<p>Say I am a new graduate looking for an entry-level position, and all of the information is highly pertinent to the position and free of the irrelevant fluff, would you care if it so happens to span to two or three pages (assuming that my resume is that long)?</p>
<p>I actually do believe in the 1 page rule - be it on paper or electronic. </p>
<p>I’ve been working 25+ years and my resume is still a single page plus a second page for publications - papers, my one book, thesis etc… I find it extremely hard to believe that a new entry would have that much relevant information - without going into detail that should be reserved for the interview. </p>
<p>As another data point, I am currently in the hiring process for an experienced product manager. I have gotten 47 submissions in the last week - which is what I am doing this morning - sorting through them. To prepare this response to you, I just went through the electronic submissions. 44 were one page, 3 were two pages (or more like a page and a half.) I’d guess most of these people are in the 10-15 years out of college range.</p>
<p>A few hints about the process from my point of view as the hiring manager- I’ve got 47 resumes and I am spending my holiday morning trying to pick 5 people who get an interview. Any one package is going to get 30 seconds to get me engaged. I am going to rip through the submissions looking for the top 15 or so packages. Essentially a yes, no, maybe sort. </p>
<p>Hopefully my sort will give me 15 or so yeses. I will then go back through the yeses, taking 3-4 minutes where I decide yes or no. Ideally I’ll end up with five to interview. If I don’t have enough to fill the interview slate, I’ll go through the maybe pile looking for a few missed gems. The nos never get looked at again.</p>
<p>scualum ~ As a parent of a recent grad who is in the process of sending out resumes, thank you for your insight! It makes perfect sense. The trick I guess is to highlight and emphasize the facts that are most relevant to the position for which you are applying. I have wondered if the tradition of a one page resume had gone by the wayside, so it is nice to know he has been on the right track.</p>
<p>Just read an article about the 10 worst things to put on a resume. The objective and “References available on request”, salary expectations, unnecessary personal details were some of the items that this article thought shouldn’t be on a resume. </p>
<p>That should cut down a length of a resume a bit.</p>
<p>Scualum–did the resumes already go through a computer sort before these 47 hit your email box?</p>
<p>Yes they have been screened - both by a computer and also by an HR person… still found it pretty easy to throw out 25 as nos. Only 4 Yes’s so now on second pass through maybes.</p>
<p>Most of the no’s were thrown out as not being a fit - at least not on the surface. </p>
<p>I’m looking for someone with experience in the telecom industry - so resumes without any experience in that industry were automatic nos. It’s possible that some of these people had such experience during a consulting job - but the resume didn’t say so. So the key thing to take away is to tailor the resume to the job opening - don’t just shotgun the same resume everywhere. Many of the nos were obvious shotgun resumes.</p>
<p>As a headhunter, I can tell you that most resumes can easily be one page. Yes, take off the “objective” and “summary” and anything else that is repetitive. The reader should not have to sort through pages to find “experience” and “education” - the two most important things.</p>
<p>I read lots of resumes, and since I have many other things to do, I don’t spend a lot of time on each one. You have about a minute of my time to convince me that I want to pick up the phone and schedule an interview. There are two things that will make it more likely that I’ll call you: Information that’s relevant to the job, and a resume that’s easy to read.</p>
<p>Here’s the most important rule for resumes: * The purpose of a resume is NOT to get you the job; it is to get you an interview.* I don’t want your life story. I want to know if having a conversation with you would be a productive use of my time. </p>
<p>My Top Ten:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>One page!</p></li>
<li><p>Lots of white space. This makes it easy for me to concentrate on what’s there, rather than wading through alot of fluff to try to pick out what’s relevant.</p></li>
<li><p>Bulleted format. This tells me at a glance what you think is important to know about you.</p></li>
<li><p>Name and contact information at the top and easy to find. My resume has my name and phone number in bold font, larger than the rest of the resume. Sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many resumes force me to hunt for this information. Dumb.</p></li>
<li><p>Use industry buzzwords. I’m in the accounting field, so when I see terms like “G/L through financials” I know the candidate has relevant experience.</p></li>
<li><p>Do NOT use the narrative form. “Camp counsellor” is much better than “I worked at my church’s camp for the last three summers with middle-school age children.” If I want to know more, I’ll ask at the interview.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t include information which isn’t relevant to the job, such as hobbies or family information. This is different from college admissions; they want to know about you as a person. Employers want to know how you can contribute to their bottom line.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t get creative. Use good-quality paper in white, cream, or very pale pastel. No graphics or borders. Times New Roman font is the most professional looking</p></li>
<li><p>Make sure it is PERFECT. Spellcheck. Proofread, then proofread again. Then have someone else proofread. For me, a resume with spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors is an automatic “No”. I figure that if a candidate can’t bothered to check their resume, they aren’t going to be careful about the rest of their work.</p></li>
