How Long Is Too Long For A Resume

One of the most common questions that applicants have in creating or revising their resume is how long is too long for a resume? It is not surprising since there has long been a debate on this question from career experts and those in the industry. This said, is there a definable answer that applicants can use to make for an effective and successful resume? Yes. Below, we discuss the answer and the reasons for the length.

So, how long should it be? Every professional resume should be necessarily different; but know that most potential employers and hiring managers will be expecting a resume of between 1-2 pages. The industry has long said that the one page maximum length was what every applicant who wanted to be successful should use. This was because employers did not have the time to read through thousands of resumes that were multiple pages long. If an employer came across one, they would probably throw it out. Moreover, they said that any applicant should be able to sum up the highlights and most important facets of their career qualifications in one page summary.

While it may make some sense that an applicant should be able to sum up their career in one page, and should do so for the convenience of an employer; in many cases, an applicant has too much experience, education, and skills that should be listed on their resume. All this information can easily take up more than one page. Employers found that they were missing out on some vital information, by discarding all resumes longer than one page-but only for certain kinds of applicants.

Who are these applicants that are allowed to use more than one page? Most everyone can create a 2 page resume and successfully submit it; but it doesn’t mean they all should. In order to warrant another page of details for a career history, the applicant should really have something important to include. This could be training in their field, key accountabilities in their career history, and/or achievements. The applicant should not be trying to add filler information to make their resume look more impressive. A hiring manager can tell the difference between real qualifications and ones that have been made up or exaggerated for the purpose of making the resume longer. Longer is only better when the candidate has an extensive amount of valuable career qualifications to educate the potential employer about.

This said, even applicants with extensive career experience should be careful when creating a resume, as it is always preferable to be concise as possible when discussing your qualifications. This means-though you can use 2 pages to discuss your career history-use them wisely, making sure to include only the most pertinent and valuable skills, experience, and education in a lucid and well thought out manner.