How Long Is A Resume

Do Not Use A Bitmoji Or Other Alternative To A Photo

âIâm stumped by this trend,â says Caitlin, Zipjobâs Marketing Manager. âI love seeing creative displays of personality on a resume, but Bitmoji are cartoons. Stand out from the applicant pool in other ways that will earn you more respect.â

From a technical standpoint, as with other graphics, Bitmoji turn into jumbled nonsense to an ATS. Unlike logos or artistic headersâwhich can be appropriate for graphic designer resumes in print formâBitmoji never have a place on a resume.

Keep your cartoon self firmly in the realm of social media and informal communication: your professional resume document is neither.

Remove The Irrelevant Positions

Many professionals had jobs that weren’t related to their main line of career. Say, you worked as a waitress, bartender or a cashier as a student, or as a delivery driver during the lockdown to pay the bills. Yet, if you don’t plan to continue this line of work, remove such jobs.

Also, remove the positions that no longer meet your professional goals. Maybe, you worked as an accountant after college, but then switched to a software development field. In this case, no need to mention your early jobs.

How Many Pages A Resume Should Be

How long should your resume be? The answer is that the length of your resume depends on a number of factors. It depends on how much experience you have and what level candidate you are. If you’re an entry-level candidate, a page should be plenty.

For more experienced candidates, it’s fine to have a longer resume. Read below for more detailed information on how long your resume should be, and tips for making your resume the perfect length.

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Finally Keep The Discussion Relevant

When you are in the interview you should try to make sure the discussions you have with the interviewer remain relevant and on-topic. While some interviews may turn casual or veer slightly off-topic, you should try to steer the conversation back to topics that highlight why you are the best candidate for the position. Doing this can help you prevent missing the opportunity to discuss the things that make you the best candidate before the interviewer runs out of time.

If you need help writing a resume, use our data-backed resume builder.

The Point Of The Resume

One of the ways to think about how long your resume should be is to take a step back and look at the whole purpose of crafting a resume.

What is it designed to do and what kind of length does this naturally lead to?

First, keep in mind that your resume is a career marketing tool its not an autobiography.

That means you dont need to include every single detail of your working life, college or university experience and any other information that isnt relevant to the job you are applying for.

The aim of the resume is highlighting the most relevant information for the possible employer your value as an employee and your credentials. Plus it never hurts to leave something to chat about at the interview!

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Sections To Include On Your Resume To Get More Interviews

Now that you know how long a resume should be, Im going to share some tips about what to put on your resume if you want to get interviews!

Writing great content on your resume is far more important than worrying about how many pages your resume should be.

And no matter how long your resume ends up being, there are some key pieces to always include if you want to get more interviews. So here they are

First, youll want a great resume summary paragraph. You can find examples here.

Next, make sure you have a GREAT work experience section overall. This is the first place I look on most resumes as a recruiter

Skills arent as important, because employers prefer to see WHERE you used each skill and did each task in your career. So focus mostly on your employment history and bullets to demonstrate your value to employers However once youve done that, a Skills section is still useful to include. It helps you add relevant keywords to your resume and show the company your top skills at-a-glance.

And youll also want to include an Education section where you highlight any degrees and certifications you have. Those are the main pieces Id recommend including.

We also have a detailed article going into more detail on what to put on a resume and how to structure/order everything.

So thats another resource that will help you make sure youre getting the most out of the space on your resume, whether its one page, two pages, or more.

Healthcare Resume Tips: How Long Should A Resume Be

When applying for a job, you want recruiters to know why you are the best fit for the job when they read your resume. To get the attention of hiring managers, make your resume professional and polished. If youve spent your time researching resume best practices, then you probably have heard that a one-page resume is ideal.

Despite the advantages of single-page resumes, determining resume length is important when updating your resume. Having that said a resumes length comes only second to content quality and readability.

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Tailor Your Resume To Each Application

Many job-seekers assume that their resume should list most of the jobs theyve held in their lives. However, this is only the case if youre writing a job-seeker CV outside of North America.

The best way to ensure you achieve the proper resume length when writing your resume is to tailor it directly to the position you want.

Every job you apply for has different requirements and qualifications. Whenever you apply for a new job, your resume should change to reflect these requirements.

