Resume Tips

When one goes on an interview, the first impression you make on the hiring authority is usually going to leave a lasting impression; likewise with the presentation of a resume. If the graphic formatting and content leave something to be desired, the resume will not receive the serious attention you think it deserves.

For Intellectual Property professionals some of the standard rules of resume construction do not always apply; for instance, the statements at the top of a resume entitled Career Objectives or Experience Summary. For those in a field where dozens of resumes are being reviewed daily these titles may be useful. The person going over dozens of resumes at once is not going to spend more than 30 seconds on each one. The brief statement on top of a resume, even one filled with boilerplate adjectives, provides a quick and easy way for the reader to determine their level of interest. A patent attorney’s resume is not going to be reviewed with dozens of others all at once. Because of the specialized field of intellectual property, comparatively few resumes are going to be reviewed for any one particular position. When they are reviewed they are done so with care and attention. With that in mind, here are a few helpful suggestions to keep in mind:

• Dispense with the aforementioned titles at the top of the resume.
  
  
• Start with your educational profile. For your JD, make sure to include all the activities (Moot Court, Law Review, etc.) you participated in, as well as any honors, class rank and/or GPA. Some attorneys believe that if they have been out of law school for 4-5 years or more, how they did in law school is secondary to their legal experience. Whether you are 2 years out or 20 years, put down all relevant law experience. Other than a Recruiting Coordinator, your resume is going to be reviewed by another patent attorney so thoroughness and precision are important.
  
  
• For an MS degree, a GPA is superfluous; everyone’s GPA in grad school is high.
  
  
• For undergrad degree (as with the law degree), be as thorough as possible.
  
  
• In mentioning your patent prosecution experience, do not just say you have prosecuted in the electrical, mechanical, or chemical arts. Be specific about the technologies in those broad arts categories.
  
  
• Do not quantify how many applications you have drafted from scratch, unless you want to update your resume on a weekly basis.
  
• List your engineering or scientific jobs (if applicable), with the years of employment, your title and employer name. Do not spend too much resume space on detailing all your duties and responsibilities. After all, you are applying for an intellectual property position, not an engineering/scientific one.
  
  
• List your current bar admissions. We have seen resumes where this information has not been included.
  
  
• Include all of your active professional memberships, as well as a list of all your periodicals and presentations. If you have a very lengthy list you may want to type a list of articles and presentations are available upon request.
  
  
• Do not list the names of your references and their contact information. References will be requested (usually) by the hiring authority at the proper time during the interview process.
  
  
• If you feel compelled to include personal data, list some of your active interests such as tennis, bicycling, hiking, etc. If you enjoy reading non-fiction or murder mysteries-great, but do not list any sedentary activities on a resume. Also, do not list family information or marital status. If you choose to, you can volunteer personal data during the interview. Many resumes will list Health: Excellent. What other type of condition would you put down? Eliminate this from the resume.
  
  
• Do not let yourself be hamstrung by the common notion of the one page resume. One page may suffice for someone with five years or less of experience. If your legal experience spans a 10-20 year career, take as much space as you feel is necessary to detail all your experience.

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