How To Make Resume Fit On One Page

Trim Down Recurring Points

If youve been around long enough, you may have performed the same roles in different companies. Theres no need to indicate these roles in your Experience section to avoid redundancy, and to prevent wasting precious space. Mention the work experience once, and highlight those jobs where you achieved good results from the specified responsibility. This might include awards, acknowledgements, or years of experience tied to the mentioned skill or task.

Cut And Trim Your Resume Content

When customizing your resume for a specific position, be prepared to cut any unnecessary content. To trim your resume, consider doing the following:

• Create a master list of your accomplishments, achievements, and work activities, then add only the relevant ones to your one-page resume.
• Cut out any extra years. Even if you are an experienced candidate, you should include no more than 10 or 15 years of experience on your resume.
• Match your skills to the job you are applying for. You don’t have to add everything into your resume. Only what is relevant.
• Use bulleted lists and keep your job descriptions concise.
• Trim the education section. You don’t need to include high school education or continuing education classes unless they enhance your candidacy.

One Or Two Page Resume Which Is Better

One or two page resume, which is better? Thats a question another recruiter posted this week on LinkedIn. Despite there being a lot of responses, there was not a clear consensus.

Here are some of the comments:

• A resume should NEVER be longer than 1 page.Knowing that, your goal should be to communicate “I am qualified for this role” in a way that can be understood within that time frame. Making someone flip or scroll to a 2nd page does not accomplish this goal. Will Rippetoe | The Interview Beast
• Id re-frame this. The first page of your resume should clearly explain what your value prop is as a potential team mate. This gets you into the interview pipeline. Evgeny Lazarenko | Unity
• This would not work for some public sector resumes I’ve submitted on behalf of clientsYou could not simply fit all of the mandatory experience requirements on a single page for some positions Neil Barker | Canopy Growth Corporation
• I think 2 pages is reasonable and also allows people who have careers longer than 2-3 jobs space to share their skillset better Alexis Scott, HR Manager | Aspireship
• A resume never hired anyone. People hire people. Relationships will trump resumes any day of the week Andrew Beach, Senior Consultant | Lee Hecht Harrison

For myself, I say:

• If you can’t write a good 2 page resume, then you can’t write a good 1 page resume. Strong list of achievements, easy to scan skills list, and consistent formatting are all more important than 1 or 2 pages.

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So Does A Resume Have To Be One Page

A resounding no. We may have re-invented the one-page resume format, but were not fanatics. Battle-scarred project managers and veteran CEOs, for example, can benefit from two, even three-page resumes.

That is to say, if you have longer experience, and it’s relevant to the job application, by all means, you can extend your resume length.

Merge Contact Information Into One Line

Instead of giving every aspect of your personal and contact information their own individual lines, combine them all into one line, underneath your name, and voilà! Youve got yourself a resume header!

In your header, list your phone number, your professional email address, your social media or portfolio, and the city you live in. Your header should be a few font sizes bigger than the body of your resume, but not so much that it takes up the whole page.

For more information on how to write format a resume header, check out this article.

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Not Every Piece Of Information Warrants Having Its Own Line

If your resumes too long, the chances are youve dedicated separate lines to information that couldve been grouped together.

• Consolidate your contact information. Instead of you can simply write , followed by other contact details in the same format. This way you can fit all your contact information on a single line.
• Create multi-use lines. In every section, look for opportunities to group connected information together. For example, in your subheadings put the name of each position, time period, and the name of the company in the same line. Also make sure to conflate you bullet points by grouping achievements of the same type together.

Tell Recruiters Who You Are

A one-page resume requires that you be precise. In order to quickly give potential employers an idea of who you are and what you do, include a headline at the beginning of your resume. This way, they dont have to read the whole resume to figure out what you do. For example, you can include something like this at the top of your one-page resume:

Robert Perry

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One Page Resumethe Gold Standard

Now you know the answer to how long should a resume be.

But how to make a resume one page?

Dont have 10 years of experience?

Dont have 50 unique accomplishments you absolutely have to share?

Then dont write a two-page resume. Cut it to a one-page resume instead.

Heres how:

• Tailor your resume to the job. To save space, mercilessly cut anything that doesnt fit this job opening.
• Write fewer, shorter bullet points. Making 35 bullet points per job is a space-saver. So is limiting them to 12 lines each.
• Stick to whats impressive. Dont say everything about your work history. Commit to a set amount of space. Then fill it with your best achievements.
• Be selective with what to include in the resume.
• Dont send MS Word resume templates. The best one page resume in Word format can turn to a 2-page resume when you email it.
• Use , right fonts, and line spacing to shorten your resume. But theres a limit. Overdoing it will make your resume hard to read.
• How many bullet points per job? Resumes should list 35 bullet points per job. A resume with more looks cluttered. Less looks weak.
• Leave off references. Everyone knows theyre available on request. Cut them if they make your resume two pages.
• Write a shorter qualifications summary. Stick to 3 lines as a resume space-saver.

