Remember when sugar used to come in cubes? Then, remember when you went to tea and the hostess asked you if you wanted "One lump or Two?" No, I am not that old either, but I've seen that scene in movies and read about it. So, here's my question, "One page or two?". In other words, should your resume be not quite sweet enough to drink or too sweet to finish?
This debate has gone on forever and will continue. It is all based on personal preference- the preference of the reader, whom you do not know. Great, so this question still goes unanswered. Think about the sugar analogy. If the hostess only gave you one lump and you desired two, you wouldn't enjoy the tea. If, by some miracle, the sugar floated on top, you might drink the sweeter tea until you reached the less sweet tea. Ok, back to the resume.
Start your resume with the sweetest part first. In other words, write a summary that states almost all your qualifications for the job. Then the reader has enough info to be tempted to read more.
My advice would be to not limit your talents to a single page. Frequently, very talented people leave off information or write about their jobs in "resume-ese" which means, half a sentence that says absolutely nothing. Their logic, "I was going to tell them more in the interview". Sure, that's not going to happen. It has to be disclosed on the resume otherwise you won't get the interview. You have to keep the reader interested/pleased, so they will want to continue reading. Keep the stories you tell focused on the job you are applying for.
Conversely, if you have two pages filled with words, the poor reader is going to be overwhelmed. Just like some people might feel with two lumps of sugar. So, don't get too wordy. Don't make the text too small. Leave white space, more that .001 of an inch, please.
Preparing your resume is a series of drafts, re-writes and edits. Just like Goldilocks and the three bears, the first will be too hard, the next will be too soft and the last should be just right.
Ha! "a series of drafts, re-writes and edits."
Ha!
:) Series? All I know from my time in the Hannah Morgan Guantanomo Bay School of Resume Writing is that I am STILL editing! :)
It is a NEVER ENDING process. At least it shouldn't be. And I think you need to add to this post and really explain your method without giving it away. Because I like it and think it works.
Your resume is your marketing document.
Posted by: mike lally | November 24, 2008 at 09:51 AM
Right On. As part of hiring technical candidates in my team, i have seen several resumes from 1-pager to 6 or 7 pages long. I do remember not going through all the 7 pages and preferred to talk to the candidate instead of reading it.
on other side of the coin, when I made my resume, I had 5 pages and tried reduce it to 3 pages. I still feel I have condensed (or put enough sweetener) enough in my resume. I took my 3 page resume to a hiring manager, he indicated tht it was too long. I updated that to summarize further and took it to my mentor to help me suggest any corrections to it. In his perspective, he preferred and suggested to put more details for each organization/Role I worked for, and it was ok if I didn't stick on to two page resume.
As you said, it is perhaps by-context and purely depends on the reader, and we often do not know reader's preference.
Great analogy of "sugar cubes"
-Ram
Posted by: Ram | November 23, 2008 at 01:13 PM