Why Must I Change My Email Address on My Resume?

By Randi S. Lewis
Founder, Resume Boutique LLC
info@resumeboutique.com

Throughout the years, we have job seekers to change their email addresses where the addresses may lead an employer to question their professionalism or maturity.  This simple suggestion has been met with almost universal resistance because people are wedded to their email addresses.  Typically, it's the name before the @ that is the problem, such as:  "mikeysmith" (suggests lack of maturity) or "beergal69" (suggests lack of professionalism) that should be changed.  In other circumstances the questionable email address includes the email provider too.  Consider this email address:  "[any name or initial]pleasant@excite.com."  You don't want the employer wondering why you have that email address instead of considering your qualifications to fit the job. 

It is so important to keep your contact information professional that we offer this suggestion: 

Keep your personal email separate from your job search email.  Simply open a free email account like "gmail" and use your gmail address for all employment-related communications. 

One Anecdote: Patience and Tenacity in Your Job Search in this Economy

One of our Resume Boutique clients just landed a job after a long search.  A Connecticut-based lawyer, he moved to New York City and took a temporary position with the thought that soon he would land a full time job.  But within eight months, the New York legal market began to take a nose dive.  So he did what he had to do.  He was fortunate enough to work for on very long term projects for two firms.  He contacted us in the summer of 2010.  After he took the third temporary position, we recommended grouping all the contract work in one section rather than by law firms.  We continued to refine his resume during this process to present the temporary positions in a manner that enhanced but didn't detract from his credentials.  We also drafted numerous cover letters for different industries. The greatest concern regarding his resume was that there would be too many positions listed that might lead a recruitment professional to discard the resume without taking a second look.

Specifically, the contract work looked like this with bullet points below it summarizing the most relevant information from each position:

Contract Attorney, New York, NY

Aug. 2007 – Present

Contract lawyer for matters involving large financial, securities, and employment actions.  Representative work:

Thinking Outside the Box: Your Approach to Finding a Legal Job in a Tight Job Market

By Randi S. Lewis and Ellen B. Feldman

The Current Reality:

The legal job market is slow. But remember, nothing in life is permanent. The market will change.

Dealing With Your Current Reality:

1. Prepare an updated, accurate resume to be able to provide to anyone at a minute’s notice.
2. Evaluate your skill set and determine the legal and non-legal market for your skills.
3. Research the job market via internet, legal newspapers, trade associations, peer groups, professional and personal contacts, and legal search firms.
4. 
   
   Determine your flexibility:
   

   (a) Are you willing to take a pay cut? (b) Are you willing to relocate? (c) Are you willing to take a non-lawyer position? (d) Are you in a position to take a volunteer position in a legal setting? (e) Are you willing to travel for your job?

5. Do not apply for specialized positions for which you are absolutely not qualified.
6. When applying for a position, apply once, follow up once by a phone call or email after time has passed. Don’t apply several times for the same position.

Networking & The “About Me” Speech:

1. Networking is very important. More people get hired because they have a contact somewhere (either the reference or the connector).
2. Force yourself to attend every personal and professional event to which you are invited. Prepare the “About Me” speech (otherwise known as the "Elevator Speech." It needs to be positive and confident - without bitterness or negativity.
3. Contact everyone you know: family; friends; colleagues. Give them your “About Me” speech and ask if they know anyone you might contact.
4. When you talk with people at a networking or other social event, be prepared with your “About Me” speech. Where appropriate, ask for their help AND ask for their business card and their permission for you to email them your resume. Email your resume the next day with a similar “About Me” transmittal email and make sure you are asking them to do something – either passing your resume along or providing you with names of others with whom you can connect.
5. If anyone offers you a courtesy or informational interview, TAKE IT happily. Conduct yourself like it is an actual job interview. The interviewers may be your next connectors. Also, when the organization’s needs change, you may be first on their minds to fill a position.

