Your resume needs to be CONCISE. SHORT, To the POINT. EASY TO READ!
That can mean different things to different folks; however, if your resume is 9 pages long, I can pretty fairly state from experience that it’s too long. However, the “resume must be one page” methodology of days gone by is not accurate, either. Thus, this column will try to help you find a “good” length that doesn’t short change your accomplishments, yet keeps the reader interested.
Keep in mind that the key is to keep the reader interested in what you have to offer. So, anything that “gets in the way” of such is NOT going to be of help! While there are no “definite” rules in this, let’s look at a list of “good ideas” based on what the employer may be looking for. Having worked with employers and candidates, I’ve worked with thousands of resumes over the last 20 years. Hopefully, the following will be helpful!
Good Idea #1 – Have your “best specifics” organized at the top/beginning of your resume:
Greg Lachs
1244 East West Street
Tampa, FL 33630
813-555-1212
Jobseachdolphin@gmail.com
Objective
Staffing Sales, Career Services or Recruiting Opportunity.
Professional Summary
Experienced and Innovative Staffing Sales, Career Services and Recruiting Professional with a 10 year record of success.
Professional Highlights:
-Recruiting/Placement for Information Technology, Graphic/Web Design, Marketing, Sales, Engineering, Allied Health, HR, Finance, Administration, Clerical.
-Successful placements in Direct Hire, Contract and Contract to Hire and Internships.
-“Phone Warrior” – regularly and successfully making 100+ outbound sales calls per day.
-Led Gerard-Phillips through a 250% increase in gross billing between 1998 and 2000.
-Achieved placement records in Career Services for IT, Criminal Justice and Massage Therapy grads.
-Organized 3 largest on-campus career fairs in Remington College, Tampa Campus history.
-Developed new business relationships with Cox Target Media. Achieva Credit Union, Eckerd, Hillsboro Printing, FKQ Advertising, Pinch a Penny, Special Data Processing, among others.
-Business Development through Inside Sales Calls and Networking.
-Professional and Effective Sales Techniques: Sandler Sales Institute Graduate, 1998.
-Successful “Cold call” recruiting into businesses to build pool of Engineering Candidates.
-Strong internet research skills including search engines and cross referencing of professional organizations.
-Well versed in MS Office and ACT software.
-Dedicated and proven methods through Career Assistance to provide STRONG matches based on upgrading candidate resumes and interview skills.
-Active database of professional contacts going back to 1997/1998.
Software
MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, Lotus Notes, Campus View, MS Publisher, MS Money, ACT
Note how this layout, from my December resume of 2007, makes it EASY for the reader to quickly see my qualifications. Put these highlights at the beginning.
• Recent college grad? Put your info on that EARLY in your resume.
• Have certifications or awards? Put that info EARLY in your resume.
• Want to list your education? Put that info either EARLY or at the END of your resume.
Good Idea #2 – Have your employment history in “reverse chronology.” (Most recent job first) with SHORT, bulleted items highlighting your accomplishments. Here’s what I had in my most recent resume:
Experience
5/06 – 11/30/07 Director of Career Services Remington College Tampa, FL
-Oversaw largest increase in placements for Criminal Justice & Massage Therapy in campus history.
-Inside sales (75-125 outbound calls per day) for student placement opportunities.
-Placement of students and graduates in Technology, Criminal Justice, Business and Allied Health.
-Responsible for placement of grads from all programs (approx 300 per year).
-Development and presentation of upgraded curriculum for Career Development.
-Organized and staged 3 largest on-campus career fairs (10/06, 4/07 and 9/07) in school’s history: 40+ employers per event.
-Created first comprehensive email list of students for distribution of job leads and tips.
-Conducted Workshops on Career Placement Skills: Interviewing, Resume Writing, Cover Letter Writing.
10/05 – 5/06 Staffing Specialist/Recruiter Amtran Services Tampa, FL
-Assisted in creation of start up staffing firm.
-Placement in IT, Graphics, Marketing/Sales.
-Provided ALL Placement services, from recruiting to sales to placement
-Inside sales (75-100 outbound calls per day.)
-Created initial policies, procedures and forms and bill rates for Contract and Direct Hire.
-Recruiting and placement for Contract and Direct Hire positions.
9/04 – 3/06 Career Services Consultant /(Independent Contractor for Career Envisions, Inc.)
-Regularly achieved 90%+ placement rate of eligible students for New Horizons, Tampa.
-Placed IT certification students in internship, full time and contract employment opportunities in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale for New Horizons, South Florida.
-Created and presented original "Career Services" training curriculum for soft skills training:
"Resume Writing," " Cover Letter Writing," "Interview Skills," "Job Search Skills" "Negotiation
Skills" for IT trainees attending New Horizons Computer Learning Centers.
-75-125 daily outbound sales calls for placement opportunities.
-Trained IT trainees in "soft skills" in Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville.
11/02 – 7/04 Recruiter/Inside Sales Staffing Firms Tampa Bay Area
-Recruiting/Placement for Information Technology, Graphic Design, Finance, Engineering, Drafting and Marketing.
-Inside Sales (75-125 outbound calls per day.)
-Achieved highest Billing in local branch history.
