Guidelines for Preparing an Effective Paralegal Resume

The One-Page Rule

Certainly there is room for individual style; distinctive resumes that have a special flare are highly desirable within limits of acceptability. However, there is a quick-moving, to-the-point quality about all effective resumes, which is forced upon us by the One-Page Rule. The One-Page Rule, which grows logically from the 30-Second Rule, is simply, "Keep the resume from going over one page in length."


"I have done too much in my life to contain it on one page," protested one student. To which I responded: "The President of the United States could have a one-page resume!"

A well-written, highly edited resume goes through several phases. At its best, a resume is analyzed word by word. Each word should be essential to the particular description and the whole image. Is there another word that would fit better? Is this phrase too long? Could these two phrases be blended? Does that detail need to be in at all? Am I missing a crucial element to this description? Do all of these descriptions work to picture me as a viable paralegal candidate? As you go through this process, you will discover that your resume will likely get shorter.

Many two-page resumes are simply overwritten. They labor too long on past experiences that are only mildly relevant. Four-line descriptions can often be reduced to one. Some two-page resumes make too much use of white space and margins and thus waste space. Many techniques can be used to take the air out of two-page resumes. It is all a matter of editing to focus and bring out the key points. The sheer act of having to condense your background to one page automatically accomplishes for people what they could not have done without that discipline. The One-Page Rule is an automatic editor: Keep to it and you will see how quickly you develop the clarity and focus you need.

The 10-Year Rule and the Short/Long Rule

To fit in with the mandates of the 30-Second Rule and the One-Page Rule, the 10-Year Rule and the Short/Long Rule must exist. For the older paralegal applicant who has been in the working world for longer than 10 years, take heart in the fact that you have no special hidden requirement to cover more than the most recent 10 years. Some want to reach back farther than 10 years to include some meaningful past experience, but general reaction will be: "If you have to go back that far, is it really relevant experience?"

The Short/Long Rule is a corollary to the 10-Year Rule. Try to get at least three jobs on your resume (try not to fall short of that), but you need not go any longer than six jobs. There are obvious exceptional circumstances which might dictate violating these guidelines, but if you have only one page to work with, it is not advisable to go longer than six jobs for sheer lack of space. If you have fewer than three jobs, you certainly cannot invent past employment. However, there are volunteer experiences and educational endeavors which can add weight to the resume of a young person.

Self analysis and skill transference

Below, we will discuss how you can analyze your skills and present them as benefits to your potential employer.

A paralegal applicant with five past jobs is faced with a genuine challenge in writing a resume; in fact, with concentration, this exercise can be accomplished fundamentally in 15 minutes. The first task is just to analyze all the activities that were involved in each job. As an example, a restaurant background, though seemingly simple, is actually multifaceted. There is the public component, the memory component, physical activity, inventory, balancing, handling numbers and orders, dealing with vendors, handling irate customers, and the developing of diplomatic and personable qualities. A job can be broken down in terms of activities, which in turn evolve into skills. Then, a benefit can be highlighted for the attorney: "This is a hard working person who can handle stress and won't fly off the handle the first time things get tense."

Grouping activities and skills occurs naturally as you analyze activities and skills from the different jobs. To help you with this task, take 15 minutes and do the following: describe all of your past employment and experience on the basis of the raw descriptions. After describing them, analyze them for skills and group them. Create a picture of the image that is developing. Emphasize skills and talents that would be particularly beneficial to a legal office or setting. As you do this, you will discover a picture of yourself that you might not have perceived before.

This process can be enlightening. After this kind of exercise, you will conclude that you have a viability you might not have realized before in quite the same way. This exercise not only helps you with your skill analysis, but it also helps you with your self-image. Most of us need to stop minimizing ourselves.

Lead with the most impressive, substantial element first and then follow with the less imposing element. Opt for resume samples of individuals leading with computer and word processing systems experience. Take a proper note of the description of certain jobs in great detail that are in a fully embellished way and try to understand the level of responsibility and technical skill.

Beware of redundancy and repetition! One of the most common mistakes made in the work experience section is to mindlessly describe the same type of job three or four different times. This is stupefying, unless it relates directly to the job you are seeking. If you have jobs that are basically the same, take advantage of that and line the jobs up and describe them with one short paragraph. In this situation, you may want to make more of your education or special skills; use white space artfully and make the look more appealing. The worst thing you can do is make the descriptions dense, repetitive, and crowded.
 

• See 6 Things Attorneys and Law Students Need to Remove from Their Resumes ASAP If They Want to Get Jobs with the Most Prestigious Law Firms for more information.