Having reviewed hundreds, maybe over a thousand, resumes in the last decade- I am fully in agreement on hating one page resumes.
That being said, if it’s five pages long, I’m not reading most of it anyway.
Here’s what I care about:
- What has this person been doing the last couple of years?
- Who were they doing it for?
- Scanning their overall work history, does anything interesting (good or bad) stand out. If so, make note for the interview if we get there.
- A list of any accomplishments of note. Patents, speaking engagements, related awards, publications, etc.
I don’t care about your hobbies, your family, or your GPA.
I’m not going to reject your resume because it was too long if I can easily grep the data I’m looking for. I might reject it if it’s too short/empty though.
Because this is what I look for, I keep my resume in the same pattern. The last few years of my work history will contain way more detail. A few years out I start summarizing, 6+ years out its only really big things of note or stuff I’m especially proud of still.
I have a (small) accomplishments section after that, education last. 12 years of history, organized and summarized in about 3 pages with a lot of space.
A) Make it dead simple to visually distinguish between jobs/entries.
B) Put your most important things in the first two lines, because that's all I'm reading until I decide you're worth investing time.
Also, do me a favor and collect all your keywords in one spot so I can skim them. Don't make me read line items to even figure out which technologies you've worked with.
Anyone with more than five years of experience who still does a one page resume either has done absolutely nothing useful or is cheating themselves.
> I’m not going to reject your resume because it was too long if I can easily grep the data I’m looking for.
I think this is a key point. Layout and presentation are really important. Even 1 page of dense, undifferentiated text is a lot. But 3 pages of well presented, sectioned content is pretty easy to read.
> Because this is what I look for, I keep my resume in the same pattern.
That's pretty much what I do.
I essentially have two versions of my resume:
Part 1 is a single page, outlines the basics, plus the last 2 or 3 places I've worked at, etc. Just a summary format, but with enough detail for the reader to understand who I am, what I know, and what I can offer them as an employee. The next 2-3 pages are more detailed overviews of those places I've worked in the past that I listed on the summary, plus maybe a couple more.
I tell my recruiter (I work with a couple of independent recruiters from agencies) to pass along either the single page or all pages to the prospective employer, depending on what they think or know that the employer likes to read. If they are like you, they get the full thing; if not they'll get the summary.
When I go to the interview, I take a copy of my full resume, but I ask my recruiter which version they passed along first. That way I know what kind of person I'm probably dealing with in the interview. Regardless, I always make an offer of the "long form" resume, if they'd like a copy (and I take multiple copies in case I need to hand them out to others who may not have a copy).
I've never had a problem with this system. Even so, I read articles like this, and comments like the ones here on HN, and take them in stride, as I feel that my resume is a living document that can always use improvement and updating (especially as my skills expand).
That being said, if it’s five pages long, I’m not reading most of it anyway.
Here’s what I care about:
- What has this person been doing the last couple of years?
- Who were they doing it for?
- Scanning their overall work history, does anything interesting (good or bad) stand out. If so, make note for the interview if we get there.
- A list of any accomplishments of note. Patents, speaking engagements, related awards, publications, etc.
I don’t care about your hobbies, your family, or your GPA.
I’m not going to reject your resume because it was too long if I can easily grep the data I’m looking for. I might reject it if it’s too short/empty though.
Because this is what I look for, I keep my resume in the same pattern. The last few years of my work history will contain way more detail. A few years out I start summarizing, 6+ years out its only really big things of note or stuff I’m especially proud of still.
I have a (small) accomplishments section after that, education last. 12 years of history, organized and summarized in about 3 pages with a lot of space.