Do you mean 5000 characters for each experience, or 5000 characters for all of your experiences? If its the latter, 5000
characters (not
words) is actually quite manageable for all of your work experiences combined. I just looked through one of my most recent applications this cycle, and I had about 6800 characters for all of my work experience put together (however, do keep in mind I have graduated university already!).
Personally, whenever I write work experience sections with long word limits, I follow the following format:
- Brief introduction: What my role was, how long I worked, what department(s) I sat in
- Overview of daily tasks: Research, drafting, administrative duties, client contact responsibilities (if any), etc...
- Example(s) of major project or task: Outline your role in the project(s), and whether it was an independent project or a large group task. I usually use these examples to sell myself and to try and demonstrate key skills they may be looking for, like teamwork, ability to handle responsibility, think creatively, an international outlook...etc. I think this helps to set you apart from most other candidates - recruiters probably read endless generic variations of descriptors such as "I completed X piece of legal research and drafted Y legal documents", so highlighting a specific example and providing some detail can help you stand out a little more.
Some items of work experience will be larger than others, so you shouldn't worry if you take up more space on one piece of experience than the other. You also shouldn't wax eloquent if you really have nothing substantive to add.
Of course, this is just my preferred approach, so feel free to alter as necessary. If you've already fleshed out as much detail as possible, then I wouldn't worry too much about the remaining character count.
