Law School Resume - do I put how many hours a week each job was? Do I need to put month of year?

Comments

• Alex Alum Member ⭐

  December 2016 edited December 2016 23929 karma

  @onecallthatsall said:
  I am finishing up my law school resume and wondering if it is entirely necessary to put how many hours per week that position was? I feel like it would be helpful for the reader, but it makes the Resume look cluttered and not as clean.
  
  Additionally, Do I have to put the month of the year that I started the position? Or is the year sufficient? Due to formatting, I would have to completely redo my resume if I put the month of the year, but if it is necessary I am absolutely willing to do so. Thoughts?
  
  Thank you 7Sage community! Oh how I wish I could have find you all before I paid $1000 for an in person prep course...
  

  You typically would not put how many hours per week you worked at each position. (However, this varies by school, so be sure to check their resume requirements for each school.) You should however include the months as well as years you worked at each position.
  
  I also wish I found 7Sage much earlier in my prep, haha. All that matters is we are here now...
  
• YesSarah Alum Member

  December 2016 137 karma

  @onecallthatsall every school I applied to had different requirements for the resume. Some wanted "full time" or "part time" written, some wanted months, others wanted hours. Because of this I had at least four different versions of my resume. I'd look at the specific requirements of the schools you're applying to and set up your resume according to that.
• onecallthatsall Member

  December 2016 224 karma

  @"Alex Divine" yet again you come through for me homie! I appreciate the advice. The only issue with the months w/ with year is that I just started a job this month with a Conservative thinktank as a research & teaching assistant. If I put months they will see that I just started the job a month ago. If I simply put "2016-Present" it is not dishonest but leaves the allusion that I have been there a while. Likewise with my job at a law firm. currently it is "2015-Present". I started in December 2015. Even aside from this minutia, the it would be disastrous for my resume formatting. Is it important enough to re-do my resume?
  
  @YesSarah thank you! I was not aware that different schools had different requirements! Is that a T14 thing? My #1 school is an upper 30 ranked and all of the schools I am applying to are between 20-44.
• lawschoolstuff16 Alum Member

  December 2016 328 karma

  @onecallthatsall said:
  I am finishing up my law school resume and wondering if it is entirely necessary to put how many hours per week that position was? I feel like it would be helpful for the reader, but it makes the Resume look cluttered and not as clean.
  

  yes, I've heard everywhere that they want to know how many hours a week it was. I think just reformatting it so that you have this information on there cleaner might make it loko better.
  
  I did realize however that this was a T-14 issue, which is fine. But if your school does not SPECIFICALLY request it you could leave it off. It might look better to keep it on, especially if you raked in huge hours per week. They'll know you're able to tolerate higher work loads.
• YesSarah Alum Member

  December 2016 137 karma

  @onecallthatsall i applied in the #4-#22 range so I'm not sure if it'll be a problem for you!
• stepharizona Alum Member

  December 2016 3197 karma

  @onecallthatsall said:
  If I simply put "2016-Present" it is not dishonest but leaves the allusion that I have been there a while. Likewise with my job at a law firm. currently it is "2015-Present". I started in December 2015. Even aside from this minutia, the it would be disastrous for my resume formatting. Is it important enough to re-do my resume?
  

  You will have to put the month and year on the employment section in the application, so they will know how long you were at those jobs.
• David Busis Member Moderator

  December 2016 7410 karma

  I agree—you should put months.
  
  Small, semi-annoying tip, @stepharizona and @onecallthatsall: use en dashes, not hyphens, for date ranges.
  
  No good: 6/2015-9/2015
  Good: 6/2015–9/2015
  
  Though it's usually not necessary to specify hours per week for jobs or internships, it's a good idea to specify hours per week for extracurricular activities.
• onecallthatsall Member

  December 2016 224 karma

  @david.busis How do I get en dashes? All I am seeing on my mac keyboard is the hyphen. Do I insert under the symbols option?
  
  Thanks!
• inactive Alum Member

  December 2016 12637 karma

  @onecallthatsall said:
  How do I get en dashes? All I am seeing on my mac keyboard is the hyphen.
  

  https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1378779?tstart=0
• 1 Like

  David Busis Member Moderator

  December 2016 7410 karma

  Hit OPTION and HYPHEN on a Mac, or just copy this one: –
• 3 Likes

  Alex Alum Member ⭐

  December 2016 23929 karma

  @david.busis said:
  use en dashes, not hyphens, for date ranges.
  
  No good: 6/2015-9/2015
  Good: 6/2015–9/2015
  
  

  I have learned something new today!
  
  Thank you @david.busis !