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Should Your Resume Be One Page

Do Not Use A Bitmoji Or Other Alternative To A Photo

Should my resume be one page long?

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.

How Long Should Your Resume Be In 2021

There is no perfect answer.

Depending on the job description and your work experience, your resume should be one or two pages long. If you have over 10 years of relevant experience, a multi-page resume works better than a one-page.

However, there are a few things you should keep in mind if your resume does go over several pages long. So, be sure to keep reading on!

How Long Should A Cv Be

Were going to say it before you ask:

Yes, in the USA, a CV is different from a resume.

A resume is customized to each individual job you are applying to and is strictly one page.

A CV, on the other hand, covers the in-depths of your career and academic journey. It is usually used in Academia.

Because the goal and nature of a CV are different than that of a resume, you shouldnt necessarily strive for the shortest pitch possible.

Most recruiters agree that the average golden length for a CV is two or three pages.

However, depending on your years of experience, accomplishments, training, and education, it can go up to eight pages.

Not sure if you need a CV or a resume? Check out our guide that explains the difference between the two.

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When To Use Two Pages Or More

Summary:

You have probably heard the saying, “Keep your résumé to a page.” Although this is true for most cases, many employers are accepting longer résumés…in certain instances. Use this resource to gain more understanding about what constitutes the page length of a résumé.

The following online resources were consulted for information:

  • Hansen, Katharine, “The Scoop on Résumé Length: How Many Pages Should Your Résumé Be?” Quintessential Careers, 25 Oct. 2005.
  • Isaacs, Kim “How to Decide on Résumé Length,” Résumé Center. 2006.
  • Monster.com. 25 Oct. 2005.

As the job market becomes ever more competitive, you may need to use multiple pages to persuade a potential employer to grant you an interview. For résumés, limiting your document to one page is a good approach for new college graduates and high school students. Some employers may specifically ask for a one-page résumé. However, do not shy away from adding that extra page of accomplishmentsas long as it is relevant and persuasive.

The following sections will give you more advice about when to use résumés of different lengths and will suggest some ways to create a memorable second or third page. Remember, though, that the length of your résumé depends on the rhetorical situation and your audiences’ needs.

When to use one-page résumés

1. New college graduates and other entry-level job seekers tend to need a one-page résumé for the following reasons.

When to use two-page résumés

When to use three- or more page résumés

A Single Page Is Enough To Create An Impression Over Others:

One Page Resume

If you are very much skilled, potential, possess great job qualities and more, then there is no need to detail about them in two page resume.

You can highlight everything about your professional path in one page resume in order to create a paramount impression over recruiters and others who read it.

If you are skilled enough, then you should not require two pages to create a similar impression over others. The task can be done even with a single page.

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Can A Resume Be 2 Pages

Yes, a resume can be two pages long. A two-page resume is a good choice if you have more than 6 years of relevant job experience. In this case, a two-page resume may even be necessary to convey all of the critical information an employer needs to know. Also, two-page resumes are usually accepted for academia and grad school applications.

Remove A Hobbies And Interests Section

âSometimes listing your hobbies and interests can help you stand out from the job-seeker crowd,â says Jennifer. âBut tread carefully: Some hobbies/interests can have a negative effect based on the personal biases of your audience.â

If you feel strongly about your hobbies or interests, include them in your summary section as opposed to their own section, and stick to the main one or two that make you stand out as an applicant and a co-worker.

Safe hobbies or interests that can set you apart from other applicants:

  • Musical talent: if you play an instrument, sing in a band, or write music

  • Physical activities: If you hike, swim, or kayak

  • Community-focused work: if youâre involved with charity work, Eagle Scouts, or local theater

Steer clear of anything with a religious or political affiliation.

A better way of including hobbies or interests is to join LinkedIn groups related to the topic, or posting about your passions on LinkedIn or another blogging forum. You can also establish yourself as an expert or thought leader on Reddit and Quora, which will likely come up when an interested hiring manager looks you up online before calling you in for an interview.

Example: Including interests/hobbies in a resume summary:

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Make Your Bullet Points Concise But Compelling

Your bullet points are the meatiest part of your resume. This is where youre going to talk about your experience, and its what employers are going to be paying the most attention to when they scan your resume, so youll want to make them count.

