Does Your Resume Provide Enough Detail - Perhaps Use A Resume Addendum

We see a lot of resumes. The vast majority look like your typical resume: job history, education, bar admissions and maybe a section on interests and activities. Oftentimes, this is all condensed to fit on one page – the way we were taught in college. While the format is generally okay, the biggest problem with most resumes is a lack of detail. Some people intentionally hold back, thinking they will provide more detail in the interview. The problem with this strategy is you may never get to the interview without demonstrating enough pertinent experience in the resume.

The key when drafting your resume is to view this as means to “market” yourself – not just a reverse chronological list of job history. It is rare that we tell someone that they have too much information so long as it conveyed correctly (meaning clearly and concisely). There are two ways to accomplish this: with a detailed resume or with a general resume supplemented with a detailed practice addendum. The addendum is often broken down by skills (securities, M&A, commercial agreement, etc.) with short/bullet point examples listed underneath.

The benefit of using an addendum is that you can shift the order of skills dependent upon the job to highlight the pertinent areas and just use the same general resume. Otherwise, you want different versions of your resume if providing all the detail in just that document. Whatever method you use, just make sure you are providing enough detail to fully demonstrate why you are the right candidate for the position.