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I have a lot of work experience but switched fields from media to legal 10 years ago. None of the jobs I am now applying for require more than my legal experience, skills and education. I cut mine down from two pages as all of the feedback I have received from HR resume readers is keep it short, concise and relevant.
There are so many resumes being sent out these days that recruiters and HR will not take a lot of time to peruse each paragraph of even a two-page resume. I also once briefly worked for an agency that placed IT personnel is jobs. The long resumes were not appreciated.
What you really need is several resumes tailored to specific jobs you are applying for. Leave out the irrelevant experience, community activities, hobbies, etc.
If someone handed me a resume that was 100 pages long I wouldn't even look at it.
One company I worked for they were interviewing internal candidates for a managerial position. That resume was 7 pages long. Way too much information was given. Each position was listed on it's own page with dozens of bullet points, no accomplishments. Longer does not equal better.
Mine has two pages, but I keep the qualifications and work experience to the first page and put education and references on the second page. I figure if your qualifications and experience haven't sold them on you they won't even get to the bottom of the first page let alone the second.
In 25+ years of working many jobs I have had 1 potential employer check a reference (that I know of anyway). Usually you know, but it's possible there were 2-3. You have to have them, and they have to be good (and know that they could be asked to give you a reference), but they rarely get a call.
Resume should be viewed as an amuse-bouche. A little preview of what is to come. As far as I am concerned, anything over half a page is an overkill.
A person who only has a half a page of skills/experience is probably only qualified for an entry level position. Either that, or they're seriously leaving out significant details.
While I think we can all agree that the 100 page encyclopedia was excessive and even things like 10 pages are unlikely to be read, there are a lot of people that will pass on you entirely if they don't see at least something of interest in your resume.
If over the past 10 years, you can only fill out 20 lines of experience/skills, then you really are either selling yourself short or haven't accomplished anything.
2 pages is pretty much the perfect length since it can still fit on a single double sided piece of paper.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeo123
A person who only has a half a page of skills/experience is probably only qualified for an entry level position. Either that, or they're seriously leaving out significant details.
While I think we can all agree that the 100 page encyclopedia was excessive and even things like 10 pages are unlikely to be read, there are a lot of people that will pass on you entirely if they don't see at least something of interest in your resume.
If over the past 10 years, you can only fill out 20 lines of experience/skills, then you really are either selling yourself short or haven't accomplished anything.
2 pages is pretty much the perfect length since it can still fit on a single double sided piece of paper.
If you honestly think that anyone doing the hiring outside of legal or government entity reads the entire CV, I have a bridge to sell you in Alaska.
100 pages long??? How is that possible? Do these resumes start with kindergarten? "Participated in Nap Time, Story Time, and other group activities. Learned to tell time on an analog clock. Blew bubbles in milk."
If someone handed me a resume that was 100 pages long I wouldn't even look at it.
One company I worked for they were interviewing internal candidates for a managerial position. That resume was 7 pages long. Way too much information was given. Each position was listed on it's own page with dozens of bullet points, no accomplishments. Longer does not equal better.
Funny, I looked through one of them and I did not see any military experience. Many applicants had that so that person wasn't even considered for the job.
In each case I alerted the supervisor what I found. The look on her face was one of amazement but she has seen that before.
7 pages was about normal what I saw for a federal government position. These were high paying jobs, over 100K per.
Resume should be viewed as an amuse-bouche. A little preview of what is to come. As far as I am concerned, anything over half a page is an overkill.
Half page?
As a government contractor who has worked on many different federal projects that would be impossible. Mine is slightly over 2 pages. I would be selling myself short if it was any shorter.
I imagine it would be very hard for any older adult to keep it to a half page, unless stuck in one position doing the same thing year after year.
The whole time I worked in HR for that federal agency I rarely saw a one page resume and all except one were college student interns. Seldom did I see a resume less than 3 pages. As I mentioned most were in the 7 page range.
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