For example, service industry jobs can teach highly valuable soft skills. However, if youre writing a , including information about your experience waiting tables is irrelevant and should be left off.

To tailor your resume, start by looking at the job description, and remove anything that isnt directly mentioned in the listing. In particular, look out for specific skills theyre looking for, and how many years of experience they want.

Reducing your resume to only the most relevant information not only helps you fit it on one page, it also makes you look perfectly suited for the position.

Additionally, remove any positions that you held a long time ago. If youre unsure how far back your resume should go, just omit anything over 1015 years old.

How Long Should A Resume Be In 2022

So, how many pages should a resume be?

While the ideal length depends on a number of factors, the main goal is to keep it as short as possible while conveying enough information to catch the readers eye.

Below, we dive into the common question: How long should a resume be?. The answer may surprise you!

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Never Sacrifice Resume Formatting And Readability To Fit A Certain Page Length

As a recruiter, Ive heard stories of candidates shrinking their font, changing spacing, etc., in order to fit their content onto one page.

Dont ever sacrifice the readability or the overall formatting of your resume just to fit it into a certain number of pages.

In extreme cases, Ive seen a candidate shrink their font to a tiny size because someone told them, your resume should be one page long. Thats bad career advice, and as covered above, it depends on your exact situation.

Focus on sharing valuable content, keep your formatting pleasant, well-spaced, and easy to read for hiring managers, and youll get more interviews!

That brings me to my next tip for resume page length and formatting

Making Your Resume Fit

If youre trying to make your information and experience fit into one or two pages, there are several ways to adjust your resume and give everything room to fit.

• Fonts. Some fonts are bigger than others. For example, Times New Roman is smaller than Arial. Make sure to choose a font that is easy to read, try to stick to basic fonts like Arial, Verdana, Calibri, or Times New Roman.

• Font size. If youre using a 12-point font, try switching to a 10 or 11-point font. If your headings are big, try making them a little smaller, while still making them slightly larger than the body of your resume.

• Font styles. Bold words take up more space than italicized words. If need be, try changing any words in bold to italics.

• Spacing and margins. Experiment with different spacing styles for your resume. You can decrease your margins to 0.5 of an inch to allow yourself more room.

  Spacing can make all the difference in your resume if your resume uses double spaces, try to reduce it to single spacing. When experimenting with spacing and margins, make sure that its still easy to read and that the most important details are easy to spot.

• White space. Be sure to leave enough white space on each page, but not too much. Try to fill at least three-quarters of each page with relevant information. Your resume should look neat, clear, and easy to read.

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Thefacts: Recruiters Only Look At Your Resume For 6 Seconds

I know variations of this statistic are thrown around, but its for good reason. Many recruiters have a step-by-step process to fill the countless orders they receive. Briefly judging a resume by how it looks is at the top of that list.

This is one of the reasons why the length of your resume is so important. You want to catch their eye but not overwhelm them.

Now that you know the required length of a resume, are there any edits that need to be made? Do you need to add additional details to fill out one page, or are you looking to narrow it down?

The Right Time For A One

Having a one-page resume is perfect for those who donât have much work experience yet. For instance:

• Workers starting out in the labor market
• Graduates fresh out of college
• People with a few years of employment history

If youâre in the market for a career change and your past doesnât have much to do with the future youâre aiming for, a one-page resume will also work a treat.

When you donât have much information to share, donât try to stretch it onto the second page by using a bigger font, narrowing the margins, adding lots of extra irrelevant data, or other tricks you might think of.

Itâs better to work on how you present what you have. Format and arrange everything on to one page, keep it easy to read and understand, and describe only the important and relevant facts about your career so far.

Itâs also a great idea to use a free online resume builder to make sure your resume is easy on the eye and uses an effective format.

So, with only so much white space to fill on your resume, how do you make sure yours jumps out at recruiters?

There are a few techniques you can use, like peppering the right amount of keywords throughout, putting some real-world examples into your achievements, and importantly, sticking to the point with clear language.

Be sure to include all the important sections in your resume and remember, itâs going to need to get past ATS software if youâre going to be in with a chance.

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Rule 3 Add Keywords Relevant To Your Work Industry And Experience

When potential employers search the web for qualified candidates, they do so by typing in key skills the position requires.

