• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

Resume question

Ant

Ant

Pink Freud
Joined
Oct 6, 2007
Location
Rural urban metropolis by the wayside
Moto(s)
BMW S1000XR
Been at my new job for a few months and just updated my resume (I always do this)

Anyhoo, now I'm at two pages long, Actually more like a page and a third, no way I can squish it all on one page without dropping some job experiences which I really don't want to do.

2 pages is acceptable innit? In the past I always thought 2 was ok when interviewing people but when I got 3 + pages resumes from candidates I would think overdone and they went to my thumbs down pile. But that's just me.

What say you?
 
Just one page. Keep it simple.

BAncR9C.jpg
 
Ant said:
Been at my new job for a few months and just updated my resume (I always do this)

Anyhoo, now I'm at two pages long, Actually more like a page and a third, no way I can squish it all on one page without dropping some job experiences which I really don't want to do.

2 pages is acceptable innit? In the past I always thought 2 was ok when interviewing people but when I got 3 + pages resumes from candidates I would think overdone and they went to my thumbs down pile. But that's just me.

What say you?
Click to expand...

As a dude with a lot of experience and gigs, including freelance / contract stuff, and as someone who does a lot of hiring, I think two pages is fine. It's the content that matters.

That means two key things and probably more that I'm spacing on right now because I'm beat:
1. If your resume lacks flow, direction, etc, it doesn't matter how many pages it is—it gets trashed, unless there's something really compelling about your experience. And that might be missed if the flow or formatting or whatever sucks.
2. It's not the position titles that matter, it's the things you did at your previous gigs. I'm looking for another director right now, and I keep seeing these resumes with no real details—which makes me assume these chuckleheads have no success stories to share with me, which means their rezooms get chucked.

It takes a bit of space to tell these stories. I always recommend folks really hone every component of their resumes, and these pieces are no different. Really work to make this stuff concise and valuable and compelling.

Anyway, that's not really directed at you per se, just musing. Time for more coffee.

And by the way, the resume that Byke did for you is kickass.
 
Surj said:
As a dude with a lot of experience and gigs, including freelance / contract stuff, and as someone who does a lot of hiring, I think two pages is fine. It's the content that matters.

That means two key things and probably more that I'm spacing on right now because I'm beat:
1. If your resume lacks flow, direction, etc, it doesn't matter how many pages it is—it gets trashed, unless there's something really compelling about your experience. And that might be missed if the flow or formatting or whatever sucks.
2. It's not the position titles that matter, it's the things you did at your previous gigs. I'm looking for another director right now, and I keep seeing these resumes with no real details—which makes me assume these chuckleheads have no success stories to share with me, which means their rezooms get chucked.

It takes a bit of space to tell these stories. I always recommend folks really hone every component of their resumes, and these pieces are no different. Really work to make this stuff concise and valuable and compelling.

Anyway, that's not really directed at you per se, just musing. Time for more coffee.

And by the way, the resume that Byke did for you is kickass.
Click to expand...

Thanks :thumbup

I did print it and it's on the wall!
 
I have two sisters in human resources. One for the federal gov (not US), the other places people on projects overseas in ME, Africa & 3rd world country engineering projects. They see a lot of experienced people and both say 2 page resume is all that's needed.
 
Employers won't say anything shitty about you, from fear of lawsuits. I blow smoke up their ass. And chickens and sheep can't talk, so we are OK there, too.

I have mine whittled down to one page, and for 35 years in the trade, I had to leave a lot of jobs off. Most companies won't take the time to lay out dates that you worked for them, so I make sure that there are no gaps in employment.

My buddy just went to work for Pepsico in AZ, and they did a serious background on him. He blew a lot of smoke up their asses, bluffed a high school diploma, because he didn't have one (I sent him a picture of mine so he could get the dates amd wignatures correct, and changed the name to a defunct continuation school that used to be in Monterey), and some lady was real suspicious of it, but he said she couldn't prove it. Now he works there.
 
corndog67 said:
Employers won't say anything shitty about you, from fear of lawsuits. I blow smoke up their ass. And chickens and sheep can't talk, so we are OK there, too.

I have mine whittled down to one page, and for 35 years in the trade, I had to leave a lot of jobs off. Most companies won't take the time to lay out dates that you worked for them, so I make sure that there are no gaps in employment.

My buddy just went to work for Pepsico in AZ, and they did a serious background on him. He blew a lot of smoke up their asses, bluffed a high school diploma, because he didn't have one (I sent him a picture of mine so he could get the dates amd wignatures correct, and changed the name to a defunct continuation school that used to be in Monterey), and some lady was real suspicious of it, but he said she couldn't prove it. Now he works there.
Click to expand...

Was he good at math?
 
