RESUMES: Does size matter?

BY LAWRENCE M LIGHT, eJobCoach.com

Recently I worked on a resume for a woman who is graduating with an MA from a well-known school. When I sent her the first draft, after having interviewed her for an hour, she immediately said, “This is two pages. I always have been told to limit my resume to a single page.”

I winced. How could someone with this much education and work experience believe such an old, incorrect assumption? I guess I underestimated the power of all those hoary maxims floating around out there about one-page resumes: “No longer than one page, nothing over a page, keep it to a page.”

The reason I feel strongly about this is based on the regular success my clients have had with resumes up to three pages long. A recent one, for example, two and a half pages long, just receive two positive responses, which have turned into two interviews, and the individual for whom I wrote that resume is now on his second round of interviews.

So a one-page resume is definitely NOT a requirement. As I’m fond of saying, “Content rules. If you have a powerhouse of a resume, it’s OK to go up to three pages.”

Those two words “content rules” are the key. Most resumes don’t make every word count. They stuff the work experience into a short space, in an almost drab way. They make for the kind of reading that puts the initial reader to sleep. It’s often called “being objective.”

Well, your resume is the first and foremost indicator of who you are and what you’ve done. If it isn’t a powerhouse, a “Killer” Resume, then it won’t do the job it’s intended to do. That job is to get you the interview.

Unless it gets you the interview, it’s a poor resume. That’s the long and the short of it.

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If you’re interested in more information about this subject, from a job coach with more than fifteen years’ experience helping people find, and get, jobs.  Learn more here.