If you add too many of these key terms, your resume looks cluttered, but if you leave something out, they might miss you altogether.

Find a happy keyword balance with good flow!

Note: I tend to focus on keeping experiences and skills directly relating to the role included within the resume.

Do a quick search on your favorite job search engine around the job you are targeting, and find the Must Haves or Required skills, making sure they are well established within your resume.

Eliminate Unnecessary Resume Elements

You may have been told in the past that an objectives section was a necessity on any well-rounded resume. Times have changed though.

Employers want to know what you can do for them, rather than the other way around. Keep your resume focused on the things you have to offer them skills, accomplishments, and dollars and cents.

Hobbies is another unnecessary element for a resume. Unless your hobby actually builds skills that are useful in your career, its better to save that valuable resume real estate for something that will enhance your hirability for the company instead.

Theres no need to state that your references are available upon request. They know.

If youre short on space, you may also consider combining sections so that you have fewer subheadings on the resume. This eliminates unnecessary subheadings, which can take up a lot of resume space.

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Use Italicized Vs Bolded

One last trick you can try is reducing the number of bolded words you have throughout your resume.

This may help if your resume currently has one or two lines that are spilling over to another page.

If you are trying to emphasize a point, try changing the bolded words to italicized to see how much space that saves you.

How Far Back Should A Resume Go

Your resume shouldnt go back further than a maximum of 10 to 15 years.

You want to keep the information on your resume relevant to the job you are applying for.

The HR Department is most likely not interested in what you were doing 20 years ago. Even if its very impressive, chances are, you’ve done much more significant things in your past 3 positions than whatever you did 18 years ago.

Pro-tip

• Not going back very far also sidesteps age discrimination. If your resume dates back more than 15 years, the HR department might guess your age. And if its a young applicant theyre looking for, your resume can be rejected right away.

Are there times you need to absolutely include more than 10-15 years‘ worth of work experience in your resume?

Yes, occasionally.

More specifically, you would want to include dated experiences if:

• You are applying for a job in a field you used to work for more than 15 years ago and you dont have the recent professional experience to account for. In that case, old relevant experience is better than no experience.
• Your dated experience is actually of extremely high importance. Maybe you used to be president of the United States or CEO of Coca-Cola. You can choose to use that to your advantage since it speaks to your qualifications and prestige, even if its old news.

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Find A Job That’s In Demand:

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What you leave out of your resume is almost as important as what you put in.

Play With Size And Font

When you are trying to make a one-page resume, but your information overflows onto a second page, there are many ways to shorten your resume. First, change the font of your resume . If your headings are a very large size, try making them slightly smaller. However, you probably still want them to be slightly larger than the rest of the text.

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What Is A Career Summary On A Resume

A career summary, is located at the very top of a resume and is a short introduction with a purpose to convey a candidates set of skills. It has grown to be one of the most important parts of a resume since most hiring managers focus on this part.

It tells them how a candidate can help their company grow and thrive, what a candidate has to offer. If they are not impressed while reading the career summary, they go no further. This is a part where a candidate must persuade a hiring manager that he/she is the best among all other applicants.

How Far Back Should A Resume Go For Mid/senior

For a vast majority of applicants and job seekers out there, a two-pager resume is the ideal way to go.

According to Darlene Nason – coach, speaker and trainer – it becomes extremely difficult for a professional who has an experience of 10+ years to limit their resume to a one pager.

A two-pager resume is good enough. How far back should a resume go depends on your target profile. If you’ve been in the same role since the beginning and are targeting something similar, you can skip your most initial profiles.

Example:Let’s say you were in development for 5 years and switched to project management for 3 years. In case you wish to return to development, you can gloss over your PM experience – or better still, emphasize upon the development aspect during your PM tenure – and focus more on your development-based achievements.

Many people fear interviews, but you don’t get a chance to appear for one if your resume is not up to the mark. If your resume is not showcasing significant qualifications, or is not able to convince the recruiter, you don’t get a shot at the interview, period.

Example:Let’s consider the scenario where your resume is extending to two pages. For the HR, this barely translates to a few more seconds, maybe 30 additional seconds on your resume if you are extremely lucky. But think from the perspective of the HR. It’s beneficial for them to spend those additional 30 seconds than call a candidate with questionable credentials for a personal interaction session.

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