Resume question

[hjffkj]

Is a two page resume ever acceptable? If so, when?  

 

Thanks for any insight

[Corraleno]

I just read a thread the other day by someone in HR at a big company, and she said never go over 1 page unless you have more than 10 years of significant/relevant experience that can't be contained on one page. She also said to skip the "Objective" section, because it's obvious that the objective is to get the job you're applying for, and be sure to include key words in your resume that match the key words in the job description, so your resume is more likely to make it through the AI screening and get to an actual human. 

[Bootsie]

Yes--in academia two pages would often be a short resume.

 

[hjffkj]

43 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

I just read a thread the other day by someone in HR at a big company, and she said never go over 1 page unless you have more than 10 years of significant/relevant experience that can't be contained on one page. She also said to skip the "Objective" section, because it's obvious that the objective is to get the job you're applying for, and be sure to include key words in your resume that match the key words in the job description, so your resume is more likely to make it through the AI screening and get to an actual human. 

Well dh definitely has over ten years of relevant experience. I didn't look at his resume so not sure what his objective section looks like. Thanks for the advice

[Bootsie]

Given that most resumes are submitted electronically, I am not sure that length matters as much as it did at one time.  Historically, you didn't want the second page of a resume to get lost.  Sometimes demographic information--address, phone, etc. on the top can be put into two columns or fromatted differently to take up less space.

If a resume was going on to a seond page, I would put the most important, relevant information on the first page.  I agree with elminating anything like an "objective" section.  Anything about the type of job you are looking for would better be described in a cover letter that specifically addresses the job being applied for.

[Hyacinth]

I’ve worked in HR and have written resumes professionally for 15+ years. Nearly all of the resumes I write for mid- to late-career professionals come in at two pages.

Generally speaking, a resume should be as long as it needs to be to convey the candidate‘s  value. The trick is to convey that value clearly, concisely, and in a way that makes the hiring manager say, “I like what I’m reading here and I want to hear more.”

When people with a lot of experience try to smoosh everything on to one page, they risk using a too-small font or minimizing all-important white space or cutting valuable information. 

As someone above pointed out, most resumes are viewed on screens, at least at first, so two pages isn’t the Big Bad No-No it used to be.

Objective statements (“Seeking a progressive company in which I can utilize my management skills to further organizational success”) are a waste of space. As Bootsie mentioned, that kind of objective is obvious.

Instead, use a short summary statement. Here’s the formula I start with: What do I do? For whom do I do it? What are the results? That leads to this kind of summary statement: Sales manager with 10 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Consistent history of leading sales teams to deliver year-over-year revenue increases of 6% in a territory valued at $5M. Expert trainer and presenter. 

Think of this opening as the only thing the reader might see and make it say what’s most important. 

I hope this is helpful! 
 

 

[teachermom2834]

My dh has done such a wide variety of things in his career that there is no way for a one page resume to convey his experience. He has done a lot of job hunting in the last five or six years and has gotten pretty good results in getting to the interview stage with a longer resume. I guess it might get pitched for being long but it is as likely to get pitched for not containing compelling enough info if it was shorter.

He works for a big company and was applying on a job internally. A friend in HR there reviewed his resume and agreed it needed to be longer than one page.  It might have even been three. He just really has done a lot in his career that needs to be explained somewhat I guess, even when applying internally.

Oh, his company also recently had a major reorganization and they offered interview and resume counseling for employees applying on new jobs. His longer resume also survived that review. 
 

So all that just to say that there are circumstances that it does not need to be just a page but I think brevity is still important and you don’t want to be wasting words. 

[Kanin]

38 minutes ago, Hyacinth said:

I hope this is helpful! 

Super helpful! I'm listening in b/c I'm job hunting, too.

What should a candidate do with work history that's kind of old, and not related to the job? Do you only put relevant work history on a resume? Or can I have a resume that goes from the present back to 2012, and then nothing after that even though I was working - just not at anything relevant? There are always questions about "explain any gaps in employment" that make me wonder....