Try to make your bullet points fit into one line, and absolutely no more than two. Condense your sentences to the most basic description of your past accomplishments, and make sure to mirror keywords that were used in the job listing.

If you choose to use resume buzzwords, make sure to only use the ones that employers care about, such as those that are repeated often in the job description. Theres no sense wasting space with a bunch of meaningless words that everyone and their grandmother use to describe themselves.

Also, if you can, try to only list work and volunteer experiences that are relevant to the job youre applying for. If youre an entry-level candidate and you need to fill up some space on your resume, try to pick out the most relevant aspects of those unrelated jobs and emphasize them in your bullet points.

Whats The Ideal Resume Length For The Hiring Manager

One page resume | How many pages should my resume be? #GetHiredToday

CV length is the difference between an experienced candidate and an irrelevant candidate. If your resume is too long, its a complete waste of time to go through.

On the other hand, if a resume is too short they wont get an overview of your suitability for the position. Its good practice to scope out the hiring preferences of the company you are applying to. This will allow you to tailor your resume to the known preferences of your hiring manager to give you the best chance of getting noticed and called for an interview.

Lets take a look at this a bit further by breaking down an entry-level resume and an executive-level resume.

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Using The Right Keywords

As an online marketer, I use keyword research all the time. As a job seeker, you need to know how this process works in principle, to fully understand why you need to spend time on it.

RECRUITERS SEARCH FOR KEYWORDS. When a recruiter searches , Indeed, Monster.com or any of the other career oriented networks/portals, or even their own applicant tracking system, your resume is scanned for very specific keywords which come from the job description that you’re being considered for. This is similar to how many forms of online marketing works in principle. It all comes down to matching keywords with searches very often.

HOW CAN I USE THIS TO MY ADVANTAGE?Use the exact keywords and keyphrases from the job description in your resume. Its that simple. Copy them from the job description, and paste them into your resume, and write words around them to make them fit there. Make sure it all fits together well. Then bold this stuff. All the bold phrases and words in my resume relate to exact phrases or bullet points from job descriptions that I was targeting.

When To Use A Three

Most people believe resumes should fit on two pages max, no matter how long youve been working. However, as with all rules, Yang says there are some exceptions.

For example, if you work for the federal government youre a senior-level manager with a long track record of accomplishments or youre writing an academic CV for a research or scientific position and have an extensive list of publications, speaking engagements, professional courses, licenses, or certifications then you may need to extend your resume to three or more pages.

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Why Was A Three

Readable format

Mia spaced her experience across the three pages to keep from overpacking text in one area while also facilitating detailed discussion where necessary.

Keeping a consistent format meant defined margins, bold headings, and a simple design.

Theres little room to cut down on details in a resume for postdoctoral research every author, every long word, every reference is needed. Restricting her resume to one-two pages would have required leaving off key works.

Is it too long?

Discussing your expertise in immunology isnt something that happens in a few bullet points.

Most publication titles alone are over 10 words long you cant just shorten them down. However, this doesnt mean that Mia was frivolous in her space-usage. Her research has been grouped into eras with the main points discussed.

Mia keeps things short-and-sweet, but she has a lot to mention. Applying for a postdoc, its better to give them everything.

How Long Should A Resume Be: The One

FREE 9+ Sample One Page Resume Templates in MS Word

Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to squeeze 15 or more years of work experience into a one-page resume. In fact, until recently, only entry-level candidates were urged to keep their resumes to one page, as most employers assumed someone who was new to the post-college workforce wouldn’t have enough information to justify more than one page of resume real estate. But, thanks to new data, this resume-length rule may no longer apply to most job seekers at any level, as career experts claim.

According to a study that involved nearly 500 recruiters, hiring managers, and HR professionals and nearly 8,000 resumes, recruiters are 2.3 times as likely to prefer two-page resumes over one-page resumes, regardless of a candidate’s years of experience.

So, why the change in opinion? I think there are two factors to consider.

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When Quantity Equals Quality

As you evolve in your career, you’ll find that things that were once relevant on your resume aren’t anymore. For example, if you’ve been in your career a few years or are changing careers, there’s no need to list every duty for every position. Learn to recognize when compromising the quantity of your experiences will impact the quality of your employment story. If you have enough relevant experience, training, and credentials pertaining to the position to showcase on more than one page of your resume, then go for it.

