Resume Builder

A flurry of law school activity has recently centered on the resume. Applications for summer employment start early in law school and everyone is scrambling to update their education and work experience to put their best foot forward. Of course I am no exception to this rule.

Initially I contacted an old supervisor of mine to get title and job description information from him as a reference. Here is the response... and I have to admit this is the best description of government employment I believe I've ever seen...

The one responsible for everything and everyone, but who doesn’t get any credit when things get taken care of and fixed ahead of schedule, but who gets all the blame for anything normally managed by someone else when it goes bad or breaks; and who is expected to perform miracles overnight without any support or funding, and the one who is selected to fight the battles or hand over the flag depending on which direction the wind happens to be blowing that particular instant in time! AKA Mr. Atlas!


While this may strike many of you as humorous it's very sadly the truth.

Furthermore, I enrolled my wonderful husband into the resume updating and cover letter writing process. Since he has been involved in quite a bit of interviewing I figured he'd know the "right" words to use. So I was quite surprised when he came into my office and said "How about this.... 'Aided FBI agents in the recovery of a government office from a hostage situation'." I gave him a sideways look to which he responded, "Well it's true... and it sounds cool!"

On a very technical level this is true. However, the 'Clay' version sounds like something from an episode of '24' while the real version was more like something out of 'America's Funniest Home Videos'. I guess this resume writing isn't all that it's cracked up to be.