2 page resume OK?

doggie750

Hello Polks,
Gotta explore my option here before they start the Re-oRG. I know the rule of thumb is to minimize your resume into 1 PAGE but I just couldn't with my relevant experiences. Any advice if 2pages is acceptable?

THANK YOU.

Poee7R

Sure, its fine. Mine is a couple pages also. I bound em in the presentation folder things Kinko's sells, looks really good. Also use decent paper, gives a nice impression.

Good Luck!


Dave

BlueFox

Hopefully, you will be submitting it via email so 2 pages is no big deal.

amulford

My opinion is that maybe you might want to draft a letter of interest and briefly summarize your experience. State that you could provide a full resume for their perusal upon request.

My resume is something like 8 pages. There is no way I could even present my certifications and qualifications in two pages, let alone the rest of the pertinent information...

Mine is in two forms, also. I have a word.doc and a .txt version for online application. It was a pain in the **** to do, thankfully now all I have to do is update if I need to...

nguyendot

amulford wrote: »

My opinion is that maybe you might want to draft a letter of interest and briefly summarize your experience. State that you could provide a full resume for their perusal upon request.

My resume is something like 8 pages. There is no way I could even present my certifications and qualifications in two pages, let alone the rest of the pertinent information...

Mine is in two forms, also. I have a word.doc and a .txt version for online application. It was a pain in the **** to do, thankfully now all I have to do is update if I need to...

I agree. Most employers want to see you presented quickly and efficiently. When they want to know more you can provide a longer resume.

Fongolio

I just took two resume writing workshops this month and the new rule of thumb is TWO pages plus cover letter.

Pycroft

I always thought two pages was fine, but three pages is way overboard. I think two pages is a perfect size as long as you get to highlight yourself in the proper way. If you need more, you may want to look at taking some things out that are outdated or not specifically impacting the job you are looking for. At some point, the movie theatre gig from high school should come off

James

punk-roc

just thought I'd throw out that specific industries have slighly different standards as well.. 2 pages sounds good to me. There are academic/healthcare/science fields that utilize CV's instead.. which tend to be 8+ pages long..

If you can't find an industry standard, 2 + cover sheet sounds good based on what Fongolio learned

TECHNOKID

Fongolio wrote: »

I just took two resume writing workshops this month and the new rule of thumb is TWO pages plus cover letter.

This must be a Canadian thing... I had my resume proffessionally done in 1995 and took some resume workshops over the years and always the 2 page rule plus cover page.

Pycroft wrote: »

I always thought two pages was fine, but three pages is way overboard. I think two pages is a perfect size as long as you get to highlight yourself in the proper way. If you need more, you may want to look at taking some things out that are outdated or not specifically impacting the job you are looking for. At some point, the movie theatre gig from high school should come off

James

That is what I have to do every time I need to submit my resume. Remove or shorten jobs that are not as relevant and amplify what is relevent to the job. However, you have to be carefull what you remove in order not to have any break between jobs.

Ace944gs

I agree with everything here so far, just adding a few comments.

1) # of pages is less relevant than the quality of information on the resume. Besides highlighting the the jobs that are most relevant, make sure the description after the job is meaningful. Instead of describing simply what you did, think about a) what competencies you developed/flexed in that role, and b) what results you produced. Too often I see resumes that are a job history list, versus a description of skills/results.

2) Consider including an "objective" section to start your resume, especially if you're not necessarily targeting a specific job. Humans are terrible at reading a resume and accurately imagining what that person can bring to the table. If your objective section tells someone what you bring to the table, and then you follow it up with a skills/competency/results resume, that can be pretty effective.

3) Always submit resumes electronically in pdf if you can, vs. pasting a .doc or .txt document in there. The last thing you want is for a hiring manager/recruiter to think less of you because when they printed your resume on their weirdly configured printer, it looks disorganized or unformatted.

4) Don't underestimate the value of personal contact, and informational interviewing. If you're trying to get a foot in the door, asking for 15 or 30 minutes under the premise of learning about what so-and-so does for a job is always easier than saying "im interested in a job, would love to talk". Also, never, never leave an informational interview without getting the name of someone else to talk to. And, always follow up with a nice thank you. Of course, make sure they still get your resume!

5) Along the lines of informational interviewing, active networking is important. I'm guilty of passive networking...networking only when it is convenient. Start a spreadsheet of all the people you talk to, and keep a column open to fill in with whatever you learn about their job, family, personal life whenever you talk to them. In a few months, and after they've long forgotten you, you can use that bit of information to reach out to them, and ask again for names/contacts. The other lesson I've learned about networking is to make it all about the other person (not you), especially if you're networking with someone who has something to offer you, but you're either not sure, or don't have anything, to offer them. People hate talking about you, but love talking about themselves. If you get someone to talk about themselves for 30 minutes, they're going to like you, and are more apt to put you in contact with other people. Only talk about yourself if they ask, and always (quickly) turn the conversation back around to talk about the person.

