My client was an engineer with a wealth of experience going back 15-years. But when I looked at the resume he’d prepared for himself, my brain nearly flatlined as I tried assimilate the information before me.

The margins were less than a quarter of an inch on all sides, the font was 9 points (oh, my aging eyes!), and the information was crammed together with no spaces and no indents. It was so difficult to read that I finally quit trying. And if I couldn’t read it, what do you think the odds are that a prospective employer with hundreds of resumes to review is going to stay with it?

When I asked him why he’d chosen that layout he said, “Someone told me all resumes should be one page, and I had to fit everything on there.” And he wondered why he wasn’t getting calls for interviews!

Fast forward a few months. I got a call from a journeyman boilermaker who’d been taking mostly short term positions through his union for more than 20-years. He asked me if I’d take a look at his resume. It was also crammed together, but rather than one page it was a grand total of eleven – yes, ELEVEN. I wanted to cry. He listed EVERY job he’d held throughout his career, some just a few months or even a few weeks.

These are extreme examples, but they illustrate a question people ask when they compose a resume: HOW LONG SHOULD IT BE?

The answer is surprisingly simple: A resume needs to be as long as it needs to be. It should include all the information that’s necessary to adequately sell you to a prospective employer in today’s competitive environment. It should NOT include redundant, personal, or extraneous information that is of no interest to HR and hiring managers.

In the case of the engineer, the final document I prepared for him was three pages. He balked at first, but his experience was extensive and he needed a readable resume. It began with a profile that summarized his very strong skillset and subsequently presented his work history, including highlights of some of the many projects he’d worked on over the years. The margins were nearly an inch on all sides, with lots of indents and white space, giving it a natural flow. He not only started getting his foot in the door for interviews, he landed a job within just a few months.

For the boilermaker, I also began with a summary, then his career history. But rather than show every short-term job, I described his overall responsibilities in working for the union on various assignments, followed by the line “Highlights of key projects include the following.” Then I bulleted longer and significant jobs, showcasing a wide range of responsibilities and achievements. I succinctly reduced his eleven pages to just one and he, also, began getting calls for interviews.

As these cases illustrate, there are two errors that people make when it comes to resume length. First, there is the “resume-must-be-one-page” mantra that so many job seekers mistakenly believe. In fact, I have actually had employers tell me that for some positions they don’t even look at one page resumes. As one executive explained it, “If a person only has a one page resume, then they don’t have enough experience for the positions I fill.”

Then there are those who believe they need to tell a prospective employer everything they’ve ever done. Trust me when I tell you, nobody wants to read everything you’ve ever done.

This is not your magnum opus. The word “resume” is a French term that, loosely translated, means “summary.” Its purpose is to summarize the skills, experience, and education that are relevant to the position you are seeking.

As with the boilermaker, sometimes that means consolidating an extensive but often redundant history by highlighting key projects and achievements. It can also mean eliminating personal information, going back just ten or fifteen years in your work history, and focusing on what is relevant to a prospective employer. If you are applying for a marketing position, for example, your experience in building a solid marketing business is relevant; the fact that you were also working as a substitute teacher while the business was growing isn’t even remotely relevant and can be left off entirely or just briefly referenced. If, on the other hand, you’re going for a teaching position, the teaching background is very important and the marketing can be downplayed.

At the same time, never sell yourself short. If you sacrifice crucial information in homage to the one-page rule or, worse yet, cram two or three pages onto one, you are hurting your chances of finding the right position. And please, please, please make sure to maintain a professional and readable appearance. Indent key information, put spaces between your headings and jobs, and keep the font to at least 10.5 to 11 points.

I reiterate: in response to the burning question “How long should my resume be?” the answer is quite simply: as long as it needs to be, no more and no less, depending on your background and career target.

An exception: this applies to resumes. In the case of curriculum vitae, usually prepared for people in medical and academic fields, the rules are a bit different. But that’s for another post.

~ Anne Follis, CPRW

“I swear, English teachers are the most annoying people on the planet!” proclaimed my college-bound son.

“Don’t swear,” I admonished. “You must learn to eliminate unnecessary verbiage and make clean, declarative statements.” He rolled his eyes, muttered something unintelligible, and walked away.

The English teacher he was talking about was, of course, his mother. Having taught English and communication at both the high school and university levels, I confess to a somewhat neurotic fascination with the rules of the English language. It’s in the spirit of such obsessions that I have pondered the question of first vs. third person resumes.

According to the Certification Guide prepared by the Professional Association of Resume Writers, resumes should be prepared in the first person. That makes sense since, as a general rule, when a person prepares a resume for distribution, it has her or his name, address, phone, and e-mail at the top. In addition, it is usually accompanied by a personal cover letter written and signed by the applicant. It would be pretentious and a little silly to send out a document with a person’s name on it (first person) that’s written like it’s from someone else (third person). But that’s what we do whenever we write a resume in the third person.

The confusion comes with the fact that, as a general rule, the subject is understood in a resume, but the pronouns are not included. So, for example, when speaking about a current job, instead of saying, “I oversee all office operations, I control a $100,000 inventory, and I balance the books for four major accounts,” a resume usually reads, “Oversee all office operations, control a $100,000 inventory, and balance the books for four major accounts.” In resume-ese, the “I” is understood, but not stated, in order to give the document a more objective and professional tone.