[Hyacinth]

1 minute ago, Kanin said:

Super helpful! I'm listening in b/c I'm job hunting, too.

What should a candidate do with work history that's kind of old, and not related to the job? Do you only put relevant work history on a resume? Or can I have a resume that goes from the present back to 2012, and then nothing after that even though I was working - just not at anything relevant? There are always questions about "explain any gaps in employment" that make

If you’re saying you have nine years of relevant experience, I’d definitely put the focus on those nine years. If you want to include the earlier, not-so-relevant experience, you can add one line at the end of the employment section that says “Earlier career included roles in feline companionship and book reading.” 

The “explain any gaps” line is usually on an application (though many companies are doing away with it because they recognize that humanity often has demands and stressors and obligations beyond work), so you don’t have to mention anything about earlier jobs on your resume. 

[SKL]

For me, as my work experience got longer, I dropped off older things that were less relevant to current job searches.  Even if it could have been relevant, by the time it's 10 years old and I have more recent, also relevant experience, the old stuff isn't worth much.  I would give it one line to avoid an apparent gap in employment, if it ended after the year of my most recent diploma.

I think a 1 or 2 page resume would be fine, personally - provided it is well written / organized and focused sufficiently on what the prospective employer is looking for.

I did once receive a resume that was several pages, and started off telling me the person's name means gem and that's what she is.  I hope she found her niche, somewhere ....

[Kanin]

1 hour ago, Hyacinth said:

If you’re saying you have nine years of relevant experience, I’d definitely put the focus on those nine years. If you want to include the earlier, not-so-relevant experience, you can add one line at the end of the employment section that says “Earlier career included roles in feline companionship and book reading.” 

The “explain any gaps” line is usually on an application (though many companies are doing away with it because they recognize that humanity often has demands and stressors and obligations beyond work), so you don’t have to mention anything about earlier jobs on your resume. 

That makes sense. I would like to ditch these older, non-relevant things! Thanks!

[hjffkj]

thank you all. this will be helpful for dh as he works on his resume tonight for an internal position

[Laurel-in-CA]

5 hours ago, Kanin said:

Super helpful! I'm listening in b/c I'm job hunting, too.

What should a candidate do with work history that's kind of old, and not related to the job? Do you only put relevant work history on a resume? Or can I have a resume that goes from the present back to 2012, and then nothing after that even though I was working - just not at anything relevant? There are always questions about "explain any gaps in employment" that make me wonder....

I chose to pull all my homeschool years under one heading as Writing coach/tutor. I did teach co-op classes during that time, even designing my own curriculum for some, and that is relevant to my  area of expertise. I was also told to take off the dates of my degrees, as that's a dead giveaway as to age. My resume includes only my current work (freelancing), my homeschool "work related" tasks, and my Before-Kids corporate job. I left off the other stuff before that. I have been told to use the cover letter to explain my detour into home education...or at least the reason I was working p/t for 15 years....like they couldn't guess at that? Really, I want to tell them that I was improving my relevant skills during that time.

Pay equal attention to your linkedin profile. Once I had a solid resume I could use that to fill in the linkedin profile but I wanted linkedin to be shorter, sweeter, more focused on the type of job I wanted. And then connect with anyone in previous jobs and/or with the job title you want or who will be your reference. Linkedin became my dh's rolodex when he was job hunting and it worked even better than a recruiter.

[hjffkj]

@Hyacinth You helped with my dh's resume about a year and a half ago when he was doing a complete career change and your input helped a lot.  Would you mind if I messaged it to you for your insight again?

Edited March 23, 2021 by hjffkj

[Hyacinth]

12 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

@Hyacinth You helped with my dh's resume about a year and a half ago when he was doing a complete career change and your input helped a lot.  Would you mind if I messaged it to you for your insight again?

Sure!

