Candidate Tips: Resume Length

Question: How long should a resume be – one, two or three pages?  

Jim’s View:

Don’t worry about it.  I’ve never had a hiring manager or a human resource manager call me saying “Why did you send me this candidate? This person has a two (or three) page resume!

The short answer is that it depends on the length of your experience.  It needs to be long enough that the hiring manager can see the necessary skills they are seeking for the position.  The biggest mistake a person can make is to cut their resume short to keep it to one page (or possibly two pages) and in the process omit important information that the hiring manager is looking for on the resume.  

The resume has one purpose… to get you an interview.  If the hiring manager doesn’t see the skills he/she is looking for, you’ll never get the interview. 

The consumer products industry is analytically-based and many of the positions are detail-oriented.  Therefore, some of that detail needs to be on the resume… they’re hoping they see enough detail to make their decision easy, motivating them to say “I need to talk with this candidate.”