Resume Length? Never more than two pages!

· by Herb Dew

Herb is the CEO of HTI. He founded HTI in 1999 along with John Knight and David Sewell, and remains heavily involved in the organization today.
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I get asked to review peoples resumes a lot. It’s one of those things we do all the time at HTI and we see it all…resumes with photos attached, resumes with perfumed paper, resumes with wild fonts and bizarre colored paper. I see resumes that are like a short novel – too many pages. I see resumes that force me to hunt down the candidates education, even when their education is a huge positive. So how can you improve your resume?

I was told an interesting statistic many years ago. A study of hiring managers reviewing resumes spent 10 seconds per resume reviewed, on average. The study showed that this resulted in managers making interview decisions on what they saw on the first half of the FIRST PAGE! Remember that statistic when you are doing your resume.

Employers want to see work history, but truthfully, they are looking at what you accomplished in the last 5 years or so. Don’t burn calories and valuable space outlining what you did in 1974. It doesn’t matter much. Employers are looking for three primary things when they first review a resume:

1. They are confirming education level
2. They are looking at your current/last job and title
3. They are looking broadly at your resume for a sense of work history stability.

If those three things are answered easily they will either read more, or they might just initiate an interview.

Your resume is NOT the abbreviated story of your life. Its a commercial…a tease to entice the employer to call you in and explore the relationship further.

So be brief and concise. And NEVER more than two pages!

Herb Dew