We are hearing from a lot recent law school graduates lately and although the market has improved, jobs are still scarce for the majority of these folks. Creating a compelling resume can be a challenge when you do not have practical legal experience. While a law firm clerkship or interning for a judge can help, the truth is many hiring attorneys or recruiting directors do not give this much weight. So what can you do when your experience is not a big selling point? Try to make your resume stand out in other ways.
While hopefully the old school, heavy stock, colored resume paper is not coming back; you can still use some tasteful graphics to make your resume stand out. Perhaps some color headings, shading a separate column for achievements, or simply adding links to work-related social media sites would help.
A creative resume may not get you the job per se, but it may draw enough attention to move it to the top of others with similar experience so why not spend an extra few minutes and make it stand out.