Resume's
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A 7 page CV might be overkill mate. If your going with the 'more is better' approach you need to make sure that the first page really sells you. If not, I'd be surprised if the person reading it gets past the 2nd page before throwing it on the 'OUT' pile.
Mark Brock Click here to view my blog
MarkBrock wrote:
A 7 page CV might be overkill mate.
AHAHAHA... the CV isnt 7 pages, the 7 pages is the document saying that I meet the esential criteria (government job)
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown "All things good to know are difficult to learn" ~ Greek Proverb "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary" ~ Vidal Sassoon
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How long/short should a resume' (CV) be? I always thought that a good length is 3 - 4 pages and then have all certificates and things attached, but I recently had my resume looked at by someone who deals with them all the time, and they reduced my 3 page one, to just 1 page... This kinda spun me out But I am applying for a new job, and I was wondering if I should use my 3 page one, or the new 1 page one
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown "All things good to know are difficult to learn" ~ Greek Proverb "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary" ~ Vidal Sassoon
If you know that hundreds of people will apply for the same job then one page is good. Otherwise it doesn't really matter. jhaga
How to earn 3000€/month online.
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Thunderbox666 wrote:
3rd job since school (first one was in building) and only 4 years experience in IT
Sorry, thought you were pretty much fresh out of school.
Thunderbox666 wrote:
No, not yet, so that is why I am moving onto a bigger/better job with opportunity for growth
Good to see. By the way, there was absolutely no condescension or derision in my post further up this branch.
Michael Martin Australia "I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible." - Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
Michael Martin wrote:
By the way, there was absolutely no condescension or derision in my post further up this branch.
None taken. I appreciate all the help everyone here is giving me :-D
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown "All things good to know are difficult to learn" ~ Greek Proverb "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary" ~ Vidal Sassoon
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The definitive answer: Your CV should be exactly the right length to get you the job :-) Seriously, there really are no absolute rules. If your resume is too long, nobody will read it. If it is too short, it won't include the information you need to put across. At the end of the day, it is up to the person reading your resume to decide what "too long" and "too short" actually mean. In the UK, recruitment specialists generally recommend 2 pages for a CV - and it should tailored to the job for which you area applying. Personally, I find it *very* hard to get my CV down to 2 pages. It doesn't help that we get a little more experience every day... :sigh: BTW: All the best with the job!
KramII
KramII wrote:
The definitive answer: Your CV should be exactly the right length to get you the job
I was afraid of that
KramII wrote:
BTW: All the best with the job!
Thanks :)
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown "All things good to know are difficult to learn" ~ Greek Proverb "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary" ~ Vidal Sassoon
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A 7 page CV might be overkill mate. If your going with the 'more is better' approach you need to make sure that the first page really sells you. If not, I'd be surprised if the person reading it gets past the 2nd page before throwing it on the 'OUT' pile.
Mark Brock Click here to view my blog
I tend to interview a few people a year (contracts and permanents), and deal with, say, 10 CVs each time. So maybe I can help. Tips! More than 3/4 pages is too long; only 1 is fine if done very professionally. In 18 years in IT Dev I've seen a grand total of one, one page CV - but the person got an interview and the position, so it clearly worked! They lasted 3 weeks. There are fashions in these things, the career 'mission statement' is out of fashion, but I would still recommend a key skills summary on the first page, even if it feels a bit contrived. Most people sifting through CVs first time simply look to tick off the key skills (for tech jobs) - if you bury them in your career history you are taking a chance they won't be seen. Please remember that a lot of CVs are faxed through for security reasons (to enable the agency to easily add their watermark, T&Cs, threats etc) - so don't expect someone will be able to search your CV in any other way than by reading it. Sequentially. Don't overegg your experience, any CVs that claim 10 years .Net experience are instantly binned recycled; I got my second job precisely because I had only two years experience because many companies don't want people with too much experience, simply because they believe it can be more difficult to get them to work how they want. Other companies want lots of experience because they don't want to spend too much time managing, and so on. Lots of experience, some experience or no experience is wanted by any company at different times; if you try to claim you are something that you aren't you face a quick termination and either an awkward gap in your CV or a difficult reference request. Try to make your experience and qualifications flow always appear positive - you were always going to make this your career. That archeology degree has given you an acute attention to detail, that year in Tibet allows you to focus consistently, those two years selling mobile phones has left you with great interpersonal ability etc. Finally, the company you are applying to should appeal to you, do not be afraid of rejecting a company before or after an interview that gives you bad vibes - trust your ability to find something more suited. Sorry, what was the question again?
