Transcript
Description:
Resumes are not just about what you have done but also how people perceive your experience. It’s essential to convey in your resume that you believe in the work of a lawyer who advocates for their clients and fights on behalf of those they represent.
Harrison Barnes says that when you’re working on your attorney resume, you bring in your belief in what you believe or think is necessary. Here are the things he notices what people show in their resumes as what they believe is important versus what a law firm thinks is important:
What you think is important:
- Being an entrepreneur
- Social justice.
- Diversity
- Family
What law firms think is important:
- No trouble
- Do the job
- Be acceptable to all types of clients
- Able to take multiple kinds of issue
- Stability / Ability to be managed
Transcript:
I'm excited about this next resume, cause it looks great.
Okay. So this is interesting this resume. And there's some actually issues for that. So one of the things is that and there's definitely a I think a lot of people when you're working on your resume you're bringing in your belief in terms of what you believe is important.
So people show what they believe is important, what they think is important.
All right. And the resumes. And so what that means essentially is, someone that believes that, being an entrepreneur is important
support and we'll show that
I'm someone that believes that social justice keynote, diversity
family.
So all of these things you need to understand that you're auditioning to work in a law firm, most cases. And that's where your resume is. And so your resume needs to show, what the law firm wants, which means no trouble just do the job be acceptable to all types of clients,
able to take multiple sides of an issue.
A lot of firms typically want different things, then they also want stability.
Okay. So this particular resume when you look at what this person's talking about here they, they say they've been a proven Rainmaker across 15 countries in 25 plus cities.
And then they also said they founded and built three, start a business. So those persons very and then they see where my family put down roots. 40 plus years ago,
more I was raised and educated, and this person is very proud of the fact that they part of an old American family probably. And then they found her not profit, mental wellness project. Know, typically if someone's finding out the wellness project and I'm asking this in a negative way, But it means they may be dealing with mental illness in their family or something.
I dunno.
And then they said it disappeared. They just went to Hong Kong. All of a sudden,
yes. Sends you close because the business, the building lease failed the ended. So that's why I closed. Not because of anything you did. Okay.
Okay. So this person so I'm not saying
but this person's done a lot of things. And and part of the issue when you go to good schools and this person went to Harvard and Columbia is that that you want that, achievement and how things look to others and so forth is important. And that's what happens when you go to a competitive schools like Harvard and Columbia, Harvard, especially because you're surrounded with all these people that talk about all these great things they're doing.
And so this person I'll be at the summary up here is based in it. The person's saying I've done all these amazing things. I'm amazing. Now I didn't just work at Simpson Thatcher. It's a top 10 globally, which, everyone knows and and I ran up jujitsu gym, but I, I didn't fail.
It's a building. And so all this stuff is about, how am I viewed by others? And and and really with all these sorts of things you need to let here experience, stick for, speak for itself because what every law firm wants is they want all these things.
They want to know, if you can do the job, can you be managed? Will you do the job? Long-term if I'm asking myself this person do that with job long-term and I looked at all this I'm like, wow, this person is they started three businesses. I don't think they're going to get the job.
Long-term they've done product management. What, why would they hire somebody to do that? Wait, they're doing mental wellness and training mindfulness coaches. They want to work in the law
in a law firm. They only worked for two years in a law firm. I don't understand. So these are the kinds of questions. Wait, they were working in a senior know. So all these things are detracting from the overall message. And I think, this person, there's nothing wrong with this resume, by the way.
This is a good resume it's. But the problem is if this person wants to be a an attorney in a law firm and all this stuff just can't it's gotta be changed out. I personally think that this is a, it's a great resume for someone that wants to,
But none of this stuff, SEO strategy and website design, none of this stuff has to do anything with working in a law firm. Frankly, if this person wants to work in a law firm and, E everything here that this person's doing is really they're almost saying look at me and, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this because I know I'm not, there's just nothing wrong with us, but you don't need to point out to people that you're a success and then show them why your success by, going, sending people to to websites and telling them what other people
what's good. It's just none of these things matter. So I think this person looks extremely interesting. I would love to be part of a networking group with them and talk to them and learn from them. And, but I don't think and then you wrote an article called how do I survive as an MNA associate and those top firms.
But then you didn't, you were only there for a year or two years. So it's just, all this stuff is you don't need to send people to these things. And the big thing is though is very competitive people that go to the best schools and things.
There's nothing wrong with it. But it's, and it's very New York. It's, you compare yourself to others and how you look in comparison to others. If you want to get a job, by the way you can get a job probably in a law firm, but you need to probably take off all of this, most of the stuff, that's just needs to come off yeah, and then it's all good.
And once all this is off, then you'll look like a focused attorney. And and that's enough, I, then you can just put down other, between these dates, did these, various other things, and I want to return to the practice of law. It actually might work. You haven't been gone that long.
You've been gone for 12 years. It's not very long or 11 years. But all these things that you're doing on here are going to detract from the message. And the big thing is that everyone here needs to understand it. And this is I hope you guys can see this. Isn't more common with people that go to good schools and I are very achievement oriented than people that don't.
And you get into good schools by looking like the best and by being the best by doing things that are outrageous and that, look good. And and in addition to being good good the first college intern ever hired, like all these things the first, the best, the early, the, all these things are things that you know, that now.
That good schools like, and that people, that are good at self promotion, it helps them get into good schools. But this sort of thinking isn't necessary to get into a law firm. It's just this kind of stuff. If you've been sitting in an office for years and just pounding out work for clients, seeing all this stuff is not going to press you.
So this is what I would like to see if you want to get a job in a law firm. But this is what you need to do because otherwise there's just no focus to it. You can put in a couple of lines of this person did up here, way up here about what they did other things that they did additional experience and then and then leave with that resume and then people will find you interesting.
But that if you want to work for someone else, it's gotta be about the focus.