-Temporary, Temp to Hire and Direct Hire placements.
-Career counseling: resume writing assistance and interview preparation for applicants.
-Wrote job board advertisements for both Direct Hire and Temporary positions.
2/98 – Present Freelance Career Services Consultant Tampa, FL
-Provide resume writing and career placement assistance for individuals and small groups.
11/97 – 10/02 Kennard Communications of Florida (Company Closed 11/02) Tampa, FL
-(10/01 – 10/02) Assistant Marketing Coordinator
-Researched and developed local and national client base.
-100-125 outbound sales calls daily.
-Sold first annual contract for Engineering Job Board.
-Created and marketed pricing packages for job postings.
-Led company in sales volume for job board postings.
-Conducted resume writing workshops at career fairs and college campuses.
-Concepted engineering internet job board and wrote all website copy to submit to designers/developers.
-Recruited candidates through attendance of regional college job fairs/professional association meetings.
-(11/97 – 10/01) Staffing Manager - Gerard Phillips (staffing division of Kennard - closed 10/01)
-Recruiting/Placement for IT, Administrative, Clerical, Graphic Design, Finance, HR, Engineering,
Drafting and Marketing.
-Inside Sales (75-125 outbound calls per day.)
-Billed $800,000 in gross sales between 1998 and 2000.
-Successfully developed FIRST Pinellas County client base for Graphic Design and Marketing Placement.
-Set bill rates, policies and procedures for internal operations.
-Temporary, Temp to Hire and Direct Hire placements.
-Concepted company’s website and upgrade; wrote copy for site.
5/95 – 11/97 Coordinator, Hotline of Hillsborough
Crisis Center of Hillsborough County Tampa, FL
-Supervised all staff and volunteers for 24 hour, 7 day/week telephone crisis hotline.
-Co-coordinated 5 week training session and developed training materials for new counselors.
-Recruited, Interviewed and hired all staff.
Education
B.A., English The Pennsylvania State University
Notice how this makes it EASY for the reader to quickly what I did where and when.
• Reverse chronology means someone doesn’t have to read YOUR ENTIRE RESUME so see what you have done most recently.
• Bulleted items are MUCH easier to read than paragraphs: it says “this is short, important and worth reading.” Paragraph descriptions are WORDY; thus, a very bad idea.
• Numbers, numbers, numbers! If you have any numbers re: how much you accomplished, or number of people supervised or daily activities or accomplishments, include that. QUANTIFICATION helps showcase your SPECIFIC successes!
Good Idea #3 – Don’t go too far in reverse! Most resumes that wind up being 8 or 9 pages happen for two reasons:
1. People describe work history/experience in paragraphs that are long and hard to read. We’ve covered that one, already.
2. They go back “too far” in reverse.
Unless you are applying for the highest level of Sr. Management, your career history need not go back more than 20 years. That’s it! What you did in 1985 might be interesting (I was a teacher at that time,) but it was 23 years ago. Moreover, what you can do NOW frequently has little to do with what you did 25 years ago in THIS WAY: you aren’t using the same techniques, tools, etc. In IT resumes, for example, I’ve seen people describe their mainframe work in 1967; however, we’re not using those same mainframes these days. Or, they may describe working with an early version of DOS that hasn’t been able to be on use on computers since 1986.
This is not an attempt to say that what you did “way back when” never has bearing.
However, there are 3 things to keep in mind re: your resume:
1. People want to know what you can do NOW: not what you could do during the Nixon Administration.
2. Age discrimination is real. You aren’t being dishonest in cutting the “ancient” from your resume: you are focusing on the relevant. That gives you a better chance to get in for the interview, where “live” you can make that positive impression no matter how much experience you may have! My resume, for example, has no mention of my radio work in the 80s; my last stint as a dj was in 1988. Could I walk into a radio station and offer my services as a dj and be taken seriously? Not based on that!
3. My resume, as yours should, focused on my skills and the experience I have that’s recent and relevant.
Good Idea #4 – Number resume pages, and put your contact information on EVERY page of your resume.
In this “paperless” world, folks print out resumes almost all the time. If they misplace a page from yours, how will they know it’s yours? Well, having page number and your contact information is certainly helpful.
Good Idea #5 – Be ready to cut, edit, delete if need be.
How long should a resume be? Well, no rules are consistent, and keep changing.
However, if your resume is 6, 7 or 8 pages long, in most cases, that’s just TOO long. Most professional resumes should be NO LONGER than 3 pages. An employer WILL read a 3 page resume if it’s organized as we’ve discussed, but not necessarily a 6 page verision.
It’s a Bad Idea to think you need to include “everything.” That’s how resumes get to be overlong. And it’s a time you may need to show your effort to a friend, colleague or a professional resume writer to get yours to a reasonable length.
Good Rule of Thumb: For each job description, have no more than 6-8 bulleted items and keep each item NO LONGER than 2-3 lines. Such can save you space!
The key issue in resume length is NOT what you want to tell an employer; it’s what you can get that person to read. Hope that these tips will help you get your resume to a “reader friendly” length.
And that you can find more help in your job search at Greg Lachs’ Job Search Dolphin blog!
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