Brace yourself, job seekers. This may shock you.
Are you forcing all of your work history into a one-page document?
New research suggests that recruiters were more than twice as likely to prefer two-page resumes over one-page résumés — a conclusion that surprised even the researchers. This was a large experiment done by resume-writing service ResumeGo.
According to MONEY (Magazine & Money.com), they presented 20,000 one- and two-page résumés to a pool of 482 job recruiters, hiring managers, HR professionals, & C-suite executives. Across the board, the participants were more likely to prefer the two-page resumes. Out of the 7,712 resumes they approved, 5,375 of them were two pages long, while just 2,337 were one page long.
Job search experts and recruiters weighed into the discussion on LinkedIn. Notable suggestions include:
Recruiter Adam Karpiak: As long as it takes. I want to see what you know. That being said, don’t throw the kitchen sink at it. Relevant info. If it’s 3 pages, fine, but don’t omit important stuff to get to 1 page
Recruiter Andre Bergeron reminded everyone that resume length depends greatly on the role and organization. She said, “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Public Service of Canada is VERY atypical. If you’re applying to anything I have, please send me your longest and most detailed resumé: we’re talking upwards of 10 pages that details 10-20 years of your experience, with full (multi-paragraph) client & project descriptions accompanied by a detailed bullet list of tasks and duties, each substantiated with examples and explanations.”
Career Coach Natalie Fike (Vocatus Collaborative) suggested that, “Clients whose careers are with a single employer and those who are relaunching after a break from the traditional workforce are sometimes best served by a single-page format.”
What’s your takeaway? Your resume needs to tell your career story. Don’t try to cram it onto one page. 95% of resumes that I write for mid to senior level career professional are two-pages long. Every now and then I write a 3-pager.
Over 200 people gave their thoughts on LinkedIn. Check out the original post here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6473155691581370368
