Does a resume have to be one page long?

This is a perennial question. However, the answer changes from time-to-time. http://www.dhresumes.com is a professional resume writing and job research services company. We receive daily requests for editing resumes and for crafting new ones. Consequently, we are up-to-date on resume writing trends and how to write resumes that win jobs.

Several years back (in the ’90s), two page resumes were the norm. Times have changed. For anyone getting into the workforce, or for someone dusting off an existing resume, one page is the current standard length for positions below the executive level.

It is good to see the passion that other commentators have posted about their experience, qualifications, and their necessity for multiple page resumes. The fact is that recruiters and hiring managers are generally overwhelmed as is. In some cases, a thousand applicants may be presenting their case for one opening. Yes, 1000 applicants. Concise writing is a valuable commodity. Truly – keep your resume succinct to one page. We suggest including additional skills and experience on your cover letter. Then save some enticing tid-bits for the interview. Your resume should be specific to the job where you are applying.

Stay confident and good luck.

DHResumes.com, writing with results

i am an older worker who has a lot of different skills to offer. one page will not tell enough about me.

To the guy who said “20, 3 pages”, I somehow doubt you have enough to fit on to two pages, let alone three.
Reading three pages doesn’t impress anyone. This is what a cover letter is for. A one page resume with a one page, single spaced coverletter will say MUCH more about you than three pages of bullet points. Pick what’s most important, i.e. education (NOT highschool for you recent college grads), recent major jobs (working at Target is NOT a “major” job), and professional affiliations/certifications.
A future boss doesn’t want to read your life story. He’s hiring your skills, not your ability to destroy the rainforest

When reviewing resumes, 1 page says “Junior”, 2 pages says “Senior” and anything over 3 pages says, “Unable to edit or determine what’s important about his/her career”.

My own resume is 2 pages. It doesn’t even fill the 2nd page, but manages to convey 15 years of experience, my education, core competencies and skills and my publications. It’s all in how you present the information.

As a recruiter.. if your going past 2-3 pages.. I am not reading the whole thing. I expect most resumes to be 2-3 pages. I am shocked if I see a mid-career professional with a one page resume.

I’m a technical manager who does hiring and here’s my 2 cents. In and of themselves two page resumes are fine but many times when the resume gets to me one of the pages has been lost. So I’m either missing job hisotry or contact info.

I am a Senior Database Engineer at a growing retail company. We have recently been flooded with resumes for a position similar to mine, for which I have been asked to review resumes and interview candidates. I would say for myself, and all the other people involved in the review process, that I find it extremely difficult to read a resume past the first 2 pages. If the resume does not give me a good idea of the candidates skills and experience within the first 2 pages, it goes to the bottom of the pile, to be looked at later. If the candidate cannot summarize their experience and be concise, it is a direct reflection of how they will perform in our organization.

1 page????ridiculous — I have 30 yrs experience and 4 pages — I interview people for technical jobs and rarely get less than 3. Even “stale experience” 5-10rs old is useful in evaluating experience growth and continuity of employment

Another comments said: “This is personnel people talking who just want to make their jobs easier.” Folks, if you want to get the job, you need to make it as easy as possible for the people that would be hiring you. They’re in charge. You’re not.

I agree with this!! Another thing I’ve noticed that helps is the design of your resume, at least if you’re like me and in a creative field. I didn’t go nuts with my resume… I selectively used smallcaps for my name/address as a stylistic choice, and did a cool gradient thing with my “Objective”, “Education” and etc title bars. I’ve had more people say my new resume was “impressive” than the old one, and all I changed was some design elements! I’m a very visual person myself, and I know I’d be more likely to read a resume that had visual appeal over a wall of text.

No more than 2 pages. The real key is give the recruiter what he or ahe wants to the best of your ability, then get your networking shoes on so you can actually find a job. Two comments made. 1. I have to many degrees to list on 1 page. 2. I am so good at 100+ different software products. With exceptions, only list what is asked for in the announcement and what you can find out about the company’s needs through networking. If the job requires a certain degree…name it if you have it. You can talk about all the other degrees at the interview. That is where you get the job. The resume only get you the interview. Network, network, network.

Clarification on my previous comment, telling a story does not mean loading the resume with unrelated or unnecessary information. I agree that recruiters have limited time to read through the hundreds of resumes and applications they receive. But mostly they are tired of seeing the same run of the mill wording. Canned resumes using the same formats from off the shelf books on resumes; which are like using a paint by the numbers canvas of someone else�s original creation. Give the highlights up front in an original format and then elaborate on the key stories that support the highlights. Above all, only include information that is relevant to the position applied for� don�t �over-qualify� yourself out of a job. If you want to, add one or two items that show added value but that are relevant to the nature of the company.

