Accursio Marciante ⋅ Union , NJ Standard Chartered Bank ⋅ 11 years experience

Hi Owen,

General rule of thumb is for college grads should be a 1 pager and for those with several years of experience then you can stretch it to 2 pages but no greater. I am old school and with bullets it's 3 but no more than 5. You can go narrative on your accomplishments/duties/responsiblities. Some contemporary approaches for heavy experience folk are to mention accomplishments in a current role - increased productivty by x%, reduced cost by %, streamlined work flows resulting in x hours, etc....

Good luck and thanks for your service.

Regards,

Accursio

Logan Sankaran ⋅ Plano , TX Hewlett Packard ⋅ 25 years experience

One page or two pages, if you have > 15 or 20 years experience and want to list all your experience. I have seen lot of resume and also heard some experts in CNN Money show that average time spent on a resume is few min. Many other social medium such as Linkedin have diminished the importance of resume. The goal is to get the attention of the reviewer and let you be one of the few selected for the next level or interview. Be creative, precise, brief and finally truthful. I have caught many who boast in their resume but know little when probed. Honesty is still the best policy. If you want me to review your resume and offer suggestions, contact me and I will provide my email address. Good-luck.

Michael Auxer ⋅ Detroit , MI Henry Ford Health Systems ⋅ 25 years experience

I am an IT PMO Manager and have reviewed many a resume.

I agree with the two (2) page limit. Definitely no more. But I also want a cover page/letter as well to tell me what exactly you are looking for. That should be no more then two (2) pages, but one (1) is very much preferred. You have a very brief window to perform your initial sale of yourself. So keep it very brief and get to the point.

Your resume needs to be tailored to the position you are seeking. You need to identify those traits, knowledge, and experiences that are relevant to the job you are seeking. When reviewing a candidate, I will first read your cover page to see if you are interested in the position I have open. Then I will review your resume to see if you have the knowledge, skills, experience to fill it. That whole process will take about ten (10) minutes. Based upon that look, I will decide to call you in for an interview.

Bob Abrams ⋅ Buffalo Grove , IL Hewlett Packard ⋅ 20 years experience

Hi Owen, my opinions are my own and may not apply to all situations. I had the opportunity to sit next to a HR Recruiter on a train ride to work, and I witnessed some very interesting behavior while she was reading through several job resumes. Typically, she would spend 20+ seconds on resumes that she liked, and less than 20 seconds on the rest. She read the first half of the first page, and never got as far as the second page before she moved on to the next resume.Most of the resumes had atleast two pages. Also, she highlighted key words that were important to her (eg. Top Secret Clearance, 5 years Java programming, VoIP, etc.).

My suggestion to you would be to draft a very compelling statement at the beginning of the document. Any typo mistakes will probably have a negative result. Ask a friend to proof read your work. Reflect on accomplishments that are recent, not more than 7 years ago. If you are really serious about a company, call to talk to staff at that company before you draft a tailored resume.

Monish Punjabi ⋅ Stamford , CT General Electric ⋅ 1 years experience

I would say 1 pager is the limit these days especially in this stringent job market. One must keep in mind that recruiters have many resumes to get through in a limited amount of time and one thing that is really going to turn them off is if they have to read a lot. Generally speaking from research I did on companies while searching of a job is that companies usually give preference to people with military background. With that being said, I think it is important to giove serious thought to details that need to be included on the resume.

Kristine Kinzle ⋅ Scottsdale , AZ General Electric ⋅ 20 years experience

Once you have the required buzz words to get you past the computer screening, a manager will look at your resume, along with 20-100 other resumes. They may not make it past the first half of the first page, so highlight your skills quickly and concisely. If you do, they will keep reading!

Charles McGrue ⋅ U.S. Army Reserve, Captain ⋅ 21 years served

I'm not sure how many people touched on this, but with the systems in place these days, if you don't have the key words what match up with the job description, your resume may not make it through the computer.

Granted, this is provided you are truthful and not just copy and pasting the information with some subtle tweaks.

I only say this because I've seen both.

Regards...

Andy Rosengard ⋅ San Antonio , TX ⋅ 20 years experience

Owen, you nailed it! First priority is getting your resume through the initial scan. Which means you need to focus on the job description and get those key words and supporting skills to the top. Follow that up with your accomplishments and finally where have you worked and the dates of employment.

Your resume needs to be tailor made for the company you are applying to. If you apply to 100 companies, 100 tailor made resumes will get you in the door quicker than sending the same resume to 100 companies.

Ken Henault ⋅ Londonderry , NH Hewlett Packard ⋅ 32 years experience

Rember the point of a resume' isn't to get you a job, the point of a resume' is to get you an interview. Often resumes are pre-screened through keyword search software, so you need to have the right keywords for the individual position you're applying for,

One to two page is the right length. You should have a much longer resume that you use as your base. Then remove content that's not applicable for the position you're applying for to get down to the desired length.

Julie Mouganis ⋅ Nokesville , VA Hewlett Packard ⋅ 30 years experience

The resume in my opinion should be short (one or two pages) and specific, enticing the employer to want to learn more and set up an interview. The face to face meeting is where the discussion and details are revieled. Getting this appointment is your goal and is your opportunity qualify the job and sell yourself.

