How long should your resume be (10~ yrs of exp)?

[Zeze]

Not a parody, genuinely curious.

I heard the old rule that it should never be more than one. Now I hear it's okay to have two.

Now that I'm older (30) with 9~ yrs of professional working experience, should it still be contained within a page? I can still get away with 1 (more descriptions in latest jobs, less on oldest jobs).

People with similar working experience or more- is your resume 1 or 2+ pages? If 2, you don't cut it at 1.5 right? You fill it to the end.

 

[shortylickens]

I said it before and I'll say it again:
A resume is NOT your autobiography. All its supposed to do it get somebody curious enough to call you in for an interview. Thats all.
It does not get you a job.
Interviews get you a job.

 

[lxskllr]

I aim for a terse overview, and keep it at one page. I haven't exactly been successful though, so wtf do I know? I'm anti bullshit in pretty much every aspect of my life, and if I were hiring, bullshit would be sent to the circular file without further regard. I assume people are smart enough to see through bullshit, but I'm probably giving them too much credit.

 

[Mixolydian]

No more than a page.

 

[Farang]

It's more common for it to be more than one page. Just keep it brief on roles older than 5 years.. title, a sentence or two description. Anything after 10-15 years is mostly irrelevant and a waste of space. I'd say two pages for 10 years experience should be enough.

 

[yllus]

I'm at a similar experience level and am at two pages if I keep discipline, but could easily go to three.

A one page resume for someone who's old enough to have been working for ten years would to me scream "I just spent a half decade in jail". Kidding... partially.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

There is no one hard and fast rule. Lots will say that 1 page should be the max. I say screw that. If you have a lot of experience, it is hard to convey that in one page, even if you are extremely succinct. And if you are too succinct, you risk omitting information that a potential employer would find interesting. So, its a balancing act.

That said, my resume is three pages and is organized into four sections - Legal Experience, Teaching Experience, Non-Legal Experience (limited to stuff relevant to my profession, i.e., technical experience), and Miscellaneous (for education, pubs, professional associations, presentations, etc.). Never had a potential employer comment on the length, other than to say that my resume provided a very clear picture of my skill set. And when I was looking, that resume helped me land a ton of interviews.

That said, job hunting is MUCH much more than simply a resume. In fact, reliance on a resume alone is probably the WORST way to find a job. Think about it. Its a short document that provides incomplete information to a potential employer, and since its impersonal the employer can dismiss it out of hand regardless of content. Networking and/or personal contact is a far more effective way to land job interviews, IMO.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

i dont really see my resume going longer than a page. the further back you go the less relevant the work is. i only want to put things on there i can talk in depth about, AND are directly related to the job im applying to.

only scenario i could see it stretching to 2 is if I went back for phd, or won a lot of awards/recognition, that I wanted to list.

 

[jaedaliu]

With enough experience with making a real difference in big projects, your resume can be as long as you want to make it.

But it should be your greatest hits that relate to the job you're applying to. If you have 50 pages of greatest hits ( or more than 2 or 3,) there's a good chance that the person in HR is just going to assume you don't know what's valuable.

 

[cheezmunky]

If you think you can get a recruiter to read two pages in six seconds then go for it

http://cdn.theladders.net/static/images/basicSite/pdfs/TheLadders-EyeTracking-StudyC2.pdf

I'll backup shorty, the point of resumes is to gain enough interest for an interview, not to get the job.

 

[Vdubchaos]

2 pages TOPS

 

[Capt Caveman]

Someone with PM experience and over 10 years work experience, you better have more than a page. Plus, having to submit resumes online, recruiting systems will scan your resume for relevance. More keywords, the higher the relevance.

When interviewing folks, I'm going to ask you specifics of what you listed in your projects. Don't list a specific/relevant detail, I'm going to assume you didn't do a whole lot on that project and move on to the person who did on their resume.

Mine is three pages with 10+ years.

 

[sze5003]

In school they made me format and take stuff out until it was one page. My guess after experience it can be up to 1.5 to 2 pages. If you have lots of experience just sum it up to one page. Talk about the stuff in the interview. I grudge at having to update my resume. I don't remember everything I've been doing for the past 2 years or better said how to word it.

 

[Zeze]

Wow, pretty divided here.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Mine is nearly 3 full pages. I have no issues getting interviews.

Someone with PM experience and over 10 years work experience, you better have more than a page. Plus, having to submit resumes online, recruiting systems will scan your resume for relevance. More keywords, the higher the relevance.


When interviewing folks, I'm going to ask you specifics of what you listed in your projects. Don't list a specific/relevant detail, I'm going to assume you didn't do a whole lot on that project and move on to the person who did on their resume.


Mine is three pages with 10+ years.

This. My experience section lists a brief summary of what my general duties were at each company, followed by bullet points of specific projects/highlights. My resume has the following sections (in this order):

1. Objective
2. Summary of Qualifications
3. Relevant Employment Experience
4. Education
5. Training/Certifications
6. Awards

 

[jaedaliu]

Wow, pretty divided here.

different experiences for different people.

When I left my last job (gave 4 months notice) I was part of the interview process for my replacement, and everyone that got through to be interviewed had a 2 - 4 page resume.

 

[Sureshot324]

2 pages is about right for most people. In my opinion there is really no benefit to cutting it down to one page. You just have make the first page impressive enough that the recruiter will want to read the second.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Mine is 2 pages. Never had a problem getting interviews even when I'm not actively looking for work.

And I've dropped off work experience that is not related to my current occupation.

 

[amdhunter]

1 page. Just set the font to 4pt with single spacing.

 

[Zeze]

Looks like I gotta overhaul my resume. Thanks guys.

 

[PenguinPower]

No more than a page.

False.

Your resume should be as long as necessary to list all relevant information as it relates to the position for which you are applying. That's it. There's no catch all length, and the above is antiquated advice.

 

[sze5003]

If you have tons of experience only list relevant things. If you are fairly new it's safe to list all companies being maybe you worked at a total of 2 so far or how ever many.

My professor who I did an internship with , had a resume of about 3-4 pages just projects he had worked on.

 

[PenguinPower]

Mine is nearly 3 full pages. I have no issues getting interviews.



This. My experience section lists a brief summary of what my general duties were at each company, followed by bullet points of specific projects/highlights. My resume has the following sections (in this order):

1. Objective
2. Summary of Qualifications
3. Relevant Employment Experience
4. Education
5. Training/Certifications
6. Awards

Please get rid of the objective. That's a useless statement that takes up valuable space. No recruiter want to hear about how you "want to utilize my in depth experience to benefit the company," or how you "want to improve your skills while excelling in a upwardly mobile position and adding value to the organization.

Use a "Professional Summary" and show how you will be valuable to the business.

 

[jman19]

Really depends on how many positions you've had. One is preferable, but if you need to go over one, fine. Just don't be one of those wankers who puts 4 pages together of nonsense. If you can't describe what you've done in one or two pages, that is not a good sign in my mind.

The above does not apply to those who are published of course

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Please get rid of the objective. That's a useless statement that takes up valuable space. No recruiter want to hear about how you "want to utilize my in depth experience to benefit the company," or how you "want to improve your skills while excelling in a upwardly mobile position and adding value to the organization.

Use a "Professional Summary" and show how you will be valuable to the business.

Nope, not touching it. I submit it and it gets me interviews almost every single time. Summary of Qualifications section = Professional Summary.