

Ask HN: How long should an ideal resume be? - momop

I am building my resume these days and would like some feedback on ideal resume length (I personally would prefer single page resumes irrespective of experience). Any thoughts is much appreciated. I feel like I could super-squeeze everything in single page without any fluff (but I have ~14 years of exp), but am concerned if it will appear weak.
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robinjfisher
2 pages maximum. I'll forgive you if a recruiter has bastardised your CV when
they send it on to me.

One of the things I was taught about CVs is don't put down your job
responsibilities, put down what you achieved. For example, in my last role, I
was responsible for debt recovery in the company so instead of saying:

"Managed a team of 4 paralegals with responsibility for debt recovery across
the group"; I said:

"Created a debt recovery team of 4 paralegals and put in place processes to
standardise debt recovery across group achieving X days reduction in DSO and
recovered over £XXXXXX in legal costs and interest"

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davewasthere
reviewing CVs in the UK, I've been pretty happy at two pages. Three is pushing
it, but okay for someone very experienced (although I find the more
experienced, the more likely they're able to keep it to two pages)

I honestly want to circular file any CVs with more than three pages though.
They'd have to be a special candidate for me to consider them after that.

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queensnake
I'm a two-page guy myself but a recruiter recently told me that nowadays with
job searching being done by recruiters who 'grep' your resume for keywords,
that longer and more detailed is fine. And, hiring managers want to see more,
if you have it and it's informative. But that could also be done by having a
'misc. skills' section I imagine.

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Peroni
Good advice. 2 pages is ideal but in some cases there is enough relevant info
to warrant more than that, particularly if you've led a reasonably
accomplished career.

An honest list of languages & tech and an honest appraisal of your skill level
in each. (Don't include things like mongoDB because it's a hot-topic and
you've read the wiki page.)

A list of your accomplishments.

A list of personal work that's relevant to your interests & chosen career path
(always link to your work).

Lists are great, mainly because no-one see's the value in reading purple prose
about how you are a dynamic and self-motivated individual.

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jlawer
Depends on the company I got my last job with 1 page (company is a 15-20 head
in the agency / digital marketing area). I listed :

* Last 2 jobs, listing company, dates of employment & Job Title.

* List of Education / Certification (only relevant to the job)

* List of notable skills (written in a very broad manner, i.e : Administration of Windows, Linux and Mac OS X servers and major application packages.

Add a references on request line and contact details and I was done.

May not suit everyone but worked well going into a small and casual
environment.

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mikeburrelljr
Having hired many people over the years, I prefer reading a short, highly
targeted resume. One page is ideal, however if your experience requires more
room, add up to a total of two pages.

Remember, if you have to ask if something is relevant in your resume, you
should leave it off!

Have you thought about supplementing your paper resume with a video resume? I
actually just posted a blog article on the topic here:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3655510>

~~~
queensnake
> Remember, if you have to ask if something is relevant in your resume, you
> should leave it off!

I did this once, and the interviewer asked me about all the holes (by date) in
my resume. So, never again.

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steventruong
Personal opinion on what I look for...

One preferred. Two at most. Online version highly preferred _in addition_ to
print out.

Information overload is not necessary. Not all 14 years are necessary to be
put on there even if all 14 years are relevant. Tackle exactly what the job is
looking for.

Expand in cover letter if necessary.

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brianritchie
Genrally this depends on how long you have worked

Fresh Grads to 1-2 Years of Work - 1 Pager 2 - beyond Years of Work - 2 Pager

Anything beyond 2 Pager should only be for C-Level

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eps
2 pages work the best my experience both as a submitter and a hiring manager.
One's too short, 3 is too long.

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momop
OK. Thanks. I am beginning to lean towards 2.

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momop
Thank you all for the valuable suggestions. I will be building 2 pages..

