(Author) Senior Counsel

Hello! I have 20 years of experience, and I’ve recently been laid off ($192K base). I’m trying to put together an ATS-friendly legal resume, but I’m having trouble. Generally, when an actual person sees my resume, I used to do well. I keep getting blocked. Does anyone have suggestions for an awesome ATS-friendly legal resume template? Also, is anyone willing to read through my resume? I would very much appreciate it!

For recruiters: I am editing my resume for the particular job listings, but I was not plagiarizing the exact verbiage of the job description; should I be doing this? Do you prefer someone to have a professional summary section in their resume? Do you prefer a more standard resume or a template that is more aesthetically-pleasing?

General Counsel Responses:

• I’m happy to look over it and offer any comments/advice. I’m also happy to connect you with anyone in my network.

Counsel Responses:

• My Etsy template made it through ATS at a bunch of tech companies. Are you editing your resume for the job listings? To make it through ATS you need the same key words. I wouldn’t plagiarize the job description, but if your resume is using the same key words. If the job description says SaaS and yours says commercial agreements change to SaaS.

• I’m a second-year; yes, you need to use words from the job description on your resume. That’s what my career counselors advised.

• I don’t think ATS is as big of a deal as you are making it. Most places have a human who at least skims resumes.

• That depends on where you’re applying though. Some jobs have hundreds of applicants, there’s not somebody going through all of those.

• https://www.askamanager.org/2020/10/your-job-application-was-rejected-by-a-human-not-a-computer.html - I’m not trying to discourage you from tailoring your resume to fit what it looks like the job is looking for (because that would help regardless of whether a human or computer is screening), just know people get sucked into these claims about ATS special secret tricks which are pushed by people trying to sell you resume-writing services.

• I can assure you as someone working on jobs with hundreds of applicants, there are humans trying to go through all of them.

• I have handled in-house recruiting too (for positions that report to me) and for some jobs, we receive 200-300 applications. I have at least glanced at every resume that comes in and the reality is that it really doesn’t take very long to tell if someone is a possible fit (which is disheartening to hear, I know). I really don’t think the fancy stuff impresses anyone in legal recruiting. What is important is that it’s clear and easy to read and shows your credentials and that you meet the qualifications.

Attorney and Associate Responses:

• Internal recruiter at a FAANG, here: There is no ATS filter. You either get seen by me before the job fills or you don’t. Your resume keywords won’t help at all, there’s no magic way to do it. The best way to do it is to get a referral or connect with the recruitment team. It’s a numbers game and getting to a human, you may be getting lost but ATS isn’t spitting you out. With your seniority you may be getting dumped for being overqualified. I recruit in-house positions and there is no ATS here either. If you apply for a position through LinkedIn jobs, when LinkedIn lists candidates in the recruiter view, LinkedIn defaults to using their system to rank candidates and how they fit. This is so inaccurate, so I change it to chronological order every time. Make sure your LinkedIn reflects your resume position details, not just companies and titles. The only other tip is make sure you meet the minimum requirements for a position. I’ve gotten 140 applicants for a job posted Sunday evening and it’s not even noon Monday, so competition can be very tough.

In-house? Be a part of the conversation on Fishbowl (anonymous).