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One page is perfect, two if you absolutely have to. A CV's job is to get you an interview, not a job. Anyone can write a 4 page CV. It takes talent, time and effort to whittle it down to one or two pages that clearly identify what your primary strengths are and how you meet the requirements of the job. Leave them wanting more - that's what gets you an interview. When I went through piles of CV's in the past, I discarded the ones that didn't clearly identify that they met the basic requirements of the job. Then I reviewed the ones that did and picked out the few well written ones. Those people got interviews. More often than not the people with long CV's eliminated themselves from contention by providing unnecessary information that removed them from consideration. Don't give them extra info. until they need it (in an interview). Most cities have some kind of employment centres with someone trained in career counseling and CV writing. I would suggest getting someone like that to review your CV if you're unsure about how to proceed. Cheers, Drew.
I absolutely agree! As one who has looked at resumes before, please no more than two pages. After two pages, I get bored and stop reading. Once, I got a resume that was 9 pages long... it was like the "War and Peace" of resumes! Yuck! :laugh:
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Michael Martin wrote:
He's a teenager going for his first or second job
3rd job since school (first one was in building) and only 4 years experience in IT
Michael Martin wrote:
I doubt he has enough experience to bullet point enough impressive detail in one page.
No, not yet, so that is why I am moving onto a bigger/better job with opportunity for growth
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown "All things good to know are difficult to learn" ~ Greek Proverb "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary" ~ Vidal Sassoon
"3rd job since school (first one was in building) and only 4 years experience in IT" With only two jobs in 4 years, you'd best stay with the one page CV, not 3 (as mentioned in the OP). Companies will know immediately you don't have years and years, so take what you have, bullet point the highlites, keep it simple and to the point of the actual job that you're applying for... CV's are to get you into an interview, which is where you can really expand on your experience and goals. EDIT: Of course this is just my thoughts and what I have looked for over the last 10 years or so, but every job, company and country are different...
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How long/short should a resume' (CV) be? I always thought that a good length is 3 - 4 pages and then have all certificates and things attached, but I recently had my resume looked at by someone who deals with them all the time, and they reduced my 3 page one, to just 1 page... This kinda spun me out But I am applying for a new job, and I was wondering if I should use my 3 page one, or the new 1 page one
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown "All things good to know are difficult to learn" ~ Greek Proverb "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary" ~ Vidal Sassoon
Listen to your friend. I've been doing interviews (tech interviews) for the past couple of years. When I'm handed a resume, I read the objective, the summary, the skills list, and no more than the last 2-3 years of experience. Remember, these people have other things to do besides interviewing you. Since resumes are written in reverse chronological order, if someone reads or scans your entire resume in the 10-15 minutes they use to prep for the interview, they're only going to actually remember the last page or 1-1/2 pages. Many managers/interviewers will automatically discard or discredit any resume that's longer than two pages. You want to give them high points that are applicable to the position you're applying for, and minimize opportunity for them to find reasons to exclude you from consideration. The first step of the selection process is to take the hundreds of resumes they get flooded with by Career Builder, and hack and slash until there are only 5-10 left. Almost every job in our field has "effective communicator, written and verbal" as a requirement. If it takes you 4 pages to make the same argument that someone else can make in 1-1/2 pages, guess who's the better communicator.
Grim MCDBA, MCSD, MCP+SB SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue IS NOT NULL (0 row(s) affected)
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Two pages is a good compromise between too little and too much. Remember that you should ideally be tailoring your resume for the job you are applying to, so there's no need to list absolutely everything you've done but just the most appropriate things for the job. I wouldn't attach any certificates either. The resume stage is mainly about grabbing their attention long enough to get an interview. Pages of resume and certificate are likely to cause a 'I cant be bothered with this one'.
modified on Thursday, April 10, 2008 1:42 AM
Johnny ² wrote:
I wouldn't attach any certificates either.
Most (possibly all) certifications have a "logo" that goes along with them. I place the logos for my key certifications in the bottom margin of the first page of my resume.
Grim MCDBA, MCSD, MCP+SB SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue IS NOT NULL (0 row(s) affected)
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Thanks for the answers guys... I will spice up the longer one and use it. The selection criteria document that i have prepared, is over 7 pages long, so it over shadows the resume by a lot
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown "All things good to know are difficult to learn" ~ Greek Proverb "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary" ~ Vidal Sassoon
One page is too short, but three pages (or more) is too long. If the reader doesn't love you by the end of page two, the pages after that won't endear you any further.
