How many pages should my resume be?
“Why did you make my resume one page? Shouldn’t it be two pages?”
This is what a recent client asked me after I completed her resume. Resume length has been a long-debated topic. Traditional resume standards required resumes to be only one page. However, a lot has changed since the resume was first introduced to the professional world back in the 1960s.
Back then, resumes were sent via mail to open job positions and presented in person. Since recruiters were screening resumes and cover letters manually, it needed to get to the point – hence why the one-page resume rule was invented.
THE BENEFITS OF A MULTI-PAGE RESUME
Today, however, it is acceptable to have your resume extend to one and a half pages, two pages, or even three depending on your career level, the content included in the document, and your industry.
Multi-page resumes not only give you the opportunity to dive deeper into your qualifications and experiences, but it also allows you to have more keywords in your resume that the Applicant Tracking System may be looking for.
Limiting your resume to one page may also force you to omit some important pieces or elements of your career history for the sake of saving space. This can work against you because if the recruiter or hiring manager is looking for specific facts or phrases to determine if you’re a good fit for the position, they may not be able to find them.
Resumes that extend past one page can also portray you as a well-rounded candidate with a broad history of performing related tasks and demonstrating key skills and competencies.
WHO SHOULD HAVE A ONE-PAGE RESUME?
One-page resumes are best for people with minimal experience or 0 to 3 years of experience. Think of someone who:
Is just graduating high school.
Has just graduated college and doesn’t have any industry experience aside from a few internships and part-time jobs.
is transitioning into a new industry and doesn’t have years of solid experience in the new field just yet.
One-page resumes can also be for someone who has been at the same company for several years and has held the same position or has held multiple roles at the same company.
PICKING WHAT STAYS AND GOES
Regardless of whether your resume is one page, a page and a half, or two pages or more, it needs to be full of information that is:
Relevant
Valuable
Necessary
Instead of listing all of your jobs, which is a sign of a general resume, only list jobs that are related to the jobs you will be applying to. This may mean that some jobs will need to be left out altogether, which is okay.
If you have been moving up in your career and your roles haven’t really changed, this should be easy for you. But if you have transitioned a few times or you’ve job-hopped a lot, you’ll have to list past related experiences only.
FOCUS ON YOUR VALUE – NOT YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
When it comes to listing your job descriptions and duties, steer clear of listing day-to-day tasks and busy work. Focus on communicating the measured result of what you’re doing or what you’ve done and/or the impact of your efforts and how they’ve benefited the company.
Be sure to begin each bullet point with a strong verb instead of saying “responsible for”. Lastly, each bullet point should be no more than 2 sentences. This way, regardless of how many pages your resume is, it’s packed with valuable content that gets to the point and focuses on what you bring to the table.