To write a 1-page resume, you can also cut the street address, high school, and old or irrelevant jobs. Those can make your resume 2 pages.

How To Make Your Resume Fit On One Single Page

Unless yourea senior level manager, executive, or you’ve got one of those jobs where licensesand certifications are required, you may not need a second page for yourresume. A one page resume is enough.

You might look at your resume and feel that everything there is crucial and cant be deleted.

Lets get real though!

If your resume is two or more pages, youre not making a serious effort to write a tailored and concise application. In this article, you’ll learn how to create an effective one page resume. We’ll also share some great templates for one page resumes from Envato Elements and GraphicRiver.

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Simple Professional One Page Resume Template

This Simple Professional Resume Template and CV Template is straightforward and effective. It uses design to stand out in a good way. Like the Modern one-page resume template above, its divided for easy readings, with attention-getting headings. The big name and dark heading give it oomph.

The link is here.

Expert Hint: Not all Free Resume Builders are ATS friendly. To make sure your creative resume reaches a human reader, send it directly to the recruiter’s inbox.

Focus On Your Key Accomplishments And Skills

The two core sections of your resume are the skills and the work history, so you should prioritize them in terms of space.

Be strategic with your skills by including a range of six to eight. Lets break down the different types of skills to include:

• Soft skills are the innate abilities you possess. They describe your behavior and method of thinking. A few examples are adaptability, decision making, creative thinking and problem-solving.
• Hard skills are learned through education or training and describe your ability to do specific tasks. Some hard skills are copywriting, mathematical skills, sales or graphic design.
• Technical skills relate to any technological or digital tools you have mastered. Proficiency in Excel and expertise in Adobe Photoshop are examples of technical skills.

Your work history will generally include the name of your workplace, dates of employment as well as three to four bullet points summarizing your most impressive accomplishments.

A smart way to reduce the length of your work history is by focusing on your most recent or relevant roles. Avoid listing every single position youve held. Theres no need to go back to your first high school job if youve had plenty of years of experience.

Curating your professional skills and work history prompts you to limit the length of your resume while still maintaining a well-rounded but concise document.

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Combine Achievements Where Appropriate

Many achievements can be combined and shortened using bullet points. You don’t want to tell the whole story of how you achieved it recruiters want to know what you’ve done. If they have questions, they’ll ask about the how during an interview.

For example, if you increased sales by 15 percent by building relationships and improving satisfaction, you can reduce this to one bullet that says Increased sales by 15% and improved overall customer satisfaction. You can go into detail during an interview about how you built and leveraged relationships to increase both simultaneously.

The summaries of previous positions are a common aspect of the resume that gets fluffed. You want to keep your summaries as short as you can while showing what you can do. Don’t get too into detail here simply list your areas of expertise and the skills you have.

Do not fluff achievements either! Recruiters will know and it will not leave a good impression.

Take Note Of Your Fonts

For your name, you dont have to use very large fonts, as it is understandable and expected that your name will appear at the top of your resume. You can make a distinction by using a bold font for your name and make it only one to two points larger than the rest of your resume. To optimize your space, you can even opt for a narrower font style, such as Arial Narrow, which can clean up the look of your resume. You can also use readymade resume templates to make use of professionally designed layouts. Here is a list of our recommended Professional Resume templates.

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How Do I Edit A Word Document

Edit a Microsoft Word documentOpen the file that you want to edit.Choose from the following tasks: Task. Steps. Edit text. Click the. Edit. tab. Select the text that you want to edit. Using the tools in the edit toolbar, change the required formatting including font style, paragraph alignment, list formatting, and indentation options. Insert images.

Chuck The Objectives Section:

Writing a resume objective is old fashioned style. Some of the recruiters find this section helpful however some feel it is excess use of space.

Allow your experience display your aims. In case your experience lacks the obvious relevancy to the position, then you can take help of the bullets to exhibit how those job titles apply.

Examine the job description and accordingly form the bullets to display pertinent abilities. You can elaborate on how your previous work experience fits in the cover letter.

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Quick Tips: How To Fit Your Resume On One Page

Its true, both students andprofessionals add more qualifications to their resumes today. There are moreawards, self-study courses, internship projects, software skills, andextra-curricular activities available today compared to a few years back.