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One page is perfect, two if you absolutely have to. A CV's job is to get you an interview, not a job. Anyone can write a 4 page CV. It takes talent, time and effort to whittle it down to one or two pages that clearly identify what your primary strengths are and how you meet the requirements of the job. Leave them wanting more - that's what gets you an interview. When I went through piles of CV's in the past, I discarded the ones that didn't clearly identify that they met the basic requirements of the job. Then I reviewed the ones that did and picked out the few well written ones. Those people got interviews. More often than not the people with long CV's eliminated themselves from contention by providing unnecessary information that removed them from consideration. Don't give them extra info. until they need it (in an interview). Most cities have some kind of employment centres with someone trained in career counseling and CV writing. I would suggest getting someone like that to review your CV if you're unsure about how to proceed. Cheers, Drew.
There's a subtle difference between a CV and a resume. A CV (curriculum vitae) is a list. For lists (and other similiar bullet-point carrying devices), one page is perfect. Resumes, on the other hand, are marketing tools designed to get you an interview. It is an advertisement, not a list. It has to tell a story about you. But you still have to do it fast (two pages or less). It isn't a novel.
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How long/short should a resume' (CV) be? I always thought that a good length is 3 - 4 pages and then have all certificates and things attached, but I recently had my resume looked at by someone who deals with them all the time, and they reduced my 3 page one, to just 1 page... This kinda spun me out But I am applying for a new job, and I was wondering if I should use my 3 page one, or the new 1 page one
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown "All things good to know are difficult to learn" ~ Greek Proverb "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary" ~ Vidal Sassoon
Thunderbox666 wrote:
How long/short should a resume' (CV) be?
Long enough to get you the job, but not too long or too short such that you lose the job. Or to quote some men wiser than me: A work is not complete when there is nothing left to add, but instead, when there is nothing left to take away. The honest truth is that most people simply don't have two page of worthwhile material. Imagine two pages of powerful statements like these: - Managed a team of 3 in a 350 server environment - Improved individual server performance 50% from January 2007 to August 2007 saving the company $100k in server costs - Maintained a website up-time of 100% over that same period... Honestly, do you need more than two pages of this? Heck half a page of this material and half a page of education is probably enough. Seriously, what do you have that I want to spend three pages reading? Aren't you just watering down your good stuff by adding less good stuff? B/c honestly, if you have three pages of stuff as good as my list above, then you're not submitting resumes/CVs anywayys.
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Drew Stainton wrote:
One page is perfect, two if you absolutely have to. A CV's job is to get you an interview, not a job.
He's a teenager going for his first or second job. I doubt he has enough experience to bullet point enough impressive detail in one page.
Michael Martin Australia "I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible." - Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
Michael Martin wrote:
I doubt he has enough experience to bullet point enough impressive detail in one page.
I would hope he does. My first programming job still had enough bullet points and detail, the difference was I was directing my learned knowledge at the job offer to demonstrate that I had learned how to do that particular job. Experience or education, a lot of a CV is directing your knowledge at the job offer. I landed the job and did it quite well for years. I don't like generic CVs, I do understand why people make them, but if you REALLY want a job, then get it with a directed CV for that particular job. :-D
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb) John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others."
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There's a subtle difference between a CV and a resume. A CV (curriculum vitae) is a list. For lists (and other similiar bullet-point carrying devices), one page is perfect. Resumes, on the other hand, are marketing tools designed to get you an interview. It is an advertisement, not a list. It has to tell a story about you. But you still have to do it fast (two pages or less). It isn't a novel.
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How long/short should a resume' (CV) be? I always thought that a good length is 3 - 4 pages and then have all certificates and things attached, but I recently had my resume looked at by someone who deals with them all the time, and they reduced my 3 page one, to just 1 page... This kinda spun me out But I am applying for a new job, and I was wondering if I should use my 3 page one, or the new 1 page one
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown "All things good to know are difficult to learn" ~ Greek Proverb "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary" ~ Vidal Sassoon
I would say one page is perfect. Every advisor I have spoken to has reccomened one page as well. If someone was able to reduce your resume to one page, then you might have a lot of content that is bland. This is a quick commercial, not a documentary of yourself. You are supposed to capture attention with a cover letter and a resume and then fill in the blanks in the interview. I am a little shocked that anyone would reccomend three to four pages as a limit. That resume doesn't sound like it is getting to the points fast enough. Perhaps I am an exception, but I have landed all of my jobs with a one page resume.