Note: I said relevant. This doesnt mean you detail all your accomplishments since your high school babysitting job. It also doesnt mean listing every college course you’ve taken and certification you’ve earned.

As a recruiter, I can tell you, if Im going to read a resume thats more than one page, it better tell a good story about what you bring to the table. Listing every task you did as a manager doesn’t make you a good manager. But if you tell me that you increased productivity by 25% or highlight process changes for multiple teams at several companiesyou’re justifying that space.

If you can succinctly quantify your accomplishments to tell how you made a role, job, project, or assignment better and you need more than one page to demonstrate it effectively, thats time well spent.

It Implies That You Are Not Overselling Yourself:

Since your resume is a marketing tool that you are using to sell your qualities and skills, so what you write in it will create an impact over others who want to buy your potentials.

If you will overstuff your resume then it will portray to recruiters that you willingly want this job or precisely you are overselling yourself.

So, dont let recruiters get such an impression and try to write only thing that is essential and required.

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Resume Length: How Long Should A Resume Be In 2021

Resume length is one of the great mysteries of the job application process. Because of it, you might be wondering, how long should a resume be?

Should it always be one page?

What if you have a lot of relevant experience and need more space to describe it?

If you have a work history that goes way back because youve been working for 25+ years, is three pages okay?

Well, it doesnt help that you can find arguments for just about any length online if you look hard enough.

Fortunately, weve analyzed the resumes of real users hired at competitive companies such as Spotify, Booking.com, Verizon Digital Media Services, Amazon, Intercom, and more. Instead of throwing opinions around, all your questions about resume length are answered in this guide.

Contents:

  • Why are there so many opinions about resume length?
  • How long should your resume be in 2021?
  • How far back should a resume go?
  • Should a resume be one page?
  • Whats the ideal resume length for the hiring manager?
  • How to shorten my resume?
  • Summary & Key Takeaways

Alternatively, you can skip this whole section and find a PROVEN resume example for your specific job position. From there, building your resume and seeing what works is simple and easy. Best of all, its free to use!

At any point in time, I would recommend Enhancv as a platform to prepare ones CV. It offers a lot of sample templates as well. Kudos to the entire team and thanks again for getting my dream job! Imran Khan

What About The Extra Space

Should Your Resume Be One Page?

If the text on the second page is only one or two lines, you may want to consider reformatting and sticking to the one page rule. Otherwise, dont be overly concerned about the extra space on the second page. Recruiters have short attention spans and wont want to scan more information than they have to.

But if you feel compelled to fill that space, be strategic and make sure the information is relevant. If you havent already done so, add information on your leadership, organizations, volunteer work, hobbies, or sports activities. This will show employers you have a life outside of work and give some insight into your personality.

Also keep in mind that this information doesnt have to be in text format. Ive seen some great resumes recently that have outlined these items using pie charts, timelines, and graphs. Just remember these fancy formats dont always translate well when applying online and can wind up a jumbled mass of code.

So, whats the moral of the resume length debate? In the digital application world, size doesnt really matter. As long as you tell a compelling story about your employment history thats easy on the eyes, your page breaks will be forgiven.

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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.

Build a professional resume in minutes.

Our AI resume builder helps you write a compelling and relevant resume for the jobs you want.

In Most Instances A Resume Should Not Be Only One Page

Contrary to what you may have heard, a resume should rarely be only one page. Most professionals should use a two-page resume this applies whether you have seven or 17 years of work experience.

Only entry-level professionals those who recently graduated from college and are just entering the workforce typically use a resume that’s only one page.

In fact, thanks to a recent study that involved nearly 500 recruiters, hiring managers, and HR professionals, even entry-level job seekers no longer have to use a resume that’s only one page. According to the research, recruiters were 2.3 times as likely to prefer resumes that were two pages over resumes that are only one page, regardless of a candidate’s job level. That means if you recently graduated from college and have a number of relevant internships, co-ops, volunteer work, or extracurricular activities to boast about, then you may have enough information to warrant a second page. If you don’t have those resume boosters, then you’re better off using a resume that’s only one page.

Click on the following link to learn more about how to determine the optimal resume page length.

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