[hjffkj]

7 hours ago, Hyacinth said:

Sure!

thanks! I sent the info to you

[madteaparty]

On 3/22/2021 at 1:01 AM, hjffkj said:

Well dh definitely has over ten years of relevant experience. I didn't look at his resume so not sure what his objective section looks like. Thanks for the advice

DH just changed jobs/was recruited for a new position after 12 years in the same shop. Resume is only one page. There is usually another piece of paper (some attorneys would have a deal list for example) but those are for later on in the process/if asked. No objective on his because he was recruited for this job (and anyway he looks at a lot of resumes and hates the objective bit. I mean it’s clear what the objective is). 

(he’s not an attorney so that’s not what his extra info was, just giving an example). 

[hjffkj]

1 minute ago, madteaparty said:

DH just changed jobs/was recruited for a new position after 12 years in the same shop. Resume is only one page. There is usually another piece of paper (some attorneys would have a deal list for example) but those are for later on in the process/if asked. No objective on his because he was recruited for this job (and anyway he looks at a lot of resumes and hates the objective bit. I mean it’s clear what the objective is). 

(he’s not an attorney so that’s not what his extra info was, just giving an example). 

Yeah, I tried telling dh that everyone says to nix the objective, specifically because for him the job is in the same department he currently works but he kept it in anyway.  It is a rushed resume because the deadline is today and was just approached to apply over the weekend (needed permission because he just got his current role only a few months ago so he never considered he'd be eligible but two of his superiors told him he should apply.)

[madteaparty]

1 minute ago, hjffkj said:

Yeah, I tried telling dh that everyone says to nix the objective, specifically because for him the job is in the same department he currently works but he kept it in anyway.  It is a rushed resume because the deadline is today and was just approached to apply over the weekend (needed permission because he just got his current role only a few months ago so he never considered he'd be eligible but two of his superiors told him he should apply.)

It’s not going to be a dealbreaker. Best of luck to him!

[Hyacinth]

2 hours ago, hjffkj said:

Yeah, I tried telling dh that everyone says to nix the objective, specifically because for him the job is in the same department he currently works but he kept it in anyway.  It is a rushed resume because the deadline is today and was just approached to apply over the weekend (needed permission because he just got his current role only a few months ago so he never considered he'd be eligible but two of his superiors told him he should apply.)

An easy option is to put at the very top something like

Career Target: Chief Dog Walker

That covers the objective without the fluff.

Bonus for external hires: This way the resume includes the very job title the recruiters are searching for so applicant tracking systems like it.

[Lanny]

Many years ago, before I had access at home to the Internet and before Monster.com and other job sites, I believed, as I still do, that shorter is better for resumes. If more information is needed, they will ask for it.  There are some careers, probably Educators and Medical professionals are examples, where longer resumes are probably OK,, if not a requirement.

LinkedIn was mentioned above in this thread.  Depends on the profession but I had two (2) childhood friends (one of them our parents knew each other before they had kids) who have B.S.E.E. degrees who told me that I MUST get onto LinkedIn.  I find it harder to navigate, but that's where the action is for Engineers and probably for a lot of other professionals.

I still have my resume on Monster.com and 2 or 3 others but to my knowledge,, it is rare that I am contacted because of one of those job sites.

I receive emails from "Recruiters" who are probably in India who want me to submit my WORD resume if I am interested. I have that on my Desktop and if I respond to them, they see how many pages it is, as in the "old days".  In .PDF format I think they would also see how many pages it is.

Buzzwords are critical. Include all of them on the resume.  I once had a free resume screening (on Monster.com?) and it was rather brutal to see how the resume screening software Recruiters use scored my resume and I made some changes after seeing that.

The scary part about all of this is that some years ago DD answered the phone and it was a Recruiter in the UK, looking for one or more people for an Aerospace thing in Michigan.  He told me I had one of the best resumes he had come across in looking for people.  I think the company in MI didn't get the contract (from Airbus?) but it was interesting.

Good luck to everyone who is looking or trying to help their spouse.