Are two columned resumes unprofessional?

[legocitytruck]

Have any of you tried creating a two column format resume? Here is an example: http://www.dylanwrites.com/resume.png

I am considering moving over to this format because I am severely short on space and will not move to a two page format.

I have been sticking with the traditional one column center aligned style up until now. Are there any other formats that are beneficial in terms of presentation and possible space?

 

[TheKub]

First impression is that the text is really small and likely to be a negative to the reviewer. But given that you are in a creative\designish field you may get more leeway than your typical white collar worker.

<- Owner of a 2 page resume.

 

[BlackTigers]

That guy has a fat resume.

 

[TruePaige]

I kind of like the resume, OP. Seems less fluffy and more to the point, while still pleasing to the eye.

Watch out for this one guy here, says he has a 48+ page resume. That was a funny resume thread.

 

[theknight571]

My first thought, upon reading the thread title, was yes.. unprofessional.

However, after looking at the resume you posted I wouldn't dismiss it just because of formatting.

It's still clean and gets the information across.

I wouldn't try to squeeze much more on there though... at some point the font would be too small to read.

 

[meltdown75]

i like the look of it. i've never seen one like that before.

 

[SacrosanctFiend]

God, I hate that resume. The education and experience being in differing chronological orders and the small text makes me want to trash it.

Edit: Why won't you move to a two-page format. It is perfectly acceptable if you have relevant information.

 

[JulesMaximus]

<--2 page resume

 

[zerocool1]

Originally posted by: TheKub
First impression is that the text is really small and likely to be a negative to the reviewer. But given that you are in a creative\designish field you may get more leeway than your typical white collar worker.

<- Owner of a 2 page resume.

design resumes from what i've understood can be a little more colorful. think of it as a chance to apply your design skills in a conservative manner depending on where you're applying.

 

[Billb2]

Any weird format ----> right to trash

 

[CRXican]

that actually looks pretty cool

 

[torpid]

It looks ok but has some issues. The hyphenated words are annoying on the left. The chronology seems off. The description of duties under each job is too verbose. The layout looks ok, but the information is hard to find in it because of how the text under each bolded part is organized. Assuming you don't do any of that, it will look ok, IMO.

 

[KeithTalent]

Meh, don't like it. WTF is up with the "Life Perspective"? That's just stupid.

KT

 

[nakedfrog]

It looks to me like you're cramming two pages of resume onto one because you don't want a two page resume. Makes sense since that's exactly what you're doing.
Agreed on losing the "Life Perspective"
I had a tough time trying to get mine down to one page, but it's worth the effort. I just modify it every time I apply for a job, to tailor it to the position.

You need better proof-reading/editing, too.
"Chosen out of 4,000 potential candidates as 1 of 100 Agents"? That's very awkward. You've got "Company X issued a challenge" in there twice, you should reword one (or maybe both) of those. And that's where I stop

 

[SacrosanctFiend]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
It looks to me like you're cramming two pages of resume onto one because you don't want a two page resume. Makes sense since that's exactly what you're doing.
Agreed on losing the "Life Perspective"
I had a tough time trying to get mine down to one page, but it's worth the effort. I just modify it every time I apply for a job, to tailor it to the position.

You need better proof-reading/editing, too.
"Chosen out of 4,000 potential candidates as 1 of 100 Agents"? That's very awkward. You've got "Company X issued a challenge" in there twice, you should reword one (or maybe both) of those. And that's where I stop

Why?

 

[TecHNooB]

I'd read it as long as its presentable.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: SacrosanctFiend
Why?

Because it means you've really pared it down to what's necessary. No room for frills or padding.

 

[SacrosanctFiend]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: SacrosanctFiend
Why?

Because it means you've really pared it down to what's necessary. No room for frills or padding.

It also means that you could have left out some relevant information that could make the decision between getting a call back or not.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

seems like you generate the extra space by shrinking the font size mostly. if i have to squint, probably going to hate you. short and sweet please.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: SacrosanctFiend

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: SacrosanctFiend
Why?

Because it means you've really pared it down to what's necessary. No room for frills or padding.

It also means that you could have left out some relevant information that could make the decision between getting a call back or not.

:shrug;
Means I didn't tailor my resume well enough for the position. You don't have to agree with my opinion, you know.

 

[mugs]

1. There is nothing wrong with a two page resume if you fill it with relevant work experience. Just don't fill it with fluff.
2. A human wouldn't have a problem with a two column format, but as has been noted that text is too small. And if they scan resumes to add them to a database, I'm not sure how well the two column format would work.
3. It sounds like that one isn't yours, but that one has a ridiculous number of "jobs" listed for such a short career. They all overlap though. It's not clear if the person is a freelancer and that's a client list, or if they worked for a company and those were all of the clients whose accounts they worked on. Either way, it should be formatted to not give the impression that the applicant had 11 jobs in 4 years.
4. Life perspective... yeah.

 

[dullard]

The 1 page resume rule is ONLY for people fresh out of school. The young people with little experience tend to fluff it up with useless high-school jobs, irrelevant fun activities, and detailed lists of whatever A+ stickers the high-school basket weaving teacher gave for basket homeworks that didn't actually fall apart before it was turned in.

If you don't fit that category, if you actually have relevant education, experiences, and awards then you should NOT limit yourself to just one page. It makes you look like a weak candidate. I really suggest that you use 2 pages if you have sufficient relevant material.

But alas it doesn't matter much. The resume concept is dying as a format in many fields.

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Originally posted by: dullard
The 1 page resume rule is ONLY for people fresh out of school.

This. One-pagers get binned, especially when submitted for most technical jobs. No way you can cover objective, education, work experience, technical knowledge, and (if necessary) references sufficiently in one page.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: CoinOperatedBoy

Originally posted by: dullard
The 1 page resume rule is ONLY for people fresh out of school.

This. One-pagers get binned, especially when submitted for most technical jobs. No way you can cover objective, education, work experience, technical knowledge, and (if necessary) references sufficiently in one page.

I don't see why not. Once you've been at it long enough, the education is more or less a formality. Technical knowledge, even if you have a crapload of it, shouldn't take that much space since it's basically all acronyms, and you don't need to prattle on in great detail about your work experience. The resumes I read over like that last year mostly seemed like they were full of crap. Keep it concise, hit the high points so we know that you have experience in what we're looking for, and you can cover the rest in the technical interview.

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: mugs
1. There is nothing wrong with a two page resume if you fill it with relevant work experience. Just don't fill it with fluff.
2. A human wouldn't have a problem with a two column format, but as has been noted that text is too small. And if they scan resumes to add them to a database, I'm not sure how well the two column format would work.
3. It sounds like that one isn't yours, but that one has a ridiculous number of "jobs" listed for such a short career. They all overlap though. It's not clear if the person is a freelancer and that's a client list, or if they worked for a company and those were all of the clients whose accounts they worked on. Either way, it should be formatted to not give the impression that the applicant had 11 jobs in 4 years.
4. Life perspective... yeah.

This.

A non-traditional resume format makes the recruiter think that you are not sufficiently familiar with the work/corporate world and counts against you.

There is NOTHING wrong with a two page resume if you have substantive content.

[edit] If it helps I worked in corporate recruiting for about 4 years.