Legislator resume example
A resume for a Legislator needs to show the work itself: develop, introduce, or enact laws and statutes at the local, tribal, state, or federal level. Day to day that means work like this: analyze and understand the local and national implications of proposed legislation; appoint nominees to leadership posts, or approve such appointments. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.
Also advertised as
The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
- U.S. Representative
- U.S. Senator
- Alderman
- Assembly Member
- Assembly Person
- Assemblyman
- Assemblywoman
- City Alderman
- City Council Member
- City Councilman
- Congress Member
- Congressional Representative
- Congressman
- Congresswoman
- Council Member
- Councilman
- Councilor
- Councilperson
O*NET records 27 titles for this occupation in total.
What this work actually involves
Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.
- Analyze and understand the local and national implications of proposed legislation.
- Appoint nominees to leadership posts, or approve such appointments.
- Confer with colleagues to formulate positions and strategies pertaining to pending issues.
- Debate the merits of proposals and bill amendments during floor sessions, following the appropriate rules of procedure.
- Develop expertise in subject matters related to committee assignments.
- Hear testimony from constituents, representatives of interest groups, board and commission members, and others with an interest in bills or issues under consideration.
- Keep abreast of the issues affecting constituents by making personal visits and phone calls, reading local newspapers, and viewing or listening to local broadcasts.
- Maintain knowledge of relevant national and international current events.
- Make decisions that balance the perspectives of private citizens, public officials, and party leaders.
- Negotiate with colleagues or members of other political parties in order to reconcile differing interests, and to create policies and agreements.
- Prepare drafts of amendments, government policies, laws, rules, regulations, budgets, programs and procedures.
- Read and review concerns of constituents or the general public and determine if governmental action is necessary.
30 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.
Example bullets for this role
Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.
- Analyze and understand the local and national implications of proposed legislation, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
- Appoint nominees to leadership posts, or approve such appointments, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
- Confer with colleagues to formulate positions and strategies pertaining to pending issues, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
- Debate the merits of proposals and bill amendments during floor sessions, following the appropriate rules of procedure, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Software used in this role
Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.
- Adobe Acrobat
- Adobe FrameMaker
- Antenna House
- Apple iWork Keynote
- Apple iWork Pages
- Apple Numbers for Mac
- Cisco AnyConnect
- Cisco Webex
- Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
- GoodReader
- iAnnotate
- IBM Domino
- Legislative Automative Workflow System LAWS
- LogMeIn GoToMeeting
32 software entries are recorded in total.
Tools and equipment
The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.
- Computer laser printers
- Laptop computers
- Tablet computers
- Wireless desktop printers
Skills an ATS reads for
Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.
- hire personnel
- supervise employees
- Adobe FrameMaker
- Antenna House
What level this role is pitched at
O*NET places this occupation in “Considerable Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Common questions
- What does a Legislator do?
- Develop, introduce, or enact laws and statutes at the local, tribal, state, or federal level. Day to day that includes work like analyze and understand the local and national implications of proposed legislation and Appoint nominees to leadership posts, or approve such appointments.
- What software should a Legislator list?
- Software recorded for this occupation includes Adobe Acrobat, Adobe FrameMaker, Antenna House, Apple iWork Keynote, and Apple iWork Pages. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
- What other job titles cover Legislator work?
- O*NET records 27 titles for this occupation, including U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, Alderman, and Assembly Member. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
- Will this resume pass an ATS for a Legislator role?
- No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.
Related roles
Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.
What this page cannot tell you
- No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
- This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
- Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.
If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.
Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.