A great resume shows an employer who you are as an employee and that you possess the necessary skills to do the job well.  Accordingly, it is crucial to engage in sincere self-assessment before, during and after the drafting process.  A great resume can also withstand the 30-second scan, which is the amount of time hiring managers initially spend looking at a resume.  Your goal, of course, is to create a resume that catches the hiring person’s eye and is an authentic representation of your skills.  Incorporating the three strategies below will assist you in developing a resume that strikes the proper balance.

Know Thyself

Think of your resume as a marketing tool designed to sell yourself to potential employers.  It should speak to an employer in your absence by showcasing your skills, highlighting your abilities and quantifying your professional accomplishments.  Therefore, it is important to focus on accomplishments not just job responsibilities.  When showcasing your skills, resist the urge to list rote responsibilities; instead try to qualify them.  For example, don’t write “researched and analyzed case law on various legal topics” instead try “conducted research and analyzed cases on consumer protection laws, statute of limitation in fraud actions and immigration decisions in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.”  Use formatting such as bold, underline, and italics to literally highlight your abilities; e.g., Supervised and trained staff of ten individuals on technical use of online deposition software.  Finally, include professional accomplishments, like “promoted to supervisor within three months” or “received employee of the month award for identifying cost-saving measures in operating budget.”  Knowing yourself and including what makes you different from other candidates makes a good resume great.

Know your Audience

Understanding your audience is also important to creating a great resume.  Tailoring your resume to the type of employer or job for which you are applying will make a good resume great.  It is very important to recognize that all work environments are not alike and that different employers value different attributes.  For example, a large law firm may value your previous experience as a paralegal, while a small law firm may be more interested in the work you recently did in a Widener Law Clinic.  Is the employer structured or do they value a jack-of-all-trades?  Preparing your resume with these questions in mind will help you tailor your resume to the needs of your audience and will help you to standout from the mountains of generic resumes.

Know the Job

It is always important to create a resume with the responsibilities of the job in mind.  Employers spend considerable time drafting job postings that identify their required and preferred qualifications.  If you incorporate keywords found in the job description into your resume you make it easy for the reviewer to determine that you have the skills needed to the do the job.  A great resume will have all of the required qualifications listed as well as many of the preferred skills.

Resumes play an important part in the job search process.  They introduce you to an employer and should demonstrate why you are the best candidate.  Knowing yourself, your audience and the job are crucial to drafting a resume that does just that.  A good resume can become a great resume with a little effort and attention.

So why are soft skills important? Jobs that are considered service positions such as lawyers demand team work. They put a premium on people skills and the ability to keep and increase a client base. Many attorneys are hired for the sole purpose of rainmaking or getting new clients. These new clients are needed for the survival of the firm.

In addition, in today’s economic climate, clients are more cautious about spending their money. They want their money’s worth and will not sit still and merely listen to what lawyers say and then follow through like a programmed robots.   They want service but they also want attention, respect for their opinions and questions and maybe a little hand-holding. They want to provide input because they are spending their money.

Enter soft skills. Lawyers with soft skills know how to listen, communicate effectively and positively, create a good environment and convey a positive attitude.  These lawyers are able to keep their clients and attract more clients.

So how do we learn these soft skills? Soft skills are being taught every day, you just have to look around you. Paying attention to the people in your world and how they interact with each other is actually a great way to learn soft skills. The best class available to you is your world. The good news is that this class is available to you 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.  Look around and watch people interacting.  Watch political campaigns and television ads. Notice the leaders at your firm.  Most do not get where they are based solely on their intelligence.  They are the masters of soft skills or soft sell. Most likely, they have mastered the soft sell skill of persuasion.  For example, in politics, candidates often try to select words and tone or adjust the volume of their voices to persuade you to choose them.  If you listen carefully, you will hear how candidates use soft sell skills to get elected.  Similarly, most advertising agencies use soft sell skills to persuade you to buy their product.  How many of us either tune out or turn off those loud commercials that try to persuade us to buy products in a loud, demanding voice? If advertisers use the soft skills of knowing your audience and communicating effectively to increase the bottom line, shouldn’t lawyers?

So before you go for your next interview or networking event, get in touch with your soft side and your soft sell skills.  Combine your soft skills with your hard skills.  By doing so, you will have created a duo that employers covet and boosted your odds of getting the second interview and the job!

“If you are unemployed, this work shows that you have been productive.” states J. Challanger, CEO of Challanger, Gray, & Christmas, a Chicago outplacement firm. Continuing, Mr. Challanger further noted “and if you are already employed, your volunteer work supplements the experiences you gained on the job.”

