as the title. Note: The word "Resume" should not appear on your resume.
  • Your Address(es). Be sure to provide your current address and a telephone number where you can be reached. If your permanent (or "local") address is outside the Boston area, you may want to include it if you are seeking employment in that region. Including your e-mail address is optional.

Job Objective
This section is almost never appropriate on a legal resume. It is generally more effective to tailor your job objective to a particular position and include such a statement in your cover letter.

Education
For law students and recent graduates, the name of the law school, law school academic performance and law school achievements are usually the most important part of the resume. Put them first and in more detail than other educational experiences.

Outline education in reverse chronological order: (1) legal education, (2) graduate education, if any, and (3) undergraduate education. Indicate the month and year of graduation and the degree attained, as well as the address - city and state only - of each college or university. Indicate your anticipated law degree as: "Candidate for Juris Doctor", or "Juris Doctor anticipated". Following your degree, list any distinction you received, such as cum laude. Latin phrases should always appear in lower case letters and be italicized. Do not include high school education unless you are applying for jobs where your high school or hometown establishes important geographic ties.

Honors and Activities
Under each school you have attended, use separate subheadings such as "Honors," "Awards," or "Activities" to detail your academic achievements and organizational memberships in that school.

List all law school activities, including memberships (especially law review), committees and teams. Differentiate staff membership from membership on an editorial board. List any articles you have published. Highlight your leadership roles in organizations (i.e. President, Vice President). Indicate if you have a distinguished record in competitions (i.e. finalist, quarter finalist, best brief). If you had quite a number of collegiate activities, consider listing only those that are significant to you or the employer. List major honors received, including scholarships, elected offices and awards. If any of the honors or activities you include are not self-explanatory by title, include a brief description. If relevant, include "Worked 20 hours per week to finance education".

G.P.A.
Although the Career Services staff encourages employers to consider many indicators of competence, recruiters continue to focus on G.P.A.'s when selecting students to interview. This is more likely to be the case with large, well-known law firms and organizations than with smaller ones. It is, therefore, important to present yourself in the most favorable light. Employers will also look at your undergraduate G.P.A. as indication of your potential. As a general rule, if your G.P.A. is distinguished, 3.0 or better, include it. Otherwise omit it, but be prepared to discuss it in an interview. If your approximate class standing makes a more favorable impression than your G.P.A., indicate "top 20 % of class" or "top third of class." MSLAW does not officially compute class rank. The Registrar does, however, make available to prospective employers a statistical chart of approximate percentile ranks based on students' grade point averages. G.P.A.'s should be presented on your resume as they appear on your transcript. You do not need to carry it out as many digits, but you may not round up your G.P.A.

Experience/Employment
Either word can be used, but "experience" offers the advantage of encompassing paid, volunteer, intern and clinical positions. List jobs in reverse chronological order. This section can be divided into "Legal Experience", "Professional Experience", "Related Experience", "Work Experience", or "Other Experience" categories. This is particularly useful for students with extensive work experience prior to law school. For each position, list the name of the organization, job title, city and state and dates of employment. Note that it is easier to read "Summer 1998" than "June 1998-August 1998" or "6/98-8/98." It is not necessary to provide a complete inventory of every position you have held, nor to make distinctions among full-time, part-time and volunteer work.

When describing your employment experience, include more details for jobs that involved legal responsibility. Other employment can be summarized briefly to avoid leaving large gaps in your employment history. If your experiences are not directly applicable to the position, then describe transferable skills that you have acquired in different subject areas that demonstrate similarities with the employer's work. Common legal skills that almost all organizations look for include research, writing, client interviewing, and evidence of analytical organizational and leadership skills. Consider summarizing in a single sentence a number of different kinds of work you have done. For example: "Held various positions including camp counselor, waitress and lifeguard to defray costs of education."

Use short phrases, not sentences, to describe employment. Begin each entry with a law-related action verb (see Action Words For Resumes and Cover Letters such as "Coordinated," "Drafted," "Oversaw," "Researched." Review how an employer describes its work, and then convey that you understand the field by using similar language to describe your own job responsibilities or activities. Use present tense of verb for current job(s), past tense for past jobs. Omit articles "a," "an" and "the" whenever possible. Omit personal pronouns.

List the most substantial responsibilities and achievements first. Be brief but specific, including #'s, $'s and %'s whenever possible. For example, "Supervised staff of 15", "Managed $45,000 budget", or "Increased sales by 15 percent".

Foreign Language
If you are fluent in a foreign language, this should be noted on your resume. You may be asked to demonstrate your skills during an interview, so be sure to accurately convey your level of proficiency. You can use these descriptions: fluent, proficient, conversant, working knowledge of...

Military Service
Optional. However, this is impressive to many employers and should be listed as employment.

Publications
Indicates previous research and writing experience. Include if relevant.

Skills
Do not list personality attributes such as "able to work with minimal supervision". Only list computer skills if they are extra-ordinary. Most lawyers and law students have word processing and Westlaw/Lexis-Nexis skills, so listing them is unnecessary.

Personal
Such information as health, weight, age, marital status and number of children is not relevant for most legal jobs.

Outside Interests and Activities
This category is optional, but can show that you are a well-rounded individual. It often provides good topics for conversation during an interview. Only include special accomplishments or unique interests and hobbies that identify a personal strength or significant accomplishment. Mastering a musical instrument or excelling as an athlete indicates an ability to succeed in several different areas. Avoid common interests such as "enjoy movies, reading and sports".

The Format of a Legal Resume
Though the substance of the resume is more important than the form, the visual aesthetics of your resume are surprisingly important. Readability is the primary objective. Information should be clear, concise and presented in a consistent writing style and format throughout the document. Experiment with different layouts. Keep tabs and margins consistent and limit the number of different fonts and sizes you use. Judicious use of white space, capitalization, indenting, bold-face print and italics can serve to make your resume more interesting, aesthetically appealing, and easier to read. (See Resume Format).

Limit your resume to one page if possible. Research suggests that employers spend only 30-45 seconds reviewing a resume before determining if a candidate should be interviewed. Two pages are acceptable only if you have many relevant experiences, but be sure every entry is salient. Print your name and "Page 2" in the top margin of the second sheet, and staple the two sheets together.

Resumes should be produced on a computer with a laser printer. They can then be commercially photocopied on 8 1/2"x11" high-quality white or off-white bond paper. Darker colors are more difficult to read and can produce photocopies which are shaded or streaked. Aim for a crisp, professional look.