Resume - how many pages

[Anonymous]

Mine is one page. But I'm really not that awesome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was 13:20 w/near three page resume. I should have explained, it's written currently written for federal jobs. Resumes are initialy screened by complete morons who are unable to determine that "Lead attorney in successful defense against multiple-count indictment in high-profile criminal case" means, implicitly, that you were able to operate a shoe horn before reporting for work. If the latter is contained in the job requirements, you must address it in my world, unfortunately.

This is a brilliant summation. I'm going to steal it.

[Anonymous]

I'm a retained executive recruiter (headhunter) and also happen to be a lawyer. I always tell people ... "when in Rome do as the Romans do"... That means -

1. Law Firms and Capitol Hill love one page resumes
2. Everyone else is generally fine with 2-paged resumes
3. CVs are much longer (we headhunters want to see every little thing you've done...so when you get a call from a headhunter...ask them what they want...i.e. do they want your "resume" or your "cv"?

[Anonymous]

My resume is 3 pages long. I'm well into my career. I NEVER see one page resumes anymore. I hire a lot of people. I've never received any negative feedback from a potential employer that my resume was too long.

When I see a one pager, I automatically assume that the person hasn't done much. FWIW, I am a lawyer.

I just think the one page advice is old fashion. I want to hear from hiring managers like myself. What do you really look for?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was 13:20 w/near three page resume. I should have explained, it's written currently written for federal jobs. Resumes are initialy screened by complete morons who are unable to determine that "Lead attorney in successful defense against multiple-count indictment in high-profile criminal case" means, implicitly, that you were able to operate a shoe horn before reporting for work. If the latter is contained in the job requirements, you must address it in my world, unfortunately.

Eh. I am one of the PP lawyers advocating for one-page resumes, and I am Federal employee. I agree that if you are required to use the USAJobs format or your application is being screened by HR or a machine, you may need to basically repeat the advertisement in your materials. But as was recently covered on another thread, most Federal legal jobs allow the use of a traditional resume, with applications screened by lawyers. My experience (as a screener) is that the long USAJobs format is a PITA to read and does not serve you well in those situations. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My resume is 3 pages long. I'm well into my career. I NEVER see one page resumes anymore. I hire a lot of people. I've never received any negative feedback from a potential employer that my resume was too long.

When I see a one pager, I automatically assume that the person hasn't done much. FWIW, I am a lawyer.

I just think the one page advice is old fashion. I want to hear from hiring managers like myself. What do you really look for?

I work in IT and have hired people before. If I see more than one page, this person better wow my socks off or have an advanced degree and publications. If not, that person is likely not going to be getting an interview. The resume is intended to get you the interview. The interview is intended to get you the job. When I have to review hundreds of applications for one job, I'm not going to take the time to interview someone who takes more than a page to pique my interest unless they have a lot to show me before the interview. I want to see substance and not filler.

It seems that lawyers are so obviously impressed with volume, jargon and filler much like the laws they have to decipher for the laymen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was 13:20 w/near three page resume. I should have explained, it's written currently written for federal jobs. Resumes are initialy screened by complete morons who are unable to determine that "Lead attorney in successful defense against multiple-count indictment in high-profile criminal case" means, implicitly, that you were able to operate a shoe horn before reporting for work. If the latter is contained in the job requirements, you must address it in my world, unfortunately.

A federal résumé is different and should be written differently. A person applying for both fed and non-fed jobs should have different versions, and the non-fed version should optimally be one page.

[Anonymous]

I'm in IT and have a two page resume. Have over 16+ years of experience.

Recently my company hired a web developer and when they sent our team the resume of the candidate they hired, it was

EIGHT PAGES

That's a bit much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My resume is 3 pages long. I'm well into my career. I NEVER see one page resumes anymore. I hire a lot of people. I've never received any negative feedback from a potential employer that my resume was too long.

When I see a one pager, I automatically assume that the person hasn't done much. FWIW, I am a lawyer.

I just think the one page advice is old fashion. I want to hear from hiring managers like myself. What do you really look for?

I work in IT and have hired people before. If I see more than one page, this person better wow my socks off or have an advanced degree and publications. If not, that person is likely not going to be getting an interview. The resume is intended to get you the interview. The interview is intended to get you the job. When I have to review hundreds of applications for one job, I'm not going to take the time to interview someone who takes more than a page to pique my interest unless they have a lot to show me before the interview. I want to see substance and not filler.

It seems that lawyers are so obviously impressed with volume, jargon and filler much like the laws they have to decipher for the laymen.

But if I have 100 resumes, I need to see more detail. How else would I be able to narrow the field. You are right, in IT, it would be different.

[Anonymous]

I'm in business (large, multinational corporation) in sales and marketing and have interviewed/hired numerous people. I prefer to see a one page resume, will accept a two page resume and won't read the third page (or more) of a r resume. I assume you can't effectively communicate if you need more than two pages.

[Anonymous]

I work in HR and IME 2 pages seems to be the norm for folks who are established in their career and have advanced degrees. I guess it does depend in the field, though. If you've done a lot of different things in your industry, then by all means, highlight that. But if the responsibilities were largely the same in each position then there's no need to be redundant.

As an aside, I am always shocked by how many people don't bother with a tailored cover letter. It is so obvious when people write one generic cover letter and send it out to multiple places. People who write specific cover letters and demonstrate that they've researched the company are always huge stand outs, regardless of the length of their résumé.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a lawyer and the standard is one page. You've got to be pretty special to have a two-page resume. We kind of snicker at the 2 page ones. Maybe if you've got 20 years experience.
But truthfully, I rarely read the bullets. I look at where you worked and how long you were there, and skim through the bullets.

+1 from another lawyer. TThe only times I've seen two-pagers done well were when the second page was a list of applicant's relevant publications, or detailed examples from applicant's 20 years experience in the relevant field. Notice in both cases the second page was relevant to the job: two pages to cover off-topic publications or broad experience just makes me think you can't edit. (I do read the bullets though, so please put something substantive in there.)

+1 from a lawyer

[Anonymous]

Another HR rep here - you should be able to condense to 1 page. I barely have time to read one page if I get 2 and all the rest are 1 page you strike me as high maintenance.