Be sure to use a very legible typeface and size so that reading it is inviting and easy on the readers eyes.

michael convey ⋅ Camp Hill , PA jh williams Oil company ⋅ 45 years experience

I believe resumes should be a maximum of two pages. It is extremely important that resumes including excellent grammar and punctuation and that there are no mispellings. Most people that read resumes scan them a couple of times and the first scanning is to eliminate candidates. The resume, if possible, should distinguish you from other candidates and tell the reader what you can do for his company. Anything that shows something unique that can help would be a real asset, and should be listed. Job Objective should tell them what you want to do and why you are a good candidate for them.

Owen Mohn ⋅ Chester , VA U.S. Army Reserve, Major ⋅ 23 years served

Thanks Ken,
My focus was more on getting through the computer-based filters than when the resume actually gets in front of someone. For many large companies, including the government, those first set of eyes never see your resume unless the recognition software scores you high enough. It is a balance between getting through those systems and still having something that that the decision maker can scan in that 2-3 minutes you mention.

Ken Sheppard ⋅ Hillsborough , NJ Johnson & Johnson ⋅ 25 years experience

I agree with many of the comments above that a 1 page resume is best, perhaps 2 if you are older. Most important thing to remember is that the purpose of the resume is not to get you a job, it is to get you an interview. The average hiring manager will most likely spend about 2-3 minutes on a resume. Your job is to catch their attention in that time, and to have them say "I want to know more about this person." So be brief and concise. Highlight your skills, along with the accomplishments that demonstrate those skills, rather than (or at least prior to) a timeline of positions held. Use headlines in bold print so the reader can scan quickly and will be drawn to read more of the details. For example, "Passionate people developer," "Trusted change agent," "Complex problem solver."

Good luck!

Owen Mohn ⋅ Chester , VA U.S. Army Reserve, Major ⋅ 23 years served

Hey, thanks for all the feedback!

I am now at resident CGSC, so it will be a while before I have to decide which route I want my career to take. I am still looking at all options, including potential AD. Resume will definitely need an overhaul once I am done here.

I agree with all comments concerning 2-page limit if sending to an organization that still uses a human as their first line of review or you are able to hand your resume directly to the right person.

I came from high-tech industry in the past and looking mainly at high-tech companies as potential future. I was given the impression that medium & large companies (& even many recruiters) now use computer filters. It is getting to the top of those automated lists that I was most concerned about. Doing that in 2 pages poses a new challenge for me should I decide private industry is where I am headed.

Thanks again

Judy Tomlinson ⋅ Dallas , TX Energy Future Holdings ⋅ 25 years experience

Two pages at the most. You have 5 minutes to catch the eye of a recruiter. Send me your resume and we can discuss how to condense your work history into two pages while highlighting your skills. tomlinsonjk@aol.com
Judy Tomlinson

Bill Pugh ⋅ San Antonio , TX USAA ⋅ 15 years experience

I would agree 2 pages are the limit . . . You should definitely modify each one you submit to highlight your qualifications for the positon you are applying. Many, if not all, employers search uploaded résumés for keywords.

Gia Freireich ⋅ New York , NY Bloomberg ⋅ 5 years experience

Hi there! Bear in mind that the resume's goal is strictly to whet the appetite and get you the interview. To that end, you may be better served by a 1-pager (2 at most) outlining your crowning shining achievements (not tasks) with quantifiable results.

Rather than dilute your resume, you can include a link to a LinkedIn profile, or leverage the interview itself to explain HOW you accomplished your fabulous results (along with the impact you made).

You may also create multiple resumes; each focused to a specific position you're applying for, rather than a 'one size fits all' approach.

Another thing to consider is starting the process PRIOR to the resume. You can seek out "informational interviews" to learn about potential careers and companies, what makes someone successful, etc. without even providing a resume. If this leads to an opportunity to submit one, you'll then know exactly what you want to highlight. [You can run an Advanced search on LinkedIn for Siemens, and demonstrate your proactivity by reaching out directly.]

Don't forget the thank you letter - that alone can get you noticed in a crowd.

Best of luck! Gia

Christopher Ahlberg ⋅ Holtsville , NY Recorded Future, Inc. ⋅ 15 years experience

I've hired 100s of people and are doing a new start up where we get lots and lots of resumes. We actually now tell people to just send us their LinkedIn profile. The benefit of the company of that is that it's more "alive", and less likely to have an fraud in it. I think it benefits the applicant as well.

For traditional resumes, definitely, short (1page!) is better. If you do want to tell other stories, hey you can always point people to a separate website, blog, etc. of your work, or send along work samples, or whatever. But the odds of a 4 page long resume helping you in an initial screen process is just very very slim.

Pavan Khatri ⋅ Henderson , NV Oil and Gas ⋅ 14 years experience

Yes, I'm in the 12-20 yr experience range and I tailored the 3rd page on specific recruiter requests.

Aubrey Bone ⋅ Columbus , GA IBM ⋅ 20 years experience

Latest information that I've read is a preference by both companies and head hunters for a concise 1 page resume. If you're like me, with many years of experience, it can make it difficult to boil down to 1 page. However, the trade off is your most important attributes are highlighted. I've also read that getting away from the timeline approach, and moving your resume to reflect and show your quantified problem solving abilities are most valuable.
Hope this helps.