Unfortunately, its also the sheer numberof these experiences that makes it hard to cut your resumes length. Beloware 15 tips that’ll show you how to make your resume one page:

Three Bullets Is Not Necessary:

You may find that it looks appealing to have three bullets for each title. However it is not necessary. You do not need to feel strain to put out three bullets inevitably.

If you have not performed three relevant and distinct roles then you do not require three bullets. If you have similar points, try to merge it into one line.

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Make Your Name Smaller

Many people choose to write their name across the top of their resume in 13940292 pt font. We get it its dramatic, eye-catching, etc., etc., but its a total waste of space.

Its plenty attention-grabbing to write your name in bold, maybe one or two font sizes larger than the rest of your resume. Recruiters know they can find your name at the top of the page, so you dont need to make it so obvious for them.

Should A Resume Be Onlyone Page

Theres nosimple answer to this question. The perfectresume length depends on your professional situation.

Onlyprofessionals with more than 10+ years of experience or lots of certificationsand achievements should have a two-page resume. Entry level candidates and eventhose with a few years of experience under their belt, can benefit from writinga concise single page resume.

Accordingto data from a CareerBuilder Survey of more than 5000 employees and HR professionals, 66% ofemployers say entry-level applicants should use a one page resume. But 77%claim that more experienced workers should have at least two pages in their resume.

Think ofyour resume like a movie highlights reel. Only the best action scenes areincluded to build hype and intrigue people into watching the movie.

Of course,its hard to believe how you could benefit from a one page resume when youvebeen accustomed to a two page resume. Below are several benefits of using a singlepage resume:

• A singlepage resume stands out because most applicants send two pages or more.
• Yourachievements and qualifications are easier to spot on a one page resume becausetheres less stuff to read.
• Manyrecruiters, especially those hiring for entry level jobs, claim they dont readpast the first page of an application.

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Why Is It Beneficial To Keep Your Resume To One Page

Here are some reasons why you should keep your resume to one page:

• It makes it easier to read. Hiring managers usually only have a short amount of time to scan through your resume. Keeping your resume to one page gives them time to find work experience and skills that match their requirements.

• It allows you to select your best qualifications. When you narrow down your resume to one page, you select the most important qualifications that highlight your career.

• It shows your creativity. You need to get creative when you only have one page to describe all of your qualifications and accomplishments. By keeping your resume to one page, you demonstrate your ability to use space and your critical-thinking skills to convey more meaning.

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Highlight Only Internships And Relevant Work Experience

While it’s great to show you’ve had a job since you were 16 and can commit to a company, unless it’s relevant, it’s not necessary. Keep the focus on relevant work experience and any internships you may have held recently or while in college. You can still show you had previous jobs and how long you were with those companies in an additional experience line under your highlighted positions. This will show you have longevity and loyalty without taking up valuable space.

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Reduce The Size Of Yourcontact Information And Address

Some people think this part of theirresume needs to look fancy and attention grabbing. It doesnt. If a recruiterwants to contact you, they’ll find this information. But until that happens,theyre only focused on your qualifications.

Dont waste the limited space on aone page resume on your contact information. Just make sure your name andprimary job title are slightly bigger than the rest of your resume, and thenuse a smaller size for the rest of the text. You can even use a slightlysmaller size for the contact details because its not as important as your jobexperience and skills.

Combine Sections Whenever Possible

Even though the body of your resume is going to be in a fairly small font, your section headers are likely going to be slightly bigger, so you dont want to throw in a bunch of different sections all willy-nilly. How do we fix this? Just merge similar sections, and youll cut down on all those pesky headings.

Mandatory sections include:

To shorten your optional sections, consider combining your relevant professional and volunteer history under your experience section. You can also lump all of your awards, achievements, or recognition under your work experience section rather than making a separate achievements section.

If you have any hobbies, hard skills, or anything that could make you stand out as an ideal candidate, consider including them under your skills section.

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How To Write A One Page Resume

In general, most employers want a concise resume without a lot of extraneous information. They only spend seconds reviewing it, so the more compact it is, the easier it will be for the hiring manager or recruiter to review. In addition, many employers use software to screen job application materials, so making sure your resume is focused on the job you’re applying for will help you get chosen for an interview.

In some cases, a longer resume might be in order. For example, graphic designers or visual artists might benefit from creating an illustrated resume, and academics, researchers, or long-time executives may need more than one page to capture the breadth of their experience. But, in general, it’s best to avoid overburdening busy recruiters with a resume that drags on and on.