Substantive work like managing a pro bono project,  writing the first draft of a motion, performing intake are attractive to organizations because these skills are transferable to various sectors of the legal industry. To maximize your opportunities, try to devote your volunteering time to a cause that closely aligns with your choice of area of practice.

Of course, volunteering is also one of the best ways to start your networking.  You will likely meet many influential people who may be in a position to help you. You also will have a visible platform to showcase the skills you’ve gained.  Remember to collect business cards AND follow up with people you meet, making specific plans to reconnect with them in the future.

As your volunteer work is important, be sure to list it appropriately on your resume.   You can create a “volunteering” sub-section or, depending on the nature of the work, you may want to list your volunteer work under the work experience section of your resume. Wherever you list it, make sure to highlight the transferable skills (negotiating, writing, analyzing, researching, etc.) you used and the other new skills you have gained.

One caution: be very careful about listing volunteer work that is overtly political or religious organizations unless you are CERTAIN that your affiliation with these groups will viewed in a positive light.

“So, what do you want to do with your law degree? Have you selected an area of practice?”

You (to yourself): “Wait a minute. I don’t have time or motivation to think about the future. Right now, all I want is to graduate, get a job and pass the bar.”

Understood.

The CDO is now providing coaching, a new service that will help you uncover a career path that connects you with your passion, brings your goals to life, provides direction and moves the vision for your career out of your head and into action.

Coaching takes you one step beyond counseling on your career path. It all starts with knowing yourself. While coaching, you will develop a working relationship with the coach built on mutual trust. You, the student, are not passive in this relationship. In fact, you are respected as knowing the answers to every question or challenge you may have in your life. Although these answers may be hidden, obscured or concealed, the coach has the right interactive tools and techniques to empower you to find the answers. The coach will also help you find the blocks that are stopping you from gaining success. You are able to connect your head with your heart in a way that transforms your dreams into actions.

Coaching can help everyone including the student that has not thought about her career or the student who knows what she wants but does not know how to reach her goal. Coaches can also help students validate their choice of career. In essence, students in any stage of their career search can use the skills of a coach!

After reading this article you should be able to transform your LinkedIn profile into a valuable tool in your job search arsenal.  For a tutorial on getting started using LinkedIn go to http://learn.linkedin.com/.  Keep in mind at all times that LinkedIn is a business tool and should always be professional in nature.  

Build Your Network

Whether you are a law student or a newly minted lawyer, creating connections should be one of your highest priorities as seasoned attorneys are often in the best position to offer advice and guidance.  Gain the competitive advantage by building your LinkedIn network early.  So who should you invite first?

1.     Law school colleagues and college friends, professors and/or administrators.
2.     Past employers and colleagues.
3.     Family members, close and distant.
4.     Childhood friends.
5.     Anybody you’ve meet in the past that has a profile and who you believe would be an asset to your network of connections.
6.     Join groups and association for access to industry specific news and to grow your network.

As you develop your network strive to first add people you know personally and eventually expand it to include other strategic connections.

Update Your Profile

It is important that you complete your profile and enter all pertinent information about your professional development.  Recruiters use LinkedIn to search for candidates that fit their skills profile and will often search for profiles based on keywords found therein.  A thorough profile increases your odds of being discovered by recruiters looking for your specific skill set.  What should you include in your online profile?

•     Develop a summary statement about yourself that is compelling and concise.

Click here to view a Widener Law Alumni’s summary statement that is thorough and includes both professional and academic achievements.

1.     List all current and past employers including dates of employment.  Focus on successes and skills gained.
2.     Include all schools attended and be sure to list Widener Law School.
3.     Add skills, certifications, courses, languages, organizations, honors and awards to your profile.
4.     Be certain to upload a professional picture.  Your connections will see your picture and remember you and will be more likely to accept the invitation to join your network.

There are many other subcategories available under the profile tab.  The more detailed and precise you are the better and more useful your LinkedIn profile will become.  Also remember to update your profile as things change.  A stale but thorough profile can be as useless as an incomplete one.

Officers of student organizations are tasked with responsibilities that separate them from the general membership and make them more attractive to potential employers.  These responsibilities include overseeing the other members and officers, creating budgets, organizing committees and running fundraisers. Individual officers also gain important skills that are directly transferrable to becoming a successful lawyer.  The president runs the meetings and gains significant experience both in communication and public speaking skills.  The secretary records the minutes of the meetings and gains drafting and organization skills.  The treasurer prepares financial documents and coordinates the money flow of the organization. All members of the Board help develop and implement goals for the year thereby gaining important strategic skills. These are skills that legal employers will view favorably.

Law students should consider taking on additional responsibilities in the organizations of which they are members, not only to become more marketable, but also to gain valuable skills that are certainly transferrable to a successful career as a lawyer.

