what's the word on multiple page resumes?

[BlahBlahYouToo]

since i've taken on some consulting projects lately, it's expanded my resume beyond the standard 1 page.

i figure it might be ok since most people are looking at it on the screen and only printing it out during the face to face interview.

 

[Saint Nick]

If you aren't in management, I would stick to keeping it down to a single page. Let them get the juicy details from you during the interview. Make your resume really pique their interest enough to bring you in.

 

[Corporate Thug]

If you aren't in management, I would stick to keeping it down to a single page. Let them get the juicy details from you during the interview. Make your resume really pique their interest enough to bring you in.

Agreed. 1 page unless your management or have decades of experience.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Agreed. 1 page unless your management or have decades of experience.

well, i definitely don't have decades of experience or management responsibilities.

damnit... now either have to remove details or older projects...

 

[Capt Caveman]

well, i definitely don't have decades of experience or management responsibilities.

damnit... now either have to remove details or older projects...

Going two pages should be fine, especially if you have a lot of project work. Just leave out any redundant stuff.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Your resume doesn't need to show every single thing you've ever done, just the stuff relevant to the position you're applying for. If you're applying to be a software developer, they probably don't need to know that you worked in the cafeteria in college. Also, try to eliminate duplicate roles. My fiancee has a lot of experience in naturopathic offices, but when I was helping her redo her resume, I noticed that two of her jobs in her work history were virtually carbon copies of each other; I don't want to look down a resume and see the exact same bullet point listed multiple times. Keep it short and simple; a cover letter is a better place to expand on specific qualifications and an interview gives you an opportunity to really flesh out the details and provide specifics.

 

[MotF Bane]

Generally, don't do it.

 

[Bulk Beef]

There was a thread here with some dude insisting that if your resume wasn't 60 pages long, you weren't shit, and I think he was serious. For the life of me , I can't find it.

 

[Vic Vega]

A cover letter and resume are two pages together, no more, no less (except for cases of extreme specialization).

Page One: Cover Letter

A cover letter should be three paragraphs. 1.) Greeting and why you're bothering them. 2.) Your current job role, how your knowledge and skill will benefit the company and why it would benefit you and the prospective employer to hire you. 3.) You want to speak with them over the phone or in person about the job, basically you are scheduling an interview proactively. Thank you, and done.

Remember this is a business letter! Do not indent. Do not use warm fuzzy greetings, strange fonts, etc. Date goes at the top, followed by your (sender) details followed by their (recipient) details followed by the body. Don't change this!

Page Two: Resume

Section #1: Name, telephone number, email address, current FULL address, current job title (what are you, anyway? Engineer, Accountant, etc).

Section #2: Statement of intent and/or objective. This is what you want to do and why you want to do it.

Section #3: Relevant work experience from the last 10 years to backup the previous section. If you don't have it, list the jobs with the most responsibility or tenure.

Section #4: Education and Certification: Where you went and what you got. Keep this simple.

That's it folks. Don't need anything else. Don't need to know you like puppies or that you were part of the chess club or anything else. This formula has worked well for me, it will work well for you. Remember the resume is just one page. You will need to be specific but brief and your formatting must be clean and readable. No text walls!

I haven't seen a paper resume in ten years. Most recently, in the last five years or so, I have used PDFs. They look far more professional than a Word document.

 

[Imp]

One page is short and sweet. Personally, I've been using 1.5 pages, but that's gotten me nothing, so it can't exactly be helping.

I think the gist of it is that people get hundreds, if not thousands, of applications per job nowadays. If you haven't gotten their attention by page 1, then they'll probably get a bit lazy to review page 2.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

My thoughts are: 1 page is good. 2 pages is fine. Anything more is too much.

 

[Vic Vega]

One page is short and sweet. Personally, I've been using 1.5 pages, but that's gotten me nothing, so it can't exactly be helping.

I think the gist of it is that people get hundreds, if not thousands, of applications per job nowadays. If you haven't gotten their attention by page 1, then they'll probably get a bit lazy to review page 2.

Excellent point and this is why you need a cover letter. It's your chance to speak to them before they hit your actual resume. Always write a cover letter specific to the job you're applying to and for that company. Canned cover letters are worthless.

 

[poopaskoopa]

2 pages are ok for me to read. I've seen some 3, 4 page resumes and I kind of get into tl;dr mode after a while. 1 page is ok as long as it doesn't indicate that you're fresh out of school(we were looking for candidates with experience at the time). This is in IT.

 

[edro]

2 pages only if the second one is scented.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

Think about it from the perspective of a recruiter. They are going to look at it for 30 seconds or less. You need to be able to get important stuff across in that amount of time.

 

[vi edit]

Depends on the field/position. Most vanilla type jobs are fine with 1 page. Other areas like education, science, or specialized healthcare positions will go with the "CV" style multiple page format that includes much more information than just prior work experience.

 

[silverpig]

A cover letter and resume are two pages together, no more, no less (except for cases of extreme specialization).

Page One: Cover Letter

A cover letter should be three paragraphs. 1.) Greeting and why you're bothering them. 2.) Your current job role, how your knowledge and skill will benefit the company and why it would benefit you and the prospective employer to hire you. 3.) You want to speak with them over the phone or in person about the job, basically you are scheduling an interview proactively. Thank you, and done.

