THE BLUEPRINT

Tips and advice to assist you in your job search.

Tuesday, February 05, 2013

The One Page Résumé REALLY is a Myth!

Unless you're a new college graduate, but beyond that do not believe that you can fit 10-15 years of experience on 1 page! Well, actually you can if you make it pretty vague.

Today, I worked from home and just happened to be channel surfing (which is why I usually don't like working from home) and saw Lisa Ling co-hosting the Jeff Probst show. She was going on about the new season of her show Our America and went on and on about things she's learned. What immediately got my attention and even made me cringe is when she said "a résumé is only supposed to be one page." Who told her that? Really! I can't believe that people are still believing this! Lisa of course is no professional résumé writer or hiring manager working in today's world, so as many novices do she's probably just going by whatever she's used to. The sad part is, she's perpetuating this myth to thousands if not millions of viewers, and most of them probably believe her!

Now, there are some hiring managers who still believe this and probably even prefer a one page résumé
depending on the company, but please believe me when I say they are a rarity! The norm is one to two pages. If you want to market yourself effectively and depending on your level of experience you may need two pages. I've even seen three for senior and C-level managers. More than that for federal résumés. Another thing to remember, and this is VERY important is that you must capture the hiring manager's attention on the first page. Actually within 10-15 seconds starting from the top! If you don't do that then it won't matter whether the resume is one or two pages. They won't be intrigued to read further anyway.

I have been writing résumés since the 90s and I've seen all of the changes through the years. Just remember, it's the content that counts!

Until next time... Go get that dream job!

Wendy Steele
Founder & CPRW
BluePrint Resumes & Consulting