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> As someone who reads more resumes than he writes, I support the two page
> limit unconditionally. If you can't condense and focus your information down
> to two pages, don't bother writing to me. What everyone forgets is that a
> resume is not meant to give a full history of your educational and working
> life, it's an ad to get an interview. A CV as I understand it is more
> something to impress people at a talk you're giving or an article you've
> written. Usually when it's meant to be a resume, calling it a CV is high
> falutin' purple prose.
Agreed. I am in a hiring position as well.
The ONLY time I've looked at a lengthy resume is if nearly all the
content was directly pertinent to what I was looking for. Most of the
time I skim for what I need and throw the rest back to HR for future
reference. My average time with a resume is about 30 seconds, to be
brutally honest. If it doesn't jump out and scream at me "I'm the
person you want to hire" it gets thrown back into the pool.
I can't stress this enough - your resume should NOT be a dumping
ground for your professional history. Like Bruce indicated, it's
merely a means of soliciting a prospective employer for an interview
(yes, an "ad"). So long dumps of experience are not necessary, and I
recommend custom tailoring each resume you send to fit the needs of
the company you are applying to as best you can. Don't lie, but don't
give me unrelated info as well.
For example, for a senior position, I don't need to know that you ran
a bakery for 4 years in the 80's, or made dean's list in college. I
don't care that you had extensive Interleaf experience if I advertised
FrameMaker experience. I certainly don't want to know how many kids
you have or what your favorite hobby is. I'm looking for someone who
fits a profile. If I don't see it almost immediately in the resume, I
drop it in the "no" pile and move to the next.
Resume writing is no different than tech writing. You have an
audience, you know the audience's needs, and you have all the info you
need to cater to them. If ther resume doesn't hit the mark, my opinion
is that neither will your work.
Sorry for the bitter ray of sunshine, but I doubt I'm alone here.
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