But often people see these sentences and are compelled to add an “s” to the verbs, placing them in the third person. Hence the sentence “oversees all office operations, maintains a $100,000 inventory, and balances the books for four major accounts” infers the third person, as in “she/he oversees all office operations,” etc.

Adding insult to injury, some writers prepare resumes in both the first and third person, as in the example that came across my desk that began with the objective: “Position which will utilize my experience and provide opportunity for advancement and growth,” clearly in the first person, given the use of the pronoun “my.” The resume continued with a summary of experience that read: “Performs accounts payable activities . . . Reviews and classifies invoices . . . Interacts with vendors,” with verb after verb written in the third person.

One book on how to write resumes includes the following objective: “Seeks responsible position that will utilize my diversified experience,” using both the first and third person, not only in the same resume, but in the same sentence. Ouch!

To write your resume in a strong and objective tone, always write in the first person.

~ Anne Follis, CPRW

1) Your age, date of birth, or anything that might give away your age. Did you graduate from high school in 1967? College in 1972? Or does your e-mail address include the year you were born, as in “sharper1960@email.com”? Leave the dates off of your education and get another e-mail address! Age discrimination is illegal and companies take pains to avoid the appearance discriminating against applicants based on age. While you need to include dates with your jobs, it’s unusual to go back more than ten or fifteen, and at most twenty years. The dates of your education, on the other hand, are optional, and it’s a good rule of thumb to leave them off if you graduated more than ten years ago.

2) Personal information, including your marital status, information about your children, your age, weight, political affiliation, or your hobbies.

3) Information about any disabilities you may have, unless it relates to the position for which you’re applying. For example, if you have a vision impairment and are looking to work with people who are visually impaired, you might want to include that information, if not in the resume, then in the cover letter. Otherwise, leave it off.

4) Religious affiliation, unless you are applying for a position within a religious organization. Sad to say, anti-religious bias is growing by leaps and bounds these days. So unless it’s relevant to the position for which you are applying, you might want to consider leaving it off.

5) Your weaknesses. Yes, I’ve actually seen resumes which included a list of weaknesses, apparently to balance their list of strengths. Don’t go there! Would you sell a new product by highlighting its weaknesses? Focus on what you can do FOR the employer.

6) Anything – and I do mean anything – that is even remotely negative about your previous employer, boss, or co-workers. Would you hire someone who was bad-mouthing the last people they worked for?

7) A photograph (unless you are a model or entertainer). A photograph raises the question of bias based on appearance, race, or ethnicity, and this can make a prospective employer VERY nervous. I have had dozens of executives tell me they don’t even look at resumes that include a photograph. Even if you’re young and gorgeous, leave the photograph off. It is likely to do you more harm than good.

When in doubt, ask yourself: “What does this have to do with my ability to do the job for which I’m applying?” If the answer is “absolutely nothing,” it’s a good bet that it doesn’t belong on your resume.

~ Anne Follis, CPRW

If you haven’t had to send out a resume in some years, you need to know that the rules have changed. A lot. Some things that used to be a must for every resume are today a huge no-no, and some things you wouldn’t have thought of putting on a resume in the past you will do well to include. Below are a few samples.

USE LOTS OF VERBS. “Pioneered comprehensive business start-up operations, with broad responsibility for coordinating targeted sales and marketing processes, recruiting and training multi-level personnel, directing cross-functional teams, managing departmental budgets, and implementing long-term strategic plans” sounds a lot more impressive than “Responsible for business start-up, including sales, marketing, staffing, budgeting, and strategic planning.” Verbs connote action, confidence, and control. Use them!

INCLUDE ACCOMPLISHMENTS. Most employers these days are getting more resumes than they have time to review, and resumes that read like job descriptions – or worse, obituaries – are likely to have a short shelf life. Surely in the course of your work experience you have done some things that were above and beyond the job description; things that demonstrate a strong work ethic, good problem solving skills, or a willingness to go the extra mile. Include a bulleted list under your job description to highlight specific achievements: increased sales, saved money, streamlined processes, retained a key client who was thinking of defecting to the competition, upgraded systems, or set-up office operations. And be specific. Don’t just say “increased sales.” Say “Penetrated a new market with an aggressive cold calling campaign, generating 12 new industrial accounts and increasing sales by 40% within just six months.” As long as you’re not exaggerating, it’s okay to brag a little. Remember, if you don’t tell an employer what you have to offer, no one else will.

LEAVE OUT PERSONAL INFORMATION. Whether you’re married or single, how many children you have, or your date of birth has absolutely no place on a resume. Today employers are compelled to comply with anti-discrimination laws relating to a number of factors, including marital status and age. When you tip your hand on these issues, many employers will respond by simply dismissing your resume altogether rather than risk being accused of discrimination. In addition, in today’s world it’s generally viewed as unprofessional and completely outdated to include information of this nature on your resume. In short, it screams “Dinosaur!” Leave it off.

CHECK & RE-CHECK. Nearly all of the rules about resume writing have an exception except this one: a resume should have no grammatical or spelling errors. Make sure to read and re-read everything several times, use spell check, and have someone else review the finished document, as well, because it’s difficult to accurately proofread your own work. If you fear your grammar or spelling might not be up to snuff, ask for help from a trusted friend or do your own research. But whatever you do, proofread carefully!

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER TELL A LIE. You are under no obligation to tell an employer everything, nor does anyone want to read your entire history. But a lie will come back to haunt you, guaranteed.

~ Anne Follis, CPRW