Ant said:
Been at my new job for a few months and just updated my resume (I always do this)

Anyhoo, now I'm at two pages long, Actually more like a page and a third, no way I can squish it all on one page without dropping some job experiences which I really don't want to do.

2 pages is acceptable innit? In the past I always thought 2 was ok when interviewing people but when I got 3 + pages resumes from candidates I would think overdone and they went to my thumbs down pile. But that's just me.

What say you?
Click to expand...

Surj has some good points.

I'll add that length really depends on the type of position. For a lead technical type, I do like to see jobs and activities going back a bit more.

I like to know not only current skillsets, but what they've done in the past as it gives some insight into what they might have deep down in their bag of tricks.
 
Surj said:
As a dude with a lot of experience and gigs, including freelance / contract stuff, and as someone who does a lot of hiring, I think two pages is fine. It's the content that matters.

That means two key things and probably more that I'm spacing on right now because I'm beat:
1. If your resume lacks flow, direction, etc, it doesn't matter how many pages it is—it gets trashed, unless there's something really compelling about your experience. And that might be missed if the flow or formatting or whatever sucks.
2. It's not the position titles that matter, it's the things you did at your previous gigs. I'm looking for another director right now, and I keep seeing these resumes with no real details—which makes me assume these chuckleheads have no success stories to share with me, which means their rezooms get chucked.

It takes a bit of space to tell these stories. I always recommend folks really hone every component of their resumes, and these pieces are no different. Really work to make this stuff concise and valuable and compelling.

Anyway, that's not really directed at you per se, just musing. Time for more coffee.

And by the way, the resume that Byke did for you is kickass.
Click to expand...

Depends on what you do workwise. I can write a resume with my foot, and if I can make parts for them and make them money, I've got the job. If I have the prettiest, handwriting, the best computer resume building skills, and the most flowing resume out there, there isn't any bluffing when they put you out there, either you can do it or you can't.

Hell, they don't care if I smell bad (I worked with a guy that didn't take showers, ever).
 
Two pages is dangerous territory. I appreciate applicants that keep it to one page and please do not send a freaking cover letter because I am not going to read that noise. I don't think I have seen a single resume that justified being 2 pages or more.

I am not saying I would not interview some with a two page interview but it is much more likely to hit the pass pile.

Besides, remember, resumes are largely B.S. anyway, so keep it short and sweet.
 
corndog67 said:
Hell, they don't care if I smell bad (I worked with a guy that didn't take showers, ever).
Click to expand...

I dated a girl that would never take a shower. She would insist on a bath everytime and deal the annoying amount of time that always took. She was definitely prissy but she had skills that make up for it.
 
Surj said:
As a dude with a lot of experience and gigs, including freelance / contract stuff, and as someone who does a lot of hiring, I think two pages is fine. It's the content that matters.

That means two key things and probably more that I'm spacing on right now because I'm beat:
1. If your resume lacks flow, direction, etc, it doesn't matter how many pages it is—it gets trashed, unless there's something really compelling about your experience. And that might be missed if the flow or formatting or whatever sucks.
2. It's not the position titles that matter, it's the things you did at your previous gigs. I'm looking for another director right now, and I keep seeing these resumes with no real details—which makes me assume these chuckleheads have no success stories to share with me, which means their rezooms get chucked.

It takes a bit of space to tell these stories. I always recommend folks really hone every component of their resumes, and these pieces are no different. Really work to make this stuff concise and valuable and compelling.

Anyway, that's not really directed at you per se, just musing. Time for more coffee.

And by the way, the resume that Byke did for you is kickass.
Click to expand...

Surj is spot on. For me, I like one page of teasers that should spark a conversation.
 
ZCrow said:
Two pages is dangerous territory. I appreciate applicants that keep it to one page and please do not send a freaking cover letter because I am not going to read that noise. I don't think I have seen a single resume that justified being 2 pages or more.

I am not saying I would not interview some with a two page interview but it is much more likely to hit the pass pile.

Besides, remember, resumes are largely B.S. anyway, so keep it short and sweet.
Click to expand...

I don't have 2 completely filled out pages, more like a page and a 1/3. I contemplated leaving some stuff off but it's pretty simple and an easy read using bullet points instead of a longass paragraph under each job. I did what Surj said and made it flow with direction so when reading it's a piece of cake. And no cover letter!
 
I've never had much to do with hiring but the few time I did I always hired or recomended people I knew or had to take whoever the union sent.
So I never really had to look ar resumes. I'd give them a trial period and let them go if I didn't see potential.
 
To me, what matters most is not the number of pages, but the amount of shit you write under each job. Don't be one of those guys who writes 10+ lines of stuff under each job. it will get ignored and/or tossed. Keep it concise. Each job should be only like 3 lines describing the job, followed by 3-4 bullet points describing your accomplishments at that job.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top