What is the Perfect Size for a Resume?

by Staff

Are you creating or updating your resume and don’t know the ideal size? Are you wondering how many pages should a resume be? We will help you understand how to prepare a document of the right size, without errors, and one that will please recruiters.

Should the ideal resume have one page?

The inadequate size of a resume is still one of the most common problems that recruiters identify in the selection processes, making it difficult for some candidates to find a place in the job market.

The old adage that the resume should only contain one page is not always valid and, in many cases, can undermine the chances of getting the much-desired job. The biggest difficulty in developing a resume is often the balance between objectivity and the right level of detail.

Worrying about keeping your professional profile on just one page can prevent you from correctly detailing your professional experiences, and thus, the recruiter may have difficulty understanding your professional trajectory. If that happens, you’re in trouble!

Another problem that can happen to those with the fixed idea of ​​having a resume with only one page is poor organization and structure.

Research carried out on the behavior of recruiters shows that these professionals search, in approximately 6 seconds, (mainly among the last two professional experiences, such as company, position, and entry and exit dates and academic formations) for words that match the profile of the professional they wish to hire. Therefore, the ease of reading offered by a clean structure with a professional and organized design makes all the difference!

So, what is the ideal size for a resume?

When developing a resume, never exceed 2 pages. This is because if the resume exceeds 2 pages, it will affect the recruiter’s reading and understanding time. As stated earlier, a recruiter spends, on average, 6 seconds to scan a resume with their eyes.

You are advised to keep this rule to a maximum of 2 pages, even if you are a senior manager or have a higher position with extensive leadership experience and working on multiple projects. After all, the most important thing for the recruiter is to understand how you contributed to your previous professional experiences, that is, in your last 5 or 10 years of work.

In these cases, your oldest professional career may be irrelevant at this early stage of the selection process. Not to mention what is expected of a professional with this experience, the ability to summarize his profile, clearly listing only the most relevant points and the most expressive results achieved.

Different sizes for a resume

There are a few remarks about the size of your document. See when to use only 1 page and how much to create 2 pages to promote your resume.

Use a 1-page resume only when

  • You have less than 10 years of experience and have worked in less than 3 roles throughout your career.
  • You are making a sudden career change and your experience is irrelevant to the desired position.

Use a 2-page resume when

  • You have more than 10 years of experience and have held 3 or more positions.
  • You have less than 10 years of experience but have held more than 5 different positions.
  • You are looking for coordination or management positions, as you will need to describe, in addition to your responsibilities in the position, the results that your contribution has generated for the company.

Never use a CV with more than 2 pages unless

  • The recruiter has explicitly asked you for a resume in this format.
  • Have an interest in making the recruiter difficult to read or want to demonstrate your inability to synthesize information or attachment to parts of your work history that are no longer relevant.

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The New Jersey Digest is a new jersey magazine that has chronicled daily life in the Garden State for over 10 years.

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