Resume Writer Matthew
Greene, M.Phil.
Resume Length Is Crucial
for Selling
Yourself in 2012!
by
Matthew Greene, M.Phil.
Author of Winning Resumes –
"Sure-Hire" Tactics ... (Penguin)
What is the best length
for your resume? Sorry, there's NO "rule of thumb" to help
you decide. For experienced job seekers, a one-page resume may
be too crowded. There won't be enough room to include your
valuable "can do's" or "sell". In 2012, a one-page resume may
also look too junior or "entry-level".
But a properly formatted, focused / tailored and
well-written longer resume could be far better. Recruiters
will appreciate a BEAUTIFUL and scannable two- or three- or four-pager. Times
have really changed! Longer resumes are acceptable today. Most resume experts would agree. (Please look up a related article titled, "Longer resumes now more acceptable" .at:http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_/ai_n24254506 and
also refer to my popular Blog on resume length at: http://winning-resumes-blog-mattgreene.blogspot.com/search?q=LENGTH )
In 2012, the ideal or best length of your resume is
actually a question of how best to market your VALUE
because it needs to be the best MARKETING tool it
can be. How many pages will you need to show what you can do,
what you have done and how well you have performed? Can you
sell yourself strongly on one page or will you need two or three pages to
be able to include all of your best "selling points"?
Let's face it. How much
can you cram into 30 lines of laser print? If you have seven
or more years' experience, WHERE will you record your track record,
skills, strengths and accomplishments – your best "selling
points"? (In 2012, you should NOT save up this "sell" for a
separate Cover Letter because this letter might NOT get read.)
In every resume, the first
10-15 lines are the most important. These will motivate
a resume scanner or recruiter to read further or to screen you out. In particular, ALL longer resumes need to be
carefully designed to "sell" you up front – in the top half of
Page 1.
It is therefore no surprise that a two-page
resume that "breathes" and is pleasing to the eye, that "sells" you
up front and is easily SCANNABLE, will often work better than
a single crowded page without "sell"! In fact, many one-page resumes are also very
boring!
Some of the WEAKEST resumes are often
produced by people who have worked for many years but now try to get
it all down on one page – to "please the reader". They
cram their job descriptions into three to seven gray paragraphs
with run-on sentences that are so boring. (These look like
globs of mashed potatoes!) Valuable accomplishments lie hidden
or buried in the text. Worst of all, in order to save lines they leave out the
most important sections of a resume – the "sell" or "value"
statements that MUST appear in the first 10-15 lines. And
there are usually 20-30 black bullets that do nothing to
help! (These are only dingbats.)
[Brevity will usually backfire
with senior-level job seekers because an employer might feel that if
you've managed to squeeze 10-20 years of work experience on one page,
what you're offering cannot be valuable!]
Every resume must have
"EYE APPEAL" and should be easy to scan or read. Whether one
page or two or three, your resume needs to be the best
MARKETING tool it can be. That is what really
matters!
How Does a
Resume Get Read in 2012?
The first reaction to your
resume will depend on your first 10-15 lines. This is
where you address the employer's needs – in a focused JOB OBJECTIVE
that states what you are seeking and also offers your
best "selling points". Or in a bulleted SUMMARY that
targets the employer's requirements (as stated in job
advertisements). In Round 1, the top
portion of any resume may be the only section that gets
read.
After this, recruiters will merely SCAN your job
titles to see how closely these support your Objective and for
evidence of how well you have performed or where you made a
difference. This is why your ACCOMPLISHMENTS need to
stand out or be indented. (In addition to the usual "numbers"
or percentages, Performance Evaluations contain valuable
material.) In particular, keywords need to be
highlighted. Above all, your resume needs to be easily
scannable by a human reader – in seconds.
Other so-called "experts", teachers, business
executives, or friends will all offer you their opinion about the
"ideal" length of a resume. They may even claim to "know" what
employers prefer. These will usually be half truths. But experienced resume writers don't have to
guess. They have already improved hundreds of resumes which
includes making them longer or shorter. Each time they receive
feedback from the client as to how well the resume was
working. FIRST CLASS professionals have learned what length (and
format) might work best in your particular case. One page or
two or three. Resumes for top executives and consultants may
be even longer. (John Lucht suggests 2-4 or more pages!) Only
Bill Gates can market himself effectively on one page!
Creating a resume of
the most suitable length (and format) will involve an array of
skills that most people don't have. This is why a FIRST CLASS
resume writing professional may be your easiest and best answer in 2012. NOTE: The issue of length pertains only to the traditional, formatted, "print" version of your resume. For resumes in electronic formats that are placed in keyword-searchable databases, page-length is immaterial. So this article's guidelines apply only in situations where your formatted resume is screened by human eyes. [ Please visit WINNING RESUMES BLOG for valuable recession "tips".]
mattgreene@aol.com
Tel.: 1-718-436-3504
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