Readers had a great discussion in the comments the other day about how long your resume should be, and we thought it deserved its own post.
So, do tell: How long is your resume? Do you try to follow the age-old “keep it to one page” rule (now typically seen as out of date), or have you been in your career long enough that you’ve decided it’s time to go to two, or even three? Or are you in a field (or a country) in which a CV is most common?
Here are some examples that readers shared in the thread:
- 1 page (5 years of experience)
- 1 page (using a sidebar resume template to maximize space — we’d love to hear in general what you guys think about sidebars and resume templates!)
- 2 pages (12 years of experience)
- 2 pages (15 years of experience as a lawyer)
- 2 pages (30+ years of work)
- 2 pages (2 careers; previous is relevant to current)
{related: are there differences between LinkedIn and your resume?}
For expert advice, check out these articles from Monster, The Muse, and Ask a Manager (2012, but still relevant); the advice slightly differs, so it’s important to know what’s typical for candidates in your field. But here are some brief, general guidelines:
1-page resume: (1) New grads/early career; up to 5–10 years of experience; (2) career changers; (3) people with 1 or 2 employers
2-page resume: (1) people at mid-career and beyond; (2) people with several relevant employers; (3) people who’d have to delete important accomplishments, etc., to stay at one page
3-page resume: (1) People in academia, government, or certain technical fields (YMMV); (2) senior-level managers and execs; (3) people (e.g., those in category 1) who need to list many accomplishments, such as speaking engagements, publications, and patents
How long is your resume, how long have you been working, and what is your field? If you’ve gotten rid of certain elements to follow a one-page limit, how did you consolidate? (At what point did you drop school accomplishments or condense job experiences?) If you’re involved in hiring at your company, what are your thoughts on the length of candidates’ resumes?
{related: Greek affiliations and your resume}
Stock photo via Deposit Photos / fizkes.
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