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There’s a lot of conflicting career advice out there for job seekers, largely due to the fact many job search issues depend on who you ask or the particular person’s preferences. You’ve probably heard an old saying: "Your Resume Needs To Fit On One Page." Many job seekers wonder how are they going to cut down their experience enough to fit on one page.
The one-page resume rule mostly applied when employers had to look at a paper copy of your resume. One page is much easier to quickly scan than two or more, and most people don’t make it beyond the first page anyway. But, today, with much of the job search and hiring process taking place online, this rule doesn’t necessarily apply in all situations.
It’s Still Important To Be Concise. You shouldn’t include every piece of experience on your resume just for the sake of it. Your resume should only include relevant skills and experience to the position for which you are applying.
However, Don’t Undersell Yourself If you have enough relevant experience to spill over to two pages, don’t cut out important past experience or skills just because you think your resume needs to stick to one page.
Here’s some advice from Alexis Grant at U.S. News about the one-page resume rule:
“If you have two pages, make sure your second page doesn’t include an awkward amount of white space. If you’re only using a quarter of the second page, try to condense it into one page instead. And if you’re at one-and-a-half pages, play with the layout and fonts to use that leftover space, giving your accomplishments room to breathe. Don’t forget to include your name on both pages and number them in case they get separated.”
What is the lesson here? Do what works for you. The only rule for a resume is that it’s accurate and it lands an interview.
RESULTS, RESULTS, RESULTS
Although employers are interested in your responsibilities and skills, they are even more interested
in whether you can achieve results. Before you begin developing your ASSET LIST, take a few minutes to think of what you have accomplished in each of your previous jobs, volunteer work, or in your personal life. For each job, list a few accomplishments.
When describing your responsibilities:
•Emphasize results rather than job duties.
•Use action verbs. (See list of
Action Verbs-Action verbs create a picture in the
employer’s mind of you doing the work.
• Also include keywords, nouns that are relevant to the field in which you are applying.
Keywords include educational credentials, professional organizations, job titles and technical skills. If you
are applying for an advertised job, the ad may contain some of the keywords you will want to use. If the employer uses a scanner, the computer will choose the résumé that contain the most keywords.
Be as concise as possible. Avoid generalities. Instead of “work well under pressure”, give a specific example of a high-pressure, situation where you worked well. Instead of "outstanding leadership skills", give an example of a project you led that produced great results.
Complete sentences are not necessary. Action phrases are acceptable. Try to edit out pronouns and articles such as I, he/she, his, her, their, a, and, the.
Highlight specific achievements. Employers want to know your accomplishments and results in saving money, solving problems, enhancing performance, improving products or services, saving time, managing a crisis, increasing profits or services, achieving more with fewer resources, etc. If possible, show the struggle you went through to attain the results. Rather than “reduced operating costs 5%” which sounds as if it could have easily been achieved by a call to a vendor, show the difficulty of the process. Don't exaggerate, but don't minimize.
Change that to “In the midst of budget cuts, reduced vendors from 8 to 4, negotiated sharply discounted raw materials prices, and cut operating costs by 10%.”
• Include quantifiable results where possible. Use numbers, dollar signs and percentages whenever possible.
(i.e. supervised a staff of 10, increased sales by 25%, handled up to $20,000 daily, etc.)
•Don’t say “very short time”, say “one hour”. Don’t say “long report”, say “200 page evaluation report”. Don’t say “managed staff”, say “managed 25 person sales staff”.
•Identify increases in responsibility.
•Past experiences should be written in past tense; present experiences in present tense.
•When you write about your experience, try to recreate it so another person will be able to understand what you did and how you did it.
Sample statments:
Take a sheet of paper and divide it into three columns and label in the following manner.
Examples:
If you need help, Job Interview Services recommends "Great Resumes Fast" for a Professional Resume Service. Click on the banner below to find a top notch Resume expert to start right away with our trusted source "Great Resumes Fast". There are TORI-award WINNING writers in Best Re-entry into the Workforce Resume, Best International Resume and Best Military-Transition Resume. They work with Entry level resumes, Professional-level resumes, Executive resumes, career biographies, LinkedIn profile development, cover letters, thank you letters, reference sheets, and resume distribution.
The one-page resume rule mostly applied when employers had to look at a paper copy of your resume. One page is much easier to quickly scan than two or more, and most people don’t make it beyond the first page anyway. But, today, with much of the job search and hiring process taking place online, this rule doesn’t necessarily apply in all situations.