6) Back to the resume- if you have a lot of certifications, publications, etc that are important for the job but take up a lot of space on paper, you can always insert a line saying "publications available upon request", and the minute you get a nibble from a recruiter/hiring manager, act as though they requested the list. I've done and seen that done to me a lot, and it's pretty effective. No one is going to sift through 6 pages of pubs, unless they already have an interest in you. The 1-2 page resume will get them to bite, and then they're more likely to be appreciative of the 5 page list of certs you've earned.

Good luck!

billbillw

If you have a long career, then 2 is ok. If you are in your 20's, stick to 1 page.

BeRad

I have been complemented on my resume by every person who has interviewed me ever since high school. I have never bound it in any form other than a staple top left. (I have never applied for what I would consider an important job though, if I ever need to in the future I would bind it in a more presentable fashion.)

I always do a custom cover letter, page one lists education info, work experience and relevant skills/training/certificates etc., page 2 gives a quick point-form list of interests and reference information.

I've found that it helps to have something, anything, to set it apart from the people that just use one of the templates built into MS Word. I've always used a bit of creative lingo in the skills and interests section to give a bit of a smile/chuckle without coming off like a clown or un-serious.

Example: A gentleman who works for a 3'rd party HR company was interviewing me once and told me I had a very well done resume. He pointed out that under interests where I listed "Billiards - where my only real opponent is myself" was probably one of the greatest single lines he's seen on any resume.

I've seen many resume's come through our shop and have never been impressed by a simple one page resume with no cover letter. To me, it shows laziness and complete lack of ambition. I would always recommend to anybody that a CUSTOMIZED cover letter for every application is important along with one full page listing education and work experience/training (typically 3 areas of experience, but 2 is fine). Stating at the bottom that references are available upon request is usually fine unless the job posting requires references to be included.

brettw22

Resume's aren't the place where you list every single job you've ever had and everything you've been certified in, if half of that information doesn't have anything to do with the job you're applying for.

2 pages is good, as long as it's not 1 page of quality, and 1 page of fluff.

ohskigod

most here hit the good points. I always strive to hit 1 page, but if all relevent info (i.e. not filler) has to stretch to 2 pages so be it.

I've seen people debate this to a point to where its like a cable debate, there are still a lot of "one page or eff off" guys out there.

I occasionally review resumes and have heavy input on hiring......I like one page, if it is 2 but all very pertinent info I'm cool with it. if I get the impression you padded it almost with the sole intention of getting to 2 pages I broom it quickly.

The most important thing is to communicate who you are with relevant experience, but do it efficiently. People that read resumes really appreciate it when a resume isnt a hard read.

george daniel

one page prefferably,, how many jobs have you had in say,, last 10 years-- if I get a resume thats 2 pages,,AND alot of jobs(jumping from one to the next) my antenna pop up,,I'm looking for someone with stability, not someone who bounces around--good luck in your quest.

HHStuart

It also depends on your field. I interview people for IT programming jobs. If you look at a lot of resumes, 2 pages is fine but over that and they may get put aside. High light what you accomplished at each job. Use key words for skills for some jobs - especially for IT. If they are looking for specific talent be sure you convey your knowledge of that talent.

Ace944gs

Oh one more thing I remembered...this isn't necessarily advice (since I wouldn't do it), but interesting nonetheless...

When submitting resumes to online job boards (the ladders, monster, etc), people have been inserting relevant key-words into the header + footer of their resume, in the smallest possible font, in white color font (so it's not actually visible to a reader). Many of the job boards have computers do the initial matching of candidates to open roles for recruiters, based off of key-word searches, and stack ranked in order of the number of times a keyword appears on a particular resume. So some saavy/questionable people put a ton of those key-words in their resume to ensure they not only get flagged, but rise to the top of the candidate stack.

The obvious risk is that (some) recruiters may know about this, and might throw your name out if they find out you've done this, so if you do this be careful. I'm not sure how ethical I personally think something like this is, but in today's economy and with today's competitive job searches, some people may need any help they can get.

Again, good luck with the search....

BtrSound

doggie750 wrote: »

Hello Polks,
Gotta explore my option here before they start the Re-oRG. I know the rule of thumb is to minimize your resume into 1 PAGE but I just couldn't with my relevant experiences. Any advice if 2pages is acceptable?

THANK YOU.

Depending on your relevant experience, there is no reason your resume could not excede a page. I will caution that often resume's are blown through by HR and automated scanning machines, so you do not want to water down the quality of the information.

The best advice I can give:

Cater your resume to the job description and the position. Each resume and cover letter you send out. If you do not even put forthe the effort to do this then HR reps thinkl that is how little effort you will put into the job> They may also think that it is not that particular job you want and that you are simply throwing out resumes. Automatic reading machines also look for key words. If you do not cater your resume to contain the key words they are looking for, it may not even get read by a human being.