What To Do When You Are Under-titled

For attorneys in private practice, there are only a few titles that you can have: Associate, Partner, Counsel, Attorney or some derivation of these (think ‘Senior Managing Associate’).  The hierarchy is obvious.  

 For in-house attorneys, there are a lot more titles that are possible.  The gradations are less obvious.  Sure, you can be the General Counsel of a company, but that may mean that you are the ONLY attorney, or you may manage a team of attorneys.  Employers will dig deeper into your title, especially if you have an inflated title (if you have the title of General Counsel and you are the only attorney, this might be you).  

 What if you have a severely under-inflated title?  If you are Counsel or Associate General Counsel when you have the job that would normally be considered the GC, Deputy GC or Divisional GC?  How do you discuss your work on your resume without the fear of being rejected based solely on your title?

 The good news is that most employers do tend to look at the details of a resume before deciding on whether to interview someone, but there are instances where your current title can make or break your ability to get an interview.  In these cases, I strongly recommend that you downplay your title by burying it in the descriptions of your responsibilities.

 For example, if you are the head attorney of a division within a medical device company, but your title reflects a more junior position with lesser duties, you might want to think about how you present that on your resume.

Maybe change this:

Medtech, Inc.                                                             Smallville, USA
Counsel                                                                        2018-Present

Attorney focusing on Cardiac Rhythm Management group to provide advice and counsel to senior executives on all aspects of business unit.

To this:

Medtech, Inc.                                                             Smallville, USA

 International medical device company that manufactures and markets a range of products in four distinct divisions including the Cardiac Rhythm Management division.

Current responsibility:  Lead Attorney in Cardiac Rhythm Management division (Counsel).  Responsible for managing four attorneys and reporting to senior management and General Counsel.  Manage legal budget of $75M for division products that include pacemakers, heart monitors and atrial fibrillation products. 2018-Present.

By creating the lead-in of the position as a narrative, it forces the reader to read a bit to get the title.  Normally it doesn’t make sense for you to make the reader do more work than necessary, but in this case, where the attorney is severely under-titled, it might work.

Are you under-titled?  If so, it is probably time to revisit the resume to see if this can help you.  If you need advice, we are here for you at Legal Resume Review!