Some years ago I went to a job-seeking seminar, and they stated that a resume should be no more than two pages. Agree/disagree?
Generally agree. If you are a scholar with publications, you have a CV not a resume, so the rule doesn’t apply. If you are a very accomplished professional/executive, then I could see going over 2 pages. If you are 25 or 30 years old an applying for a job as an accountant, systems analyst, sales rep, etc. etc. … as the hiring mgr I don’t want to wade through 3 or 4 pages of minutiae. I have a degree and have been working since I was 17, switching careers and moving up in the world a couple of times. MY resume – a darn good one – is 2 pages.
Spoken from a recruiter view point - Yes - 2 pages max
Not only that, but don’t even put anything real important on the 2nd page. It will never be seen be the hiring manager
What you can do is offer to provide a more detailed version if needed, but that would be a rarity.
One page is better.
A resume is not an exhaustive history. It is a billboard, not a book.
There are so many resumes piled up that you have to find ways to eliminate them. You start off by shit canning really long ones to save time. Then dump the ones with too many colors and trying to be too cute.
A resume, these days, needs to be as long as it needs to be.
Gone are the days of 2 or 3 page resumes. For one, most will be electronically scanned for key words before a human even has a chance to review it.
Secondly, 5, 6, 7, or even 10 page resumes are not unheard of nowadays. Your resume MUST be tailored to the specific job to which you’re applying. If you need 10 pages to inform that employer why you are the preferred candidate, then so be it.
I have been out of work for months and have taken some courses regarding the above. Trust me on this one.
Resumes are only supposed to list 10 years of work experience or 3 jobs whichever is shorter then you put, detailed work history upon request.
Unfortunately a lot of H/R people are very lazy. I have an online resume with interactive search words etc. You’d think someone who is applying for IT jobs or for web jobs, the interviewer would like to see a sample of his work, but no
I get calls for jobs, maybe one out of 50 will look online at the resume online. They pretty much always use paper.
There isn’t an HR person alive who will read resumes of that length. These are people who spend the time in between reading resumes updating their facebook page with information on their cats. One page is best, two for a position requiring substantial experience. The resume gets you looked at by someone who can make a decision. The HR monkey can only say no, not yes.
Anybody sends me a 5+ page resume is guaranteed to get it shitcanned. I really don’t want more than 1 page. I’ll tolerate two if the applicant is outstanding. More than that is annoying. Generally speaking, annoying the person making hiring decisions is contra-indicated.
So, an applicant with more than one page of real accomplishments won’t make the cut for you?
In his latest Ask the Headhunter column Nick tells the story of a client of his with an 8 page resume. He thought it was too long, but Nick couldn’t find anything to take out. The hiring manager who got it loved it, every page of it.
When we were hiring almost all resumes I saw, of senior people, were well more than one page. I’m in industry, but people in my field still write papers. I agree that someone applying to wash dishes doesn’t need more than a page, but I agree with Leaffan that a resume should be as long as it has to be, no junk. Hell, my daughter is still in college, but she has enough important activities that her resume is longer than a page - and she has had great success in getting summer jobs in tough markets.
I disagree with the two page resume. Unless you’ve done something spectacular that requires a second page, you should only have one. And unless you’ve been secretary general of the UN and president of a first world nation, you don’t need three pages.
What I want to see in a resume is education (undergrad and above) and relevant experience. I don’t want to see the 10 different places the applicant held Mcjobs. And no college kid has enough things that matter to justify a second page.
It depends on the person and the field. As a general rule, yes, but there’s exceptions. Some examples:
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when the field (for example Consulting) or the people demanding the resume want it done in excruciating detail. I’ve worked in over a dozen consulting projects/rollouts, when I list every. Single. Task. I did in each one, the resume comes up to a mere 8 pages… and that’s listing consulting jobs only! And yes, the industry demands that it be done in that level of detail.
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when your resume includes job titles that most people have no idea what the heck that entitles, so a bit of explanation is required (I still have to meet a single HR person who knows what does “Lab Manager for an RnD team” mean - no, it’s not the boss, it’s the person who makes sure the bottles are clean and the reagents are available).
IMO most of the time the hiring people only skim your resume anyway.
In my field (software development) the HR people don’t understand and only look for the buzz words I asked for. The tech guys are usually crazy-busy and usually only look for the buzzwords that they are interested in - and then read a little more closely to make sure that what they want is there.
I would use as many pages as needed - within reason. I know a guy who, after 20+ years in industry had a 10page resume. It had things he did as an intern on it. That was crazy. But 2 or 3 pages is OK.
It depends on the industry. In my work 3-4 is the norm for anyone who has been working for a while.
The question is, who is that 3+ page resume for? The HR guy? They’re just looking for keywords that some manager provided. They barely even read the resumes, they just sort them by automated keyword count. They provide the hiring manager with a short list of resumes. The hiring manager glances through them quickly and picks out 5-6 candidates for interview. He doesn’t even really read them until he’s about to interview, and even then he only takes a minute.
The interview is where the choices are really made. The resume isn’t about listing everything you’ve ever done, it’s about not getting eliminated before you get a chance at the interview. So putting how you worked as a lifeguard during your senior year of high school is worthless, unless that’s the only job you’ve ever had. It’s not that putting that you were a lifeguard gets your resume thrown out, it’s that putting a bunch of irrelevant stuff makes the hiring manager think you can’t focus on the important stuff. If he has to wade through a list of spelling bees and soccer trophies he’s going not going to bother.
People in specific industries may have different expectations, but then you’re not really providing a resume, you’re providing a CV, which really is a list of every single thing you’ve ever accomplished.
As your resume gets longer, you need better and better reasons for adding more pages. Most people will never have done enough to rate a third page, but anyone with over ten years of experience in a given industry is probably justified in going over one page.
One, maybe 2 pages max, in my opinion. I don’t think I should have to read your whole life’s story when all I’m interested in is whether I want to interview you. I have been seeing a lot of 4 and 5 pagers (IT field) from 20 - 25 year old kids. What are they thinking - That they can trick me into thinking they really know every single software system on earth? That much documentation screams bullshit to me, and an inablilty to get to the point.
Wouldn’t it be useful to know if the person had one McJob for 2 years rather than 10? And wouldn’t it be useful to know if a person who led clubs or teams in college? Some college kids get a B and do nothing else, while some may get a B and show real leadership ability.
I hire lawyers and secretaries. Don’t care what they did in college. Don’t care if they were the bestest burger flipper ever. For the lawyers, I want them to be able to find the courthouse and make lawyerly noises therein. For secretaries, I want them to be able to type/answer phones/etc.