Job Search Tips:

1. Look at traditional ways employers advertise job openings. If you are not finding anything and you are available, you should consider doing contract legal work either by networking with people you know to work on short-term projects or by working through a legal staffing company such as Special Counsel. It has been a very busy time in the temporary legal world.
2. Look at federal and state government jobs.
3. Look at law & policy/analyst positions.
4. Look at other public interest positions.
5. Look for in-house positions either part-time or full-time, in legal or quasi-legal positions.
6. If you are trying to switch practice areas, invest in education and volunteer.
7. Take some CLE’s in that different area.
8. If you are really serious, get an advanced degree (i.e., LLM, an MBA, MPh, MPA).
9. Attend a meeting of your area of interest or practice group through the bar association.
10. Find volunteer work for an organization working in your area of interest.

Current Trends in the Job Market – Who/What is Hiring:

• Bankruptcy Litigation
• Federal Government Jobs
• Insurance Defense Litigation
• Business & Commercial Litigation
• Labor & Employment Litigation
• Estates & Trusts in smaller firms

Websites:

• Attorneys in Transition, http://attorneysintransition.com/
• American Bar Association Career Counsel, http://www.abanet.org/careercounsel/finding.html

This was adopted from a presentation prepared for the Bar Association of Baltimore City Young Lawyers' Division (http://www.baltimorebar.org/files/pdfs/JobSearchProgram.pdf). For more information about temporary lawyer positions, contact Ellen B. Feldman, Esq., Senior Search Director, Special Counsel, ellen.feldman@specialcounsel.com.

Ten Tips For A Better Legal Resume

By Randi Lewis, Esq.
Are you getting ready to update your resume to search for your first full time job as a lawyer? Here are 10 Tips to help your resume make it to the top of the stack:
Tip No. 1 - The Five Second Rule. Legal recruitment professionals review hundreds, sometimes thousands, of resumes per year. List your education, grades (see below), honors and important activities at the top of your resume in bullet points, not in a string cite, so they are able to be read within 5 seconds, the time it takes to decide whether to read on or to place your resume in the “no pile.”
Tip No. 2 - The Font & The Format. The text should be no smaller than 11 point in Times New Roman, Garamond or Georgia. Headings should be in larger font and bold. The format should be compatible with OCI+ and reader-friendly for receipt by email.
Tip No. 3 - The Order. List education first and experience second (even if you are a second career law student). List experience first only after practicing for at least 5 years.

Tip No. 4 - Honors, Law Review and Activities. Group all honors, law review/journal positions and law school activities with your law school. Similarly, keep all undergraduate honors and activities with college information.
Tip No. 5 - Law School Grades. A general rule of thumb: list law school grades if they are a 3.0 or better.
Tip No. 6 - Undergraduate & Graduate School Grades. Another general rule: list undergraduate and graduate school grades if they are a 3.0 or better EVEN IF law school grades are below a 3.0. (Reason: if you don’t, the reader may assume you received less than a 3.0 in law school, grad school and college.)

Tip No. 7 - Employment Achievements. Where possible, describe your employment in terms of substantive work and/or successes, keeping descriptions short to use as talking points in your interview. Example: “Drafted successful motions to dismiss in contract dispute, securities fraud case and products liability matter.”
Tip No. 8 - Use Action Words. Use action words to add power to your resume. Examples: prepared; analyzed; collaborated; managed; led; devised; researched; drafted.
Tip No. 9 - Bulletize and Italicize. Use bullet points and italics to add visual interest and help guide your reader.
Tip No. 10 - Proofread. Always proofread your resume several times to ensure there are no typographical or grammatical errors.

Randi Lewis, Esq., is the founder of Resume Boutique LLC, http://www.resumeboutique.com/, which provides resume and interview consultation to professionals and students, including lawyers and law students. A former practicing lawyer, Randi also runs the Recruitment Department of, and reviews resumes submitted to, an AmLaw 250 law firm. For more resume tips, contact Randi at info@resumeboutique.com or 410-602-2500.

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