Resume/Post College Activities

TimelyCondition

Hello -
I've been out of college for five years and I'm struggling to decide what to include in my resume. I'm planning on having sections for 1) my work experience (won't be super long because I've only held two different jobs since graduating) 2) my education and 3) some during college and post college activities.

Mostly what I'm struggling with is that because I've had full time jobs, some long communtes, etc. I haven't had the time to be involved like I was in college. In college I was VP of very large service fraternity, president of another club, etc. The only post-college activity I can think of that may be of interest is starting a book club.

Thoughts on how much (if any) of my college activities to keep? They do strongly correlate to the kind of law I want to do (public interest).

noonawoon

Why not keep all of them? It seems like you could combine them all into one bullet point (or a couple) under your education section. If you are short on space and looking to decide what to keep/cut

hopefulling

I agree with @noonawoon (who always^ (I know this is a strong conclusion, but I can't find a counter-example, so always^ ... certainly don't want to say 'mostly'! gah) offers excellent advice!).

Also maybe consider looking at the Admission course's sub-section on the résumé, it was really helpful. I'm in a bit of a similar situation and already had a résumé I planned to use. ... But I drastically changed mine after reviewing their advice.

I don't know if this is correct (and because I added-on the admissions course, US$10, I can't see anymore) but I think this was in the free content,

https://7sage.com/admissions/lesson/resume-overview/

It sounds like your resume is pretty awesome!

TimelyCondition

Thank you! Semi-related: I'm working on apps and some schools have a separate, optional section for just "Activities." It seems like this is where someone just out of undergrad would probably elaborate on their extracurriculars--do you think it's worth writing a short bit about my book club or just skipping it?

noonawoon

I think you should skip book club because it's a hobby (like I wouldn't put working out on a law school app). Unless the question seems like it's specifically asking for hobbies/what you do in free time, in which case include it!

LOWERCASE EVERYTHING

i'm not sure if this will apply to you (it may apply to some others reading this post), but do keep in mind that when you apply for the bar in some states, you will be required to submit affirmations associated with any law-related employment since you turned 21: https://www.nycourts.gov/courts/ad2/pdf/Guide to Applying for Admission to Practice.pdf

i also heard that the application package that you submit for law school admissions (which includes your résumé) will be sent over when you're applying for the bar in certain states. this is true for the state of colorado: https://www.colorado.edu/law/law-school-applications-and-bar-admission
they will get a copy of your law school application, although i think the main purpose of this will be to check and compare the character and fitness disclosures on both your bar application and your law school application.

i also had a few full-time jobs (including some law-related), and many people including myself tend to embellish accomplishments (or even their job titles/duties) on their résumés, but i personally decided to only include stuff that i can provide documentation for on my résumé, keeping in mind that what i disclose on my law school application will follow me (at least) until i take the bar.

this post won't probably apply to you, but just wanted to share this for other people too reading this post!

good luck!

noonawoon

@hopefulling also omg thank you for the compliment - I do my best to try to answer random questions on here lol