Headhunter Diaries ~ 1 Page Resume? How Bland.
Remember way back in college when you learned how to write up a resume? Most of the time you were told that it shouldn’t be more than 1 page long and that it should only summarize your work and education, etc.
Not anymore folks.
With the advent of email and the ‘net there is no reason why anyone should be submitting a 1 page resume to a company and especially to a recruiter. When we (our team) receives a 1 page resume from a candidate there’s a good chance it might get tossed into the digital trashcan, unless we know that the candidate is a good candidate or if their resume has some potential to it (based on their experience or referrals).
Obviously if someone is straight out of college there is a good chance that their resume will be pretty sparse, but if someone has been in the workplace for a number of years and has a lot of experience then the resume needs to show it. I love it when I receive a 3-4 page resume from an IT person. Many times those resumes go into details on their job experience, accomplishments, skill sets, etc. It makes my job easier because when I call that person to talk to them I have a nice guide in front of me and then our conversation can go into more detail on accomplishments and highlights of their work experience.
So don’t be afraid to put details on that resume! The more the merrier! I can always edit out excess information when prepping the resume to submit to a client, but I can’t add anything to it because I’m not the candidate! Just make sure it’s true and realistic.
Other things that are critical in a resume -
- Size of company
- Estimated company revenue - an IT Manager for a $3 million dollar company is very different from an IT Manager for a $300 million dollar company
- Reason for leaving - I’m going to ask this question to you anyways, but having it down on the resume helps me out a lot
- Skill set summary - things like AS/400, ERP packages, Operating Systems, etc.
- Education - Don’t put any dates (due to HIPPA and EEOC) but do put down colleges, degrees, etc.
I’ll even work with you on getting your resume up to par. I’m no pro by far, but after looking at a ton of them already I can tell you what looks good, what doesn’t and help offer some suggestions.
I’ll post later on what *not* to put on a resume. You’d be amazed!