Departing from my temporary phase of amnesia, I knew that I came to law school wanting to divulge into the world of legal and political analysis, journalism, and reporting. What I love about the law is that it is an eternal philosophy.  The law is this beautiful, twisted, reflection of man, trying to figure out how to create the optimal society in which man can live happiest.  No one can perfect the law because the law is constantly evolving. This is what drove me to law school. This is what I wanted to focus my career on.

I decided to apply to an internship at CBS Philadelphia.  In hindsight, I didn’t know what to expect.  I didn’t know I would get to work with an investigative reporter and cover the most publicized cases in the media all summer.  I didn’t know I would meet some of the best and worst criminal defense attorneys, prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement officials.  Perhaps most importantly, I didn’t know I was making the best decision of my early career by following my gut in applying to that job.

So what did I learn after my first year in law school?  I learned that the practice of law allows for a myriad of professional careers.  I learned that it is crucial to remember who you are and what you want out of life.  When those principles are combined with the beautiful, ever transforming and growing practice of law, anything is possible.

For example, suppose the Registrar calculates a student’s GPA as 2.985.  A student may be very tempted to generously round the GPA up to a 3.0, which often looks better on a resume.  If you think the student has done the right thing, think again!  The Registrar’s calculations are the official statement of class standing and GPA, and while a 2.985 may technically and mathematically round up to a 3.0, most employers may view this rounding as disingenuous at best and at worst dishonest.  To be safe, a student can round the above GPA to 2.99 keeping the tenths place for accuracy.  It is important to always precisely state your GPA as your professional reputation begins to develop even before you leave law school.

A second temptation to overstate your qualifications might surface when explaining one’s work experience.  For example, on a resume a student may flatly state, “Wrote opinion.”  While that may sound impressive, it is an overstatement, unless the student drafted every section of the document without editing by any third party.  Even if the statement is true, it is customary to reflect that you, “Drafted or assisted in drafting opinion.”  The revised statement allows the students to showcase their legal writing skills but does not overestimate the student’s role in the drafting process.

The examples above are only two of many ways in which students sometimes overinflate their credentials and skills.  It is important to strike a balance between highlighting your best assets without overestimating them.  The key to being competitive is to be honest about your credentials and to understand that your professional reputation is often your best asset.

You’ve heard before that networking is one of the most productive ways to get a job yet few take advantage of this important job search tactic.  So the question is:  How can you push past your mental blocks around networking? First, recognize that networking is merely connecting with others and that the most necessary ingredient in a successful connection is authenticity.  So resist the temptation to put up a front while networking.  You must be “real”, revealing parts of yourself, not hiding behind a mask or protective covering.

Of course, it takes courage to be vulnerable, to take a risk with another person, and to trust that that the person with whom you are trying to connect will reciprocate.  Despite the difficulty, push past these mental obstacles and be authentic in your interactions with others. If you do so, you will find it easier to identify commonalities and build a strong foundation for networking.  And when the foundation is strong, you can get the support and mentorship that will propel you into real career opportunity. So while you are networking, look for ways to build on your authentic connection.  Be willing to do the other person a favor.  Share ideas, articles or your time. Keep in contact and you will know when to help. Act as a reference. Pass on job leads.  If you do these things, your networking bonds will be strong, paying dividends throughout your career.

The definition of leadership varies and what constitutes a leader is wider still.  But many experts agree that every good leader should possess some or all of the following skills:

1. Integrity
2. Vision/Strategy
3. Effective communication skills
4. Relationship building
5. Persuasion
6. Adaptability
7. Teamwork
8. Coaching and development
9. Decision-making
10. Planning

Opportunities to distinguish yourself as a leader in law school are plentiful, and it is important not to overlook the small ways in which you can build your skills.  First, take on a leadership role in an extracurricular activity.  Consider becoming a board member on a journal, moot court or officer for the student bar association.  These experiences will help you to learn leadership skills that include: running an effective meeting, building group consensus and buy-in and prioritizing assignments.

Building leadership skills also means increasing your understanding of substantive law.  Seek out opportunities to gain expertise in law school by applying for school-year or summer internships, the Wolcott fellowship and/or other clinic opportunities. You not only will gain valuable knowledge but also will build confidence in your decision-making and communication skills.

Lastly, remember that no leader stands alone. Your ability to build and maintain a strong network is critical! Fortunately, law school can provide a safe haven to forge relationships with professors, practitioners and colleagues while building career-boosting character traits such as integrity and vision.

Remember that no matter where your career takes you, the chance to lead will always be present. Preparing now for these future opportunities will enhance your leadership profile and equip you to handle the everyday challenges of being a lawyer.