TIPS & MYTHS
(also: how long your résumé should be)
SUMMARY:
1. Résumés usually require from one to three pages, depending on how much experience the person has and how specialized their experience is.
2. One page is normal for junior job-seekers, and for unskilled or semiskilled labor. For most of these, it really is critical to keep it on one page.
3. Three pages is typical for executives, senior management, and senior tech people. Most of the résumés I write run to three pages, and my clients have been very happy with the results.
4. Another page or two may be needed for senior IT people. This is because they are likely to have long lists of software and technical skills. (Even for IT, I rarely go beyond four pages.)
5. Academic and professional CVs can go much longer. If you need one of these, you already know about this.
6. Knowledgeable résumé services do not limit all résumés to one page.
7. Knowledgeable and competent hiring managers do not expect résumés for skilled people with more than a few years of experience to be on one page. There are nonetheless a few hiring managers who have missed this, and insist on one-page résumés even for highly skilled candidates. You can please these few, or you can please the great majority, who want all the information they need to make a sound decision—and will probably throw out your one-pager.
8. A headhunter who will not read your full résumé is not a serious headhunter.