<li><p>For additional info such as references, at the bottom of the resume, put “References upon request.” Type up your references on a separate sheet. Don’t submit them with the resume unless specifically requested, but do take several copies with you to the interview. Also take several extra copies of your resume, and copies of any recommendation letters. This makes you look prepared, which impresses employers. :)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>believe - even before I read the responses, I thought 2-3 pages was too much. I was in the military and have had several jobs and mine is only 2 pages. </p>
<p>After reading the responses, I see that if I need to update my resume!</p>
<p>Lasma</p>
<p>Agree with all of your points!!! One to add - visit your career center - great resource.</p>
<p>And for those of you who depend upon it - Word spell check is not perfect…</p>
<p>wow, ** thank you SO much** everyone!</p>
<p>this is fantastic input. mine is only one page. but now for a follow up question:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>In practice, if a human resume reader does not find the first page interesting (which may include having the right industry buzzwords there), s/he will not continue reading the rest of the pages (though a multi-page resume is understandable if one has a long work history, especially with a lot of contractor and consultant positions). Automated resume scanning and sorting systems are less likely to care, but are likely to be even more buzzword sensitive than human resume readers.</p>
<p>As far as LasMa’s #8 point, make sure it looks good when photocopied (black and white only). Most interviewers will be seeing a photocopied version of the resume. Electronic submissions should be in a readily and consistently viewed and printed format (e.g. PDF if no preferred format is specified) that looks good when printed in black and white.</p>
<p>Less is more. But don’t shrink the font so much that I need to squint.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Remember, please!: You’re not trying to get the job at this stage, you’re only trying to get an interview. You can give me all the details you want when we talk in person. For now, you’re just trying to spark interest.</p>
<p>I like to see separate headings for Experience and Skills. So your Experience section would include just the bare bones info about your past jobs – name of company, dates and job title. Then the Skills section would bullet your skills, regardless of where you used them.</p>
<p>Using the accounting example, I couldn’t care less if you did “G/L through financials” at ABC Company, or XYZ Company, or both. So it might look something like this:</p>
<p>Experience: [I would bold each company name]
ABC Company
Accounting Assistant
June 2010 - present</p>
<p>XYZ Company
Bookkeeper
June 2009-June 2010</p>
<p>Skills: [I would bullet each]
Accounts Payable
Accounts Receivable
Payroll
G/L through financials</p>
<p>Notice that buzzwords make narrative unnecessary. If you’ve done Accounts Payable, I know what that means. No need to tell a story about it. You can give me the details at the interview.</p>
<p>As a resume reader, your relevant skills are what’s most important to me, so make that section easy to find and easy to read. If your skills are a fit for the job, I then glance at the Experience section, just to see what kinds of companies you’ve worked at, and if there are unexplained gaps in employment. Really, that’s all I need to know to decide if I want you to come in for an interview. Make it easy for me to make that decision. :)</p>
<p>I only deal with attorney resumes so my perspective is limited, but I don’t recommend separating experience (skills) from the jobs. I like the name of firm/company and dates, title underneath and experience underneath. </p>
<p>I have two clients (corporations) who will ask me to redo resumes if the experience is lumped together and not under specific employers. </p>
<p>I’m sure there are other industries in which listing all the skills together is appropriate - just not in the legal field.</p>
<p>In general, college grads should have a one page resume. (I did once help a friend on a resume with 2nd “Supplement” page. But it was an unusual case where he took many extra years to get through college due to self-financing factors and change major. He had many job experiences and various college experences). We structured it such that the first page stood on its own, and the second one was available if needed. </p>
<p>I haven’t been involved with many resumes in recent years, but I do hear that employers are very interested in skills list. That’s what got my me last job.</p>
<p>Our HR has an electronic form that all applicants have to fill out via the web, but if you get called for an interview I require that you bring a resume. I strongly prefer one page, but 2 pages is not a deal breaker.</p>
<p>Good info, LasMa. But hopefully you wouldn’t reject a former camp counselor based on your spelling rule. :)</p>
<p>^^ If there were 20 qualified applicants for one slot, I might. Why shouldn’t I expect an applicant to make their resume perfect, especially in this job market when it’s one of the few variables they can control? How much effort does it take to proofread the thing? I know it sounds cold, but here’s how I see it: Probably the best work I’m ever going to see from the applicant is their resume, and if it’s not letter-perfect, it tells me something about their approach to work, their carefulness and attention to detail, their willingness to work at something until it’s done well, their understanding that they need to craft their message to the audience. </p>
<p>Another reason for an applicant to be super-careful about this: These days, it makes you stand out. Many of the resumes that I see from young people seem like they’ve just been dashed off and printed. This generation is used to communicating via IM and texting, where obviously spelling and grammer aren’t terribly important. Some kids never really get comfortable with the King’s English, and a carefully-crafted, professional-looking resume gets noticed, at least by me.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is probably why…</p>
<p>
Well, it hardly seems fair to reject a qualified new graduate just because he’s a better speller than you.
Yes, these kids today with their bad spelling and "grammer. " Where have the standards gone?</p>