Resume formats for government and in-house Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm currently looking to jump ship ASAP from a nightmare biglaw environment. Just became a third year. I'm sending out apps to in-house places as well as city/state/county government jobs. I'll pretty much take what I can get at this point.

As I was putting together my resume, some questions came to mind:

(1) To confirm, is it the general rule that resumes submitted to gov shouldn't include an interests section?
(2) Does the same rule apply to resumes submitted for in-house jobs?
(3) Are there other big differences to be aware of when submitting resumes to gov/in-house positions as opposed to biglaw? For example, is it expected to have a summary section, longer job descriptions, etc.

(Anon because my coworkers would probably be able to figure out who I am based on posting history.)

Appreciate any and all insight. Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

I have included brief interests sections in my resume for AUSA jobs, and think that in general a resume for that job isn’t really different from any other legal job. I don’t know whether USAOs are different from any other agency in this respect, but I think at least for litigation positions, lawyer-ness trumps government-ness, if that makes any sense. (I don’t think it will hurt you not to include an interests section, it just didn’t hurt me to do so.)

[cookiejar1]

This is also a good time to Ask a Recruiter for resume and language samples. They should have a bunch ready to send.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Thanks, that’s helpful. Re: recruiters—would you use them for in-house or government hiring? They seem like they’re mostly for biglaw, which is what I’m trying to get out of.

[cookiejar1]

It’s easier for them to place people in other biglaw shops for sure but there are plenty that place people in house too.