Posted under Resumes on March 27th, 2007
The answer is (of course) it depends. It depends on career experience, it depends on target audience, and it depends on the position. Here are a few guidelines:
1. Recent graduate and/or less than 10 years of professional experience: One page (usually).
2. Trades, clerical/administrative support, customer service, IT support, classroom teachers, nurses: One page (usually).
3. Managers, directors, administrators, and executives – 15+ years of experience: Two pages (usually).
4. Researchers, academics, medical/scientific professionals: Two pages (usually) – often use the curriculum vitae (CV) format.
For a recent graduate and/or candidate with less than 10 years of experience, one page is plenty to showcase education and one or two jobs. Many young professionals frequently switch employers early in their careers. In this case, more than one page might be necessary.
Individuals with a number of job titles, promotions, varied responsibilities, and significant accomplishments generally need two pages. If a full history is required it is still possible to get everything into two pages by condensing early career history (more than 15-20 years ago). In cases where there are a lot of detailed accomplishments, I recommend developing additional addendums such as, Significant Projects, Critical Leadership Examples, or Product Development Initiatives.
Again, these are only guidelines. There are really no hard and fast rules. It is true that recruiters are very busy and don’t have time to read novels. However, the idea that a résumé will get tossed simply because it is more than one page is mostly an urban legend. Having said that, I don’t advise going beyond two pages. Most important: be sure to put contact information, brand/value proposition, and significant accomplishments toward the beginning of the résumé.
Posted by Michele Haffner
Print This Post