resume Critique

Society Business and Career
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Okay..i have a question about resumes. Pretty much all job-searching sites advise you that a resume must be one page only. For someone whose in college and hasn’t had much real-world work experience, like myself…thats feasible.
But on the other hand, my husband–who has 9 years of work experience–cut his resume down from 6 pages to 3, but at the expense of taking out many things.

Is it an absolute MUST that a resume must be one page? or do employers look at other things as well?
This is kind of leading into my next question of, if there are different standards and expectations of those who have been in the working world for much longer than someone like myself? This may be split into a different thread I guess.

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I wouldn't advise a resume of more than 2 pages.

For extra writing/explaination/talking about his experiences, tell your husband to write an SOP... statement of purpose.

I am thinking of making a CD with my documents in it... my results, my internship report, my final year research project etc. all burned onto a CD. So I can post this CD with my resume and it'll be way easier for the person to go through these things (and it will make u stand out as a unique applicant).

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Re: resume Critique

A resume should be 2 pages max. One of the things recruiters are looking for is a clear, concise and relevant description of your work experience. Verbosity in a resume is a big no-no. You have the cover letter and the interview to sell yourself and to expand on your specific qualifications and experiences.

Religious pilgrims
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resume should never be more than 2 pages. I wouldn't even recommend two pages unless you're a techie or are super experienced... my resume used to be 2 pages and I've whittled it down to 1 page. and I'd say it looks much better now.

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Re: resume Critique

Good replies. thanks.

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Re: resume Critique

just to add a little more:

1) you SHOULD be able to fit everything on one page. and if you can't, then play with the borders/headings/font, etc.

2) once you've gone through stacks of applicant resumes, you'll start to appreciate brevity and conciseness... your attention span will really start to drop with 2 page resumes. and frankly, if I've ever seen a resume that I liked, one page was enough. and if I didn't like it, the second page didn't help or change my opinion.

imo, if you have more to convey the best thing to do is to write a cover letter. in fact, I'd say the idea combination is a 1 page resume and a good cover letter. people don't pay enough attention to cover letters imo. a well-written, targeted cover letter can get you an interview even if you didn't have a hope otherwise. in the real world, whenever I've had success getting interviews/offers, I wrote what I would consider to be a good cover letter. so, don't underestimate a good cover letter and spend more time on it than writing a 2 page resume.

just my two cents.

Religious pilgrims
7

resume should not be a laundry list of everything someone has done in every role. someone who has been in a company for 5 years is not going to have 5 times as many bullets as someone who was there 1 year, you pick and choose the relevant points for the role, and for a generic resume you pick the most important things.

secondly it should not be about tasks, but accomplishments..maybe have a short summary of what the role was, and then bullet points ion key accomplishments. if I am hiring a marketing communications manager, I know basically what they do, so telling me what they did in 5 lines vs 20 lines is not going to do anything. a descriptor of the role and a handful of key accomplishments so I can gauge how you compare to 10 other marketing communications managers

I can not stress enough the importance of understanding that niether a company recruiter nor a hiring manager are going to go through an entire resume line by line word for word. Unless and until they are extremely interested, and volume does not build interest, but what accomplishments we see, how well the person is suited for the role.

so dont make people draw their conclusions, state who you are and what you bring..and start that with a key skills or summary section at the top..which should not again be a laundry list of everything but list key skills in order of your aptitude in them and their relevance to the role. if it is a generic resume then of skills in importance and relevance to the industry or type of role.

lastly, your last few years experience is much more relevant and of interest than what you did 10 years ago, because tings were different, you had a junior role, so if someone is hiring a CFO, do they really need to know 10 things that the person did 15 years ago as a financial analyst straight out of college?

so..focus on key successes, focus on recent roles..and less and less on older roles. internships which got 5 bullets, get 2, and eventually all internships get listed as one line somewhere etc.

academia and research etc are different, and even there things are changing.

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Re: resume Critique

To answer your question precisely Sara, highly experienced individuals do the following:

*1- Skills *

Break your experience down to two or three key areas. Eg , Sales management, people management and Client Management. In your CV , write a few key bullet points under each of those headings. probably it will take up half of the page.

*2- Employment History: *

The company you worked in
The Title
One line about the company ( eg , xyz is a chemical export company with turnover of 125 million and offices across US and MiddleEast)
Reason for leaving : career progression

repeat for all employers.

*3- Other details: *
Professional skills : decision making, relationship development
Professional Qualifications: ......
Contact details

This CV serves best for highly experienced individuals coz it draws the attention to the skill of the person and also stops the repitition of the same job responsibilities.

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Re: resume Critique

^ many good points CB...

Re: Skills - your advice about Key Areas is an excellent practice to follow. I typically advise people to make sure these key areas are prominently visible upfront - so including them in a Summary/Profile section at the beginning of a résumé or CV works very well.

Re: Employment History - in addition to the basic details about the employer and one's job role, the summary under each job should not read like a laundry list that outlines every single miniscule detail of one's job. Rather, it should highlight the most important projects and their outcomes in terms of one's contributions and achievements in that job role.

Re: size guidelines, I've mentioned this time and again in previous posts, there's a big difference between a résumé and a CV. Most job apps require the former, with a few industries or higher management job roles requiring the latter. A résumé should ideally be no longer than 2 pages, but 3 is the maximum that I've heard of. Another rule of thumb which I've seen being used is no more than one page for every 5 years of work experience or so (including other sections). CVs are a different breed altogether though... these are geared towards job roles where the details matter more, and you're not required to adhere to page limits, even though, you should try to keep is as short as practically possible.

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Re: resume Critique

I would not write "reason for leaving" in a resume, obviously you either left for a better role or were let go/laid off

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Re: resume Critique

^ yep - meant to comment on that too... I haven't seen that mentioned on résumés - at least not in Canada or the U.S.

The GS Memes!!
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Re: resume Critique

Hmm perhaps not in the US then , coz here in the UK, we like to have that on the CV ... alot of people who might have held say 4 or 5 jobs in 10 years , its extremely important to say the reason for moving or else they will be rejected immediately on the basis of job hopping !

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Re: resume Critique

all good points above. i would also add make the cv relevant to the job you are applying for. you got to tell the reader why you in particular should get the interview. each point you make should be delivering a punch in terms of the skills and experience you have. so have a cv for yourself that lists all and sundry and when sending it out take the top 3 points that are relevant to the job description.

Make your cv stand out by making sure it is well presented. the amount of time the basics of formatting and spelling are overlooked is ridiculous. Proof read!

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Re: resume Critique

I think modifying the employment history as per potential job requirements is helpful in cutting down on the length. Only keep the jobs that are relevant to the post you are applying to.

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If the resume is longer than one page, then place the most important things on first page. The idea is to show on the first page what the employer is looking for.

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Re: resume Critique

I was working for a company who developed software especially for recuitment agencies, and what I can advise you (apart from what everyeone else has already said is), look at the job description and remodel your experience to the keywords the ad had mentioned.

Most companies have their own terminology for something you may already have exerpience in, but to make your resume stand out... use the terminology they have used. Recruiters dont necessarily know what the technology is, they just know how to look for the keywords... so the more matches your resume has, the higher it'll be on the list.

And in terms of the length of the resume... Im in Aus, and depending on the organisation or recruitment agency, u can be asked for a short or long resume. Some companies make you fill out their application anyway which covers everything they need and your resume is only there for a reference if need being.

But yeah, one should look at the job ad they are applying for and tailor the resume accordingly.