Remember this is a business letter! Do not indent. Do not use warm fuzzy greetings, strange fonts, etc. Date goes at the top, followed by your (sender) details followed by their (recipient) details followed by the body. Don't change this!

Page Two: Resume

Section #1: Name, telephone number, email address, current FULL address, current job title (what are you, anyway? Engineer, Accountant, etc).

Section #2: Statement of intent and/or objective. This is what you want to do and why you want to do it.

Section #3: Relevant work experience from the last 10 years to backup the previous section. If you don't have it, list the jobs with the most responsibility or tenure.

Section #4: Education and Certification: Where you went and what you got. Keep this simple.

That's it folks. Don't need anything else. Don't need to know you like puppies or that you were part of the chess club or anything else. This formula has worked well for me, it will work well for you. Remember the resume is just one page. You will need to be specific but brief and your formatting must be clean and readable. No text walls!

I haven't seen a paper resume in ten years. Most recently, in the last five years or so, I have used PDFs. They look far more professional than a Word document.

Pretty much this. I have some style points I would change, but that's more personal preference.

Just to add a few bits:

The cover letter should be about what YOU can do for THEM, not what the job will do for you. "I've always wanted to learn about networking computers and feel I could grow in this position," is bad. "From talking to <whoever> I have come to understand you don't yet have a <whatever system> in place. My work on <whatever successful project> at <my previous employer> that saved $2M over the first 6 months may improve efficiency at your organization." is good.

Your resume should be dense. Chances are there is way too much white space. Write yourself a 2 page resume, and then find ways of formatting it to fit it into 1 page.

Focus on what YOU did and the results of those actions. "Saved $2M in operational expenses by designing and implementing a new control system."

Finally, if your resume reads like a job description on monster.com, you've done it wrong.

 

[Spikesoldier]

1 page

2 pages or more goes into the shredder

 

[purbeast0]

mine is now 2 pages, as are quite a few of my peers.

when i did an interview a while back, this chicks resume was 4 pages, and like walls of text. now THAT was a tough resume to go over.

i have a little over 7 years experience.

EDIT:

i also think the whole "objective" thing that is supposed to go at the top of a resume is fucking stupid as hell. if you are applying for a job, it's pretty obvious that your objective is to get the job.

 

[Macamus Prime]

Keep it a 1 page.

Maybe just place the titles of previous projects, that way you can wet their lips. Then, during the interviews, you can elaborate on the details.

 

[bigi]

A cover letter and resume are two pages together, no more, no less (except for cases of extreme specialization).

Page One: Cover Letter

A cover letter should be three paragraphs. 1.) Greeting and why you're bothering them. 2.) Your current job role, how your knowledge and skill will benefit the company and why it would benefit you and the prospective employer to hire you. 3.) You want to speak with them over the phone or in person about the job, basically you are scheduling an interview proactively. Thank you, and done.

Remember this is a business letter! Do not indent. Do not use warm fuzzy greetings, strange fonts, etc. Date goes at the top, followed by your (sender) details followed by their (recipient) details followed by the body. Don't change this!

Page Two: Resume

Section #1: Name, telephone number, email address, current FULL address, current job title (what are you, anyway? Engineer, Accountant, etc).

Section #2: Statement of intent and/or objective. This is what you want to do and why you want to do it.

Section #3: Relevant work experience from the last 10 years to backup the previous section. If you don't have it, list the jobs with the most responsibility or tenure.

Section #4: Education and Certification: Where you went and what you got. Keep this simple.

That's it folks. Don't need anything else. Don't need to know you like puppies or that you were part of the chess club or anything else. This formula has worked well for me, it will work well for you. Remember the resume is just one page. You will need to be specific but brief and your formatting must be clean and readable. No text walls!

I haven't seen a paper resume in ten years. Most recently, in the last five years or so, I have used PDFs. They look far more professional than a Word document.

Thank you for such extensive explanation. I'll revise my stuff according to this.

 

[TechBoyJK]

2 pages tops unless you have a lot of experience!

If the experience is relevant, they will understand why it's longer than usual.

If it's not relevant, they will question why you added so much crap

 

[Imp]

Excellent point and this is why you need a cover letter. It's your chance to speak to them before they hit your actual resume. Always write a cover letter specific to the job you're applying to and for that company. Canned cover letters are worthless.

Since the cover letter is accepted/required, it's probably a better idea to include everything you wanted to add to page 2 of your resume to the cover letter. If there's more to communicate, do it in the letter.

 

[silverpig]

mine is now 2 pages, as are quite a few of my peers.

when i did an interview a while back, this chicks resume was 4 pages, and like walls of text. now THAT was a tough resume to go over.

i have a little over 7 years experience.

EDIT:

i also think the whole "objective" thing that is supposed to go at the top of a resume is fucking stupid as hell. if you are applying for a job, it's pretty obvious that your objective is to get the job.

Agreed on the edit. If anything, you can communicate this in the cover letter, or in the email where you send your cover letter and resume as attachments.

 

[96Firebird]

I think having a list of relevant classes is good for a recent graduate to have on their resume. That is what put mine over one page. Now that I am getting some real-world experience, I think I can take them off...