How Long Should A Resume Be?

I'm often asked how long a resume should be. The short answer is: as long as it needs to be to convince the reader to call you in for an interview.

The longer answer is:

If you have 10 years of experience or less, consider keeping it to 1 page; if you go to two pages, you should have enough material to fill up at least 1/2 of the second page.

If you have more than 10 years of experience, go to 2 pages.

If you are a senior executive or academic, 3 pages is fine.

The key is to focus on clearly tying your accomplishments and related skills and qualities to what is being sought by the employer (or employers in general) for the functional area and/or job to which you are applying.

Readability; professional look and feel; and having ZERO spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors is also key.

The average recruiter will give a resume about 15-45 seconds of attention before deciding whether to read on or put the resume into long-term storage. You want to make a strong positive impression from the get-go to make sure that you are not passed over before the recruiter and hiring manager have the chance to find out just what a great fit you are for the job.