One Thing You Should Absolutely NOT Put On Your Résumé

Whatever you do, don't make this résumé mistake.

onSeptember 14, 2015 at 2:59 PMSeptember 15, 2015 at 1:28 PM

Writing a résumé is ground zero for getting a job — it’s the building block on which the screening interview, callback, and finally the offer are made. So it makes sense that law students — a notoriously neurotic bunch — have lots of questions about the process. There are lots of elements to a good résumé: the perfect font, the balance of the humblebrag, shining it up for the “right” audience… it’s enough to make anyone’s head spin. Over on the Reddit Law School forum, user DontSabotageMyGains asks a vital question (which he helpfully notes is [Serious], just in case you thought it was all some big prank):

I was thinking about putting the amount of times I attended bar review on my resume under “Activities” section. Something like “Bar Review, attendance over 90%.

I think interviewers are constantly trying to see how personable you are during the interview and how well you can hold a conversation. It makes sense that someone who regularly attends a social setting, especially with alcohol, exudes these personable and sociable traits and that would made me more desirable to an employer. I am worried that it may come off as sophomoric or like I have a drinking problem, but the rest of my resume is polished and I don’t think it reflects poorly on it as a whole.

Thoughts?

Yup, this Redditor is talking about the vaunted law school tradition of bar review — which translates to a meetup in a bar.

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From LexisNexis

Here’s your answer fish-bulb:

If you’re the kind of “personable” a firm is looking for, they’ll figure that out when they talk to you, you know, in an interview. If your résumé/transcript isn’t already packed with the kind of accolades to at least get you a screening interview, then you could be as affable as Jimmy Fallon and you still wouldn’t get the job.

To be clear, just going to a bar regularly isn’t a substitute for personality — there are plenty of weirdos at bars. (They need to be around drunks so that their inherent weirdness seems less obvious.) And putting your penchant for regular drinking on your résumé — the “hard” evidence of why you should be hired — only raises questions about your judgment.