The fall feels like the time of year everyone works on their resumes. Along with the changing New England leaves and pumpkin spice lattes, current and prospective law students all partake in a seasonal refresh after a busy summer. 

It was before one of these seasonal resume workshops I heard a common talking point. 

“Oh I’ve never had a real job.” 

“Is it bad that I have no political work on my resume?” 

“I was stuck working retail during the pandemic.”

This is an anxiety that many, if not all, law students have encountered at some point. Maybe it was during our application process, or maybe it’s manifesting now. We fear our experiences are not relevant to this field. Our skills from assisting with college orientation to dishwashing are not applicable to being an attorney. 

I am proof that this notion is just noise. Many of my peers are proof this notion is just smoke and mirrors. Some of my classmates worked in STEM fields before pivoting to law. Some of us picked up odd jobs and side gigs throughout our lives. Some of us came straight through undergrad. At this resume workshop, the attorney who was invited to speak said firms do not expect us to know everything about the law! There are plenty of parallels to be drawn to other jobs.

My two prime summers before job hunting my senior year were filled with other jobs. I spent a month phone banking for the New York primaries in June of 2020. When I got word in spring of 2021 that my summer was empty again due to another canceled internship, I went back to Maine where I had done work as a camp counselor and worked three different food industry jobs. That’s what I had to show on my resume by fall of my senior year in college. Scooping ice cream, some election work, and waitressing. 

I knew if I showed that I stayed busy and developed meaningful skills in any job, at least one employer would recognize that as positive. The focus and teamwork required for handling a busy night on a restaurant floor can be vital in a law firm. The ice cream cart where I worked proved I could handle minimal supervision and took responsibility for my work product. My cashier experience and phone banking developed critical communication and client service skills that are essential to being a successful attorney. I still applied for BigLaw paralegal gigs, and I made it farther than I thought. One of my interviewers saw that summer service work, and she said she used to serve frozen yogurt. I told her how I became ambidextrous to give my right hand a break as it started to feel the pressure of scooping so much cookies-n-cream.  

I may have only had one “real” internship before graduating, but I spun my resume into how I always kept working on myself. So if you are worried about your limited work experience, showcase those transferable skills. There are stories to tell from every job. Who knows, maybe someone else will connect with you as a result.

(Current students if you want help with your resumes, always feel free to visit the CSO office or submit your resume through the Google Form in the CSO Shared Drive!).

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Catherine Beveridge is a first-year at BC Law. Contact her at beverid@bc.edu.