Including pre-undergrad work experience in resume?

lamullinga

I'm a non-traditional student and worked FT since age 16 to support myself. Ended up getting a GED in my early 20s, going to community college, and transferring to a top 3 private university. I have been working with nonprofit legal services providers for the last 4+ years. Still, I had 5 jobs before graduating and all of them were in restaurants. I would like to include at least some of these in the resume, but not all.

I'm just having difficulties deciding how far back I need to go for pre-graduation jobs. Do I start with the job I had when I started community college? Or should I just include all 5 of them?

I would really appreciate some advice. Thank you!

Pacifico

Nothing before you first enrolled in any college (community or otherwise) unless you worked there before and during college in which case it would just happen to cover a period in which you were not yet in college. As an example I started a retail job during high school and continued through my first year of college so it is on my resume, but jobs I only had in high school are not. Does that answer your question?

lsatings

@lamullinga said:
I would like to include at least some of these in the resume, but not all.

Only include them if you're trying to make a point of something in either your personal statement, or addenda. But otherwise, they will not help you and I would avoid including them. You should only include relevant work history (your legal aid job, for example) and only for those you've done after you've graduated high school. If you had a few years gap between high school + undergrad (some people go onto do rotary or some other programs/jobs etc) then that's okay because it contributes to your application profile as a 'non traditional' student, but otherwise avoid disclosing that information.

Pacifico

I disagree, I think it is a chance to show your work ethic and depending on your GPA it shows either that you got a high GPA despite working through UG or it provides a justification for a why your GPA might be lower than it may have been otherwise. Not everyone has WE relevant to the law. That doesn't mean those people have blank resumes just because they simply have a different story to tell.

Nicole Hopkins

100% agree with @Pacifico . My resume is one of the strongest parts of my application and is 95%+ not related to legal anything.

lsatings

@Pacifico said:
I think it is a chance to show your work ethic and depending on your GPA it shows either that you got a high GPA despite working through UG or it provides a justification for a why your GPA might be lower than it may have been otherwise.

Thats true, and close to what I was thinking when I mentioned possibly including in reference to an addenda.

Aidoe

What if you're a recent grad and you have a law related experience from the end of high school? Can that be included on your resume?

Pacifico

If it was over before you started college don't include it.

lamullinga

Thank you so much for the advice! I ended up including 2 of the non-legal jobs I had while in college (one of them since I was 16). Looking at them, they make a point (work ethic, non-trad) and are consisting with the personal statement. Thanks again!!