11/01/2011There Is No One Page Rule – “Experience” Must Guide A Resume’s LengthBy steave savageThe margins were an eighth of an inch, if that. It was an eight point font. There were no spaces between sections and no spaces between experiences. It was hard to look at and even harder to read; but, at least, it was on one page. Someone had told this student his resume had to be one page, so he dutifully applied that one page rule to a college career filled with several student body offices, internships directly related to both major and career choice, as well as pertinent research. Not a single item or experience listed was misplaced or unwarranted. For four years this student had worked hard to gather leadership experience and related work experience in his field to ensure the likelihood of a good job after graduating. Then he spoiled it by cramming all this pertinent and valuable information onto one page. He was following the so-called “one page rule”. It looked terrible and the result? – no one was going to try to read this resume.
Common Sense Should Prevail in the Resume
Over the past ten years at various university and college career fairs my colleagues and I have asked the same question of over a thousand employers in a variety of fields – do they believe a resume should be restricted to one page? The answer is always the same – “experience” should guide the length of a student’s resume. If the student has the experience to support it, the resume should be as long as it needs to be. Good judgment and a few simple guidelines are all that is needed to construct a great resume.
Making the Most of “Experience”
Making a Good First Impression
The Resume Puts One’s Best Foot Forward
steave savage, MCC, DCC, has over twelve years experience as a counselor, career counselor, and professor in some of the most diverse student populations in Southern California, working with both traditional and non-traditional students in a wide variety of academic settings including private colleges, public colleges (both non-profit and for-profit), and community colleges. He currently teaches Journalism, Career Development, and Transitional English at the Art Institute of California – Orange County. He has written and conducted professional presentations on a variety of counseling and career counseling topics at conferences, webinars, and businesses. He maintains membership in several professional organizations including the ACA, NCDA, CCA, CCDA and others. He can be reached at stsavage@aii.edu. Editor's Note: Lower case letters are the author's preferred signature. 4 CommentsMatt Berndt on Wednesday 11/02/2011 at 12:16 PM You make some excellent points and offer some good advice! That said, I still advise college students to limit their resumes, in most cases, to a single page. Why? They need to communicate with brevity and clarity in their resumes. More is not necessarily better. A resume is a marketing document; therefore communicating what you NEED to say is much more important than communicating everything you WANT to say. Students and other job seekers need to learn how to write with brevity and clarity and how to exercise editorial descrection when crafting resumes. They need to write and make editorial decision with their message and their audience in mind. Mark Martell on Wednesday 11/02/2011 at 01:04 PM I always encourage students to limit their experience to 1-2 pages because employers have no desire reading a lengthy resume, especially for entry-level positions. Only CVs should surpass 2 pages, but those are only welcomed in Science, Academia, and Medicine. I think the mistake that most people make is confusing a resume with a CV, which the latter allows more pages. Bernice Kao on Wednesday 11/02/2011 at 03:33 PM No matter how much experience a student has, if the candidate doesn't have the matching qualifications the employer wants, the resume will land in the waste basket. In my job coaching session, I continue to insist on one page resume, even for older job seekers. The result proves to be more responses. In my analysis, I consider people's experiences as their hardware; and "matching qualifications" their software. Your hardware will stay the same as your career history. Your software will demonstrate if you know how to communicate, how to focus, how to demonstrate that you can add value to employer. This unique tool of yours with your personal hardware and software will break or make your job search success. For past job history, list job title, company, job place, and time. ONE LINE, and that's all! Potential employers are not interested in the "responibilities " of every past job you had. They are more interested if a candidate's relevent "achievements" can be repeated if hired.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the comments shown above are those of the individual comment authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of this organization.
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Gene Sutton on Wednesday 11/02/2011 at 09:53 AM
Great article!