What’s Best: A One or Two Page Resume?
If you are expecting a definitive answer to this question, you are going to be disappointed, because there really is no definitive answer. It really depends on several different factors. Whether one page or two, the important thing remains that the resume tells a compelling story about you, your skills, and your accomplishments, one that grabs a hiring managerā€™s attention.
One recent study showed that employers actually like two-page resumes and are willing to take the time needed to read them.
Why a two-pager?
If you have a lot of relevant job experience, using two pages enables you to get more into the details of what you have accomplished and use more concrete examples of your achievements. These are the things that recruiters are interested in seeing.
The added space can enable you to get more specific and quantify your accomplishments in more detail. For example, instead of simply saying you managed a budget, you can include figures about the size of the budget and various aspects of it.
If you squeeze your resume into one page, you may miss the chance to include the specifics that might grab the attention of an employer.
If you are someone with many years of experience, trying to cut your work history down to one page could possibly work against you rather than for you. By doing so, you may also end up cutting out certain skills and abilities that could be significant.
Why not to use a two-pager.
But you need to be careful, you should only go to two pages if you legitimately need the space, if you really find that you are leaving out important details and information by having to condense your profile into one page.
The same rules still apply — your resume needs to be concise, with information that is relevant and meaningful to the employer.
Adding an extra page to simply record more irrelevant detail is not going to help your application. Adding an extra page for superfluous information is counterproductive. Don’t add the second page simply because you think you should have one.
Looking for your next executive or management position?
At G.A. Rogers, we care about our job candidates, our results, and our relationships. We take the time to get to know each one of our candidates, enabling us to make better matches with employers. We treat our people with respect, and establish long-term relationships. Give us a call today to see what we can do for you.
