Common Sense and Resumes

(Reprinted from my article posted on LinkedIn)

While I appreciate candidates who go to great lengths to sell their skills and abilities through their resume, I do not appreciate (or understand) those which are twenty-plus pages long! Recently, I received a resume from an individual with five years of work experience, all at one job (which is terrific). The job description was fourteen pages long! The candidate's skills summary was about five pages in length. The rest of the resume was a mixture of primarily useless information.

The simple rule I have followed for a very long time is that your resume is your personal marketing brochure. Prepare a document that, if the tables were turned and you were the hiring manager, would be interesting and informative enough to lead to an interview. Not everyone is good at condensing a resume but common sense must prevail. Why would anyone bother to call you in if everything you have done is written in such great detail? Most likely, if the recipient stays awake long enough to read the whole document, something that you included will turn them off.

Finally, find someone to review your resume with (perhaps two or three people) and listen carefully to any suggestions offered to you. An unwieldy, hard to follow resume will not enhance your job search. Present the best possible product and interview invitations should follow!