9 to 5
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
how long is too long?
I'm updating my resume and I'm wondering what the idea number of pages is. I've narrowed it to 3 pages but that still seems like a lot. I've held several contract jobs in the past few years so I need to include them on my resume. But I'm worried that 3 pages will be too much and an HR person won't read it all.
Thoughts?
Re: how long is too long?
It totally depends on your field. I know scientists can have 10 pg resumes and it's expected...i'm a graphic designer and was told to absolutely keep my resume to 1 page.
If some of the work you're putting on your resume is not relevant to the job you're trying to get, take it off. You do not have to have every single thing you've ever done on a resume...your resume should reflect the things that make you qualified for the job you're applying for. You should be creating a new resume every time you apply to a specific job and it should be catered to that position you're applying for.
Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter
This. Absolutely.
There is absolutely no reason to have more than 1 page for your resume. Since it sounds like most of your jobs were quite similar, there's no need to list bullets under each one of them.
I would not look at a 3 page resume for an administrative position. Right away I would consider you unprofessional and unable to pay attention to detail.......2 qualities that are important to me in such a position.
Perhaps the OP has some special things to list that are important/relevant. I agree that 3 pages is probably too long, but what about 1 page front and part of a back? If the jobs are similar, create bullets points for each that are different so you aren't redundant. Highlight extra skills or special accomplishments, etc.
Also, you can try and make smaller margins so you can fit as much as possible on the front page. Cut out redundancy and try and combine related bullet points.
I've been in HR for 7 years but anyone who has done a good resume will tell you it's much more difficult to do a one page resume than a three page resume. It's an art to put together your life's work down on a page of paper. It doesn't change the fact that administrative resumes should be one page exactly. Not half a page and certainly not a page and a half. Anything more or less and you look unorganized and like you might be high maintenance.
Even the best recruiters and managers won't spend more than 30 sec on a resumes so making sure your critical skills and accomplishments get noticed is key. You can change the font, spacing and margins to get more room but make sure it still looks organized and visually pleasing.
Most people should have a one page resume. There are exceptions, engineers, scientists, high level marketing folks, C-level and high level VP folks can all have resumes longer than a page. Most of us have to stick to one page, me included.
I agree with everyone who says 1 page.
Re-read your resume and take out anything that someone outside your company might not understand. Keep responsibilities very general so any recruiter from any industry would know exactly what your tasks were.
The rule of thumb is the last 10 years of your work experience or the last 3 jobs (or 4) whichever applies.
2 pages is probably the maximum if you're not in some sort of advanced and specialized field.
Cut it down to a page. The only people who should have resumes any longer than that are executives. Guarantee the second and third pages of your resume have never been read by anyone but you. Harsh, but true. I worked in HR for about 2 years and literally spent 10-15 seconds per resume. Scanned the parts that stuck out and made a pile of the ones that looked good from that. Make sure you have a decent amount of white space on your resume. Too much writing is overwhelming and makes too much work for the HR person trying to read it all. Don't include every little task you did, choose your 4-6 biggest responsibilities at each job and list those in concise bullet points. The places you are applying to don't care that on Wednesday mornings you delivered mail to everyone in your office for an hour.
If you want, PM me and I'd be more than happy to look over your resume!