How Long A Resume Should Be

Depending who you talk to, there can be a discrepancy on how long a resume should be for proper submission for a position. Of course, you don’t want to leave out pertinent career information that might sway an employer in your direction for an interview; but you also don’t want to risk boring them, and having them throw out your application altogether. So, what are you to do? How long should your resume be?

It really depends on your career experience and qualifications, and career experts will say this about most all facets of your resume. Though there are some solid standard rules that the industry lives by, each person’s career experience and qualifications are their own, and you just need to be able to effectively approach the hiring manager in the best manner for your particular background. As vague as this may sound, it is the truth. This said, you must use the basic rules of the industry to outline your answers to questions such as how long should a resume be, appropriate to your career situation.

So, industry standard on the length of a resume has always been no more than a page. The reason why that was an open page format was easy to read through and scan for pertinent and deciding details as to whether the candidate was qualified enough for an interview. While this works fine for those with entry level or minimal experience in their career, it can create some potential problems for those who are mid to senior level in their position and industry. Consider that you should be listing approximately 10-15 years of employment history detailed on a resume, as well as education details, and achievements. This does not even leave room for any skills that you may want to list, or examples in which you demonstrated these skills. Obviously, all of this cannot fit into a one page document.

So, what are you do? The basic agreement among career professionals is that those who have the experience and the education to warrant another page-beyond the one page maximum-should include another page. This way, no valuable career qualification information is excluded from a professional resume that would prove a factor in deciding whether an interview should be scheduled. This does not mean that everyone who wants to write more-in some sort of more is better reasoning-should. If you are going to add another page, make sure that what you add has substance and value-beyond the norm. So, for example, if you have achievements winning Finance awards in the Financial industry or have volunteered at a nonprofit-and it is related to your career now-include these details; even if it stretches beyond one page. If, on the other hand, you are making up skills and achievements that really have no relation to the position and/or career that you are applying for-it is information that a potential employer will be bored with-if not annoyed by. The last thing you want to do is waste a hiring manager’s time.