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How long/short should a resume' (CV) be? I always thought that a good length is 3 - 4 pages and then have all certificates and things attached, but I recently had my resume looked at by someone who deals with them all the time, and they reduced my 3 page one, to just 1 page... This kinda spun me out But I am applying for a new job, and I was wondering if I should use my 3 page one, or the new 1 page one
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown "All things good to know are difficult to learn" ~ Greek Proverb "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary" ~ Vidal Sassoon
Mail out a thumb drive, then it can be as long as you like. :)
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001 -
whg144 wrote:
There's a subtle difference between a CV and a resume
A CV is just a specific type of resume. In fact, it's the type used for job applications, so in that context they are the same thing. Cheers, Drew.
In US usage the main difference is that normal people use resumes, PHD's use the CV to itemize their publications list as well.
You know, every time I tried to win a bar-bet about being able to count to 1000 using my fingers I always get punched out when I reach 4.... -- El Corazon
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Two pages is a good compromise between too little and too much. Remember that you should ideally be tailoring your resume for the job you are applying to, so there's no need to list absolutely everything you've done but just the most appropriate things for the job. I wouldn't attach any certificates either. The resume stage is mainly about grabbing their attention long enough to get an interview. Pages of resume and certificate are likely to cause a 'I cant be bothered with this one'.
modified on Thursday, April 10, 2008 1:42 AM
I haven't been in on the hiring decisions, but I've been in meetings where I've watched people in that role sift through resumes. I was really shocked at how quickly they would glance at one and toss it aside. I have to agree with the two pages after seeing that. One is probably not enough substance for a lot of jobs, but more than that and the people I watched would've just tossed it aside unless something really caught their attention on the first page. Key points for the job have to go on the first page and you better make damn sure your grammar and spelling are correct. And don't attach certificates unless requested. Good luck. :)
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I tend to interview a few people a year (contracts and permanents), and deal with, say, 10 CVs each time. So maybe I can help. Tips! More than 3/4 pages is too long; only 1 is fine if done very professionally. In 18 years in IT Dev I've seen a grand total of one, one page CV - but the person got an interview and the position, so it clearly worked! They lasted 3 weeks. There are fashions in these things, the career 'mission statement' is out of fashion, but I would still recommend a key skills summary on the first page, even if it feels a bit contrived. Most people sifting through CVs first time simply look to tick off the key skills (for tech jobs) - if you bury them in your career history you are taking a chance they won't be seen. Please remember that a lot of CVs are faxed through for security reasons (to enable the agency to easily add their watermark, T&Cs, threats etc) - so don't expect someone will be able to search your CV in any other way than by reading it. Sequentially. Don't overegg your experience, any CVs that claim 10 years .Net experience are instantly binned recycled; I got my second job precisely because I had only two years experience because many companies don't want people with too much experience, simply because they believe it can be more difficult to get them to work how they want. Other companies want lots of experience because they don't want to spend too much time managing, and so on. Lots of experience, some experience or no experience is wanted by any company at different times; if you try to claim you are something that you aren't you face a quick termination and either an awkward gap in your CV or a difficult reference request. Try to make your experience and qualifications flow always appear positive - you were always going to make this your career. That archeology degree has given you an acute attention to detail, that year in Tibet allows you to focus consistently, those two years selling mobile phones has left you with great interpersonal ability etc. Finally, the company you are applying to should appeal to you, do not be afraid of rejecting a company before or after an interview that gives you bad vibes - trust your ability to find something more suited. Sorry, what was the question again?
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How long/short should a resume' (CV) be? I always thought that a good length is 3 - 4 pages and then have all certificates and things attached, but I recently had my resume looked at by someone who deals with them all the time, and they reduced my 3 page one, to just 1 page... This kinda spun me out But I am applying for a new job, and I was wondering if I should use my 3 page one, or the new 1 page one
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown "All things good to know are difficult to learn" ~ Greek Proverb "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary" ~ Vidal Sassoon
I've been applying for a number of .Net positions over the past few weeks and have been getting a good response from my one-page resume that highlights my key skills, work summary and relevant experience and achievements. On the other hand, I attach an addendum document entitled "Project References" in which I spell out the projects I have worked on (only .Net projects in this case as that's the type of position I am applying for). This allows the hiring personnel to review the resume, if they like what they see, they continue on to the addendum. The addendum can be as long as it needs to be (mine is 2 pages) because if they decide to open it in the first place you have already impressed them with your resume. I am getting a good response from this so far and have gotten some good interviews and I think some offers are on the way. I'll let you know if it doesnt work out! :-D
~ballistikx