How to set up your Hire an Esquire profile for success

April 1, 2026

Have you set up your Hire an Esquire profile, but you aren’t sure how to set it up for optimal results? Your Hire an Esquire profile is also your application, so taking a few extra minutes to make sure it accurately represents your experience and expertise is important. It doesn’t take a lot of time or effort, just a little bit of know-how and attention to details! 

If you’re feeling like you aren’t getting the most out of your Hire an Esquire profile, then consider this your user manual!

Summary

Let’s take it from the top! The summary section at the top may look like a “nice to have”, but our platform actually scans this section and will match your natural language text to the  job requirements from hiring law firms and legal departments. A concise 2-3 sentence paragraph that describes your career, what you are looking for, and lists your top 3-4 expert skills will help match you with the right opportunities quickly.

Areas of Expertise

Under "Areas of Expertise” you have the option to choose from 814 specific legal skills.  These not only help hiring managers find your profile, but they also make filling out a job application quick and swift. 

  • Per job experience entry, you can select up to 10 areas of expertise that pertain to that job.
  • When considering which skills to pick, choose those you used most often in the position and the skills you think will be most valuable to new employers. 
  • Job applications prefill with the information you provide on your profile. While you can make changes directly from the application page, it’s a much faster experience for you if your profile is already completed and ready to go! 

Keywords

Using keywords in your job experience descriptions is important; not only do employers need to see what work you’ve done in past roles, but our platform also scans these descriptions to help match you to jobs that are a good fit. Make sure you’re calling out key terms that both highlight your experience and match what hiring managers are looking for. Not sure what words to use? Take a look at a few of the positions posted on the job board, preferably ones that are relevant to your experience, and see what they’re looking for.

Years of Experience

We get many questions from our users about the application and the years of experience in certain areas that it says they have. The years of experience will pull from your profile, so it is imperative that you list all your experience on your profile to accurately document just how much you have. 

  • Pro tip: Find the “Actions” button on your profile and select “Update with resume” from the drop-down menu. If you have an updated resume, you can use it to fill out your profile! But be aware—this option replaces your entire profile with the data from your resume. This option is best for new or returning users. 

Open for Work

Once you’ve optimized your profile to ensure it can be found by hiring managers, the next step is to make sure it spells out how available you are and the type of work you’re open to. 

  • Log in to your account regularly. Just like you may question whether or not a job that was posted 2 months ago is still hiring, recruiters and hiring managers may question if you’re actively looking for work if your “last active” status isn’t very recent. Need a reason to log in often? Checkout our Newsfeed, a new feature on your Hire an Esquire dashboard that shows you the latest news specific to your practice area to help you stay up to date on changes in your field of expertise.
Application Tips

  •  Most information on an application will be pre-filled for you, based on the information you’ve provided on your profile. But if something looks incorrect, use the edit buttons to make changes.

  • Your application cannot be edited after it has been submitted. Many users mistakenly withdraw their application, thinking they can just start fresh. Withdrawing an application doesn’t allow you to do the application again; it just displays to the hiring manager that you’ve done so. Avoid this mistake by proofreading your application before submitting. 

A strong profile opens doors. So, optimize yours, stay active, and make sure the right opportunities—and the right employers—can find you!