It’s Still Important To Be Concise. You shouldn’t include every piece of experience on your resume just for the sake of it. Your resume should only include relevant skills and experience to the position for which you are applying.
However, Don’t Undersell Yourself If you have enough relevant experience to spill over to two pages, don’t cut out important past experience or skills just because you think your resume needs to stick to one page.
Here’s some advice from Alexis Grant at U.S. News about the one-page resume rule:
“If you have two pages, make sure your second page doesn’t include an awkward amount of white space. If you’re only using a quarter of the second page, try to condense it into one page instead. And if you’re at one-and-a-half pages, play with the layout and fonts to use that leftover space, giving your accomplishments room to breathe. Don’t forget to include your name on both pages and number them in case they get separated.”
What is the lesson here? Do what works for you. The only rule for a resume is that it’s accurate and it lands an interview.
RESULTS, RESULTS, RESULTS
Although employers are interested in your responsibilities and skills, they are even more interested
in whether you can achieve results. Before you begin developing your ASSET LIST, take a few minutes to think of what you have accomplished in each of your previous jobs, volunteer work, or in your personal life. For each job, list a few accomplishments.
When describing your responsibilities:
•Emphasize results rather than job duties.
•Use action verbs. (See list of
Action Verbs-Action verbs create a picture in the
employer’s mind of you doing the work.
• Also include keywords, nouns that are relevant to the field in which you are applying.
Keywords include educational credentials, professional organizations, job titles and technical skills. If you
are applying for an advertised job, the ad may contain some of the keywords you will want to use. If the employer uses a scanner, the computer will choose the résumé that contain the most keywords.
Be as concise as possible. Avoid generalities. Instead of “work well under pressure”, give a specific example of a high-pressure, situation where you worked well. Instead of "outstanding leadership skills", give an example of a project you led that produced great results.
Complete sentences are not necessary. Action phrases are acceptable. Try to edit out pronouns and articles such as I, he/she, his, her, their, a, and, the.
Highlight specific achievements. Employers want to know your accomplishments and results in saving money, solving problems, enhancing performance, improving products or services, saving time, managing a crisis, increasing profits or services, achieving more with fewer resources, etc. If possible, show the struggle you went through to attain the results. Rather than “reduced operating costs 5%” which sounds as if it could have easily been achieved by a call to a vendor, show the difficulty of the process. Don't exaggerate, but don't minimize.
Change that to “In the midst of budget cuts, reduced vendors from 8 to 4, negotiated sharply discounted raw materials prices, and cut operating costs by 10%.”
• Include quantifiable results where possible. Use numbers, dollar signs and percentages whenever possible.
(i.e. supervised a staff of 10, increased sales by 25%, handled up to $20,000 daily, etc.)
•Don’t say “very short time”, say “one hour”. Don’t say “long report”, say “200 page evaluation report”. Don’t say “managed staff”, say “managed 25 person sales staff”.
•Identify increases in responsibility.
•Past experiences should be written in past tense; present experiences in present tense.
•When you write about your experience, try to recreate it so another person will be able to understand what you did and how you did it.
Sample statments:
- Reduced receivables from 50 days to 35 days.
- Set up and implemented planned maintenance for the production facility, reducing equipment downtime by 60%.
- Supervised 10 mechanics, 2 mechanic helpers, and 4 apprentices performing maintenance on approximately 75 pieces of equipment and vehicles.
- Reorganized and consolidated accounting, analysis and forecasting activities, achieving a $75,000 annual cost saving.
- Initiated new recruitment strategy resulting in 85 additional parent volunteers joining school Parent/Teacher Organization.
- Exceeded monthly sales quota for medical products.
- Planned and coordinated restoration of 100 year old home.
Take a sheet of paper and divide it into three columns and label in the following manner.
- Problems I faced
- Action Steps I took
- Results
Examples:
- Problem. Poor application processing
- Action Steps: Established a data Processing system.
- Results: Processing time was reduced to 25 days.
- Problem: Downtime of equipment resulted in low productivity.
- Action: Set up and implemented a maintenance schedule.
- Result Equipment downtime was reduced by 50% and productivity increased
If you need help, Job Interview Services recommends "Great Resumes Fast" for a Professional Resume Service. Click on the banner below to find a top notch Resume expert to start right away with our trusted source "Great Resumes Fast". There are TORI-award WINNING writers in Best Re-entry into the Workforce Resume, Best International Resume and Best Military-Transition Resume. They work with Entry level resumes, Professional-level resumes, Executive resumes, career biographies, LinkedIn profile development, cover letters, thank you letters, reference sheets, and resume distribution.
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