In the field of engineering you’re hard pressed to keep a resume below two pages, if you’ve worked any good length of time. For the last position we hired, the winning applicant had a five page resume and he easily beat out his competitors who had a similar job history. My own is two pages, but highly customized for each new position. When you know 50+ protocols, 100+ software apps and dozens of hardware platforms, one page isn’t even close to enough and two pages just barely works – if you use acronyms and play with the margins.
However, I agree that a resume should match what is being asked for and a longer resume available upon request.

I think that the secret behind a quality resume is not only how many pages it is… but how well it is written. Like a good book, you have to capture the imagination of the recruiter in the first few lines (first 1/3 to 1/2 of the page) once they are engaged it really doesn’t matter if it is one, two or three pages as long as the resume builds upon itself.

It is essential to focus right away on the the key points of interest of the company and guide them through the “Story” of how you worked you’re way to their company’s opportunity.

A sports icon is an icon not just because of their stats, but because of their charismatic stories of overcoming the competition and personal challenges.

Remember everyone is a sucker for a good story that is well told.

Another comments said: “This is personnel people talking who just want to make their jobs easier.” Folks, if you want to get the job, you need to make it as easy as possible for the people that would be hiring you. They’re in charge. You’re not.

As a former recruiter, I’d say no resume should EVER be more than two pages. Time is money…hiring managers hate reading resumes, it takes time away from their real jobs. So they’re going to spend about 30 seconds scanning each resume, and if they don’t find the information they’re looking for – even if it’s actually on the page but buried under irrelavent information – they’re not going to waste time interviewing you. When I was review resumes, after two pages I’d just stop reading. Anything after that and it’s not going to be seen. Furthermore, if you do use a second page, you need to fill that page. 1 page is great, 2 pages is okay, but 1.5 pages is a no-no. Finally, nobody with less than five years of experience should have more than a one-page resume. There’s just no way some kid right out of college will have that much relevant professional information that they need more than a page, and going over a page is a clear sign that they lack the ability to organize their thoughts concisely.

A one page resume for someone is fresh out of school. Any work experience, and it’s not enough.
This is personnel people talking who just want to make their jobs easier.
On any resume, you have, contact information, objective, and education.
That is about 1/2 page, so a 1 page resume has about 1/2 pages for the information that will get you hired.
A 2 page resume will have 1-1/2 pages, or 3 times as much space.
FWIW, I always tell people that they can look at my complete CV (6 pages long from 1987) if they want, and I bring both to interviews, so that I can show where some of my more obscure experience and/or skills are.

Resume should be long enough to adequately articulate your experience. One page rule is rubbish!

I have shifted my resume to be online. Given my field of work and range of skillsets, I have devised a means of first creating a 3 page word document that can be downloaded. Beyond that, I have an off-shoot page that features an adaptable listing of skillsets and experience levels. Hence, if someone wants to know what experience I have with SQL, I have a drop-down menu that allows anyone to find it easily and immediately give a short synopsis on my experience.

if the recuiter is asking for a one page resume, send the guy a one page resume. You haven’t even gotten a foot in the door and already you are given the recuiter a hard time.

worked more than 8 years. My full resume is 2 pages long, but if I am applying for a specific job, I should know enough about the role to focus the messaging and trim it down to a page. You can always say in the cover letter that a full CV is available on request

3 pages:

Im an IT professional and also have the task of selecting new members for my staff, so I see lots of resumes.

My Resume: 3 pages
I hihlight my last 3 positions and use as much space (of the 3 pages)as it takes to paint the coreect picture.

I have never seen a 1 pager come across my desk – Not for technical people.

More than 2 pages will smack of trying too hard to impress (no matter how much the experience or degrees). It also gives me the impression that I can expect a lot of red tape from that person, if I hire that person. My point is…if you cannot fit your experience in 2 pages, you are not eligible for an interview.

Mine is 2 1/2 after trimming. I’ve got 2 degrees, a certification, I’m finishing up 2 masters (dual program w/ an MBA), have 10 years experience, and have routinely held multiple simultaneous job titles working 60-100 hour work weeks.

20, 3 pages

My resume is three pages long. I had to work pretty hard to keep it that short – as I have been working for 44 years.