The dreaded two-page resume

[Powderhorn]

This is tangentially related to my post in grousing about the layoffs announced at my paper, but seemed its own topic.

At what point do you allow your resume to expand to two pages? I've been massaging mine to keep it to a single page, but my latest job means going below 9pt for the body copy. Is six years enough professional experience to break out another page? I've ferreted out the irrelevant and minor jobs, so I'm thinking it might be OK to add another page, but it seems a bit pretentious.

Any thoughts?

[Daniel Hunt]

Keep it to one, if you can. I don't remember who told me that, and perhaps I'm a minority voice on this ... however, I don't think employers have the time/energy/attention span to go "beyond the jump." From out of left field: What about making your resume two columns instead of one?

[Gerri Berendzen]

I had always heard one page for every 10 years of job experience. Don't know why; it's been a long time since I took a looking-for-a-job class.

However, as a person who participates in hiring, I can tell you that if someone with only a few years experience sends me a 2-3 page resume, it sort of bugs me.

I often see a lot of stuff on resumes that isn't really specific to the job I'm trying to fill ... like people are only doing one version of their resume and using it for any job to which they apply. In the computer age, it shouldn't be that difficult to tailor both your resume and cover letter for a specific job and company.

I can see where keeping it to one page might be difficult if you've moved a lot in six years, but don't keep making the type smaller. You're not fooling anyone, and you may be sending it to someone whose eyes aren't the great anymore.

[Powderhorn]

I've been looking at how to retool it all evening. My plan is to come up with some iconic description of how I've nominally done the same job over time. This is fraught with difficulties, though.

[Gerri Berendzen]

How much of that is just a repeat from job to job? I'd keep the detailed description for your most recent job. (I always look there first; then for job gaps.)
Then don't be very specific at all for the work that was 3 or 4 jobs ago. Just use a few words that tell the story simply.

[Deadline Dame]

I graduted from college in 2000 as a "non-traditional" (aka OLD) student. Professors in various writing classes said the notion of a one-page resume was outdated, that two pages were fine. It's eight years later and maybe things changed again?

Of course, it depends on your experience. A new college graduate can easily do a one-page resume, while someone with 15 years of experience might need two pages.It also depends on the job itself.

In either case its always best to be short and sweet in describing experience. My resume has always been two pages.

[Phillip Blanchard]

Back when I reviewed résumés, I rarely had the patience to read on to a second page. My own résumé, which accounts for 35 years, is a single page.

[maggie leung]

I figure newspaper resumes should be one page, no matter how long the career.

[Jim Thomsen]

One page.

[john.mcintyre]

I've never paid any attention to whether a resume ran to one page or two. I want information about the applicant, so I don't mind if there's more. So long as it amounts to something. Leave off the high school honors, for example, or the itemized 200-word book reviews.

Offer to send clips separately, on request. (I don't interview reporters, thank God, but if I did, I'd be skeptical about clips, not knowing exactly whose work they were.)

[Jim Thomsen]

Good advice I was given some 20 years ago: Treat your resume as if it's a story you've written. Writers, of course, are not the best editors of their own work; that's why we have jobs as copy editors. So, once you've taken your own best whack at winnowing down your resume, hand it over to a trusted colleague whom you trust to be brutal with you — for your own benefit.

Some typical examples of "resume bloat" I've seen over the years:

— Listing of individual awards. At some point, third place in a state association's contest for headline writing in, say, 2000, loses its value. If you've got a lot of awards, find some way to summarize them. (Example: "Since 2000, I've won 14 Oregon Press Association awards for headline writing and page design" ... something like that.)

— Listing ever single duty performed in a job. Here, it's helpful to anticipate what a hiring manager likely wants to hear — whether or not you've got experience in design, or Web posting, or slotting. If so, say so in as few words as possible. The best way to beat resume bloat is to remember that you should save something for a follow-up conversation or an interview.

— Listing of objective(s). The objective is usually self-evident: You want a job.

— Listing every single journalism job you've had. In my case, I've had several, going back to the mid-1980s. What I do is list the four most recent jobs, then add a line saying: "Also worked for the Backwater Bugle, Redneck Gap, Saskatchewan (reporter and assistant editor, 1994-96); the Cheese Point Courier, Cheese Point, Wisc. (reporter, 1993-94)" and so on. At some point, older jobs lose all relevance apart from the fact that they add to your years of journalism experience.

Anybody else know of examples of resume bloat?

[LisaMc]

I once received a resume that was five pages in about 14-point type, with no consistency of formatting and each individual job detailed back to when the guy was a shop clerk in 1965. That's WAY too much.
I'm inclined to say stick with one page -- for a copy editing job. Desk chiefs are busy enough; they don't need to wade through pages of irrelevant detail. The test will show much more than a resume can, anyway. However, a management job may require more detailed explanations, and if that takes the resume to two pages, so be it.
I've always thought "Objective" was about the dumbest category for a resume. Like Jim said, "I want a job." Duh.

[editer]

I've put "objective", with a specific job mentioned, on some of my resumes; it helps alert whoever gets it that I have a specific goal in mind. If the resume gets passed around the newsroom (or, shudder, HR), whoever ends up with it may not otherwise be able to tell what job I'm looking for.

[Gerri Berendzen]

Yeah, but if you're applying based on a specific job post, I don't see why you need it. Your objective, realistically, is to be interviewed for that job.
Nothing turns me off more than to get resume/cover letters mentioning a specific copy editing job I've posted, then to see that the "objective" on the resume really has more to do with reporting. Really, it's not that difficult these days to customize you resume and cover letter.

[maggie leung]

Agreed. When I advertise a job and say all you'd do is copy edit, I don't want someone sending me a cover letter, resume and clips going on and on about his design work or ability to report, copy edit and design. When I see those, I think: I like for copy editing candidates to know how to read, for starters.

[Powderhorn]

Lots of great, useful advice here. I ended up grouping "common responsibilities" in a rail next to my experience, freeing up the five or six iterations of "edit local and wire copy," etc. For now, I'm leaving everything in (three dailies and my current paper) — but as specific jobs some up to apply for, I'll definitely cut out irrelevant experience as necessary. Thank you all for your thoughts.

[maggie leung]

Hey, you didn't use legal-size paper, did you? Just kidding.

[Powderhorn]

Of course not. It's been tabloid the whole time, and going down to legal would mean even more pain.

[dfisher]

"Objectives" on a resume are for those who want to be in pharmaceutical sales, etc.

As noted on this thread earlier, your resume (one page) is your story, just in a more skeletonized form.

Instead of an objectives line, start it off with a "summary" -- your nut graf.

This also is more important these days when resumes are being scanned into databases that look for keywords. The summary is a great place to work some of those in. (In new-media speak, this is your "metadata." Actually, that's not a bad way to think of it, since we're all likely to be dealing with metadata in various forms at some point; it's one of the keys to the semantic Web.)

Anyhow, here's the summary line from my resume:
COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSIONAL with extensive experience across media and as a manager and editor in a major international news organization. Results-oriented team leader, coach and communicator who meets customer needs and deadlines and quickly responds to changing situations.

Anyone want to hire me? (just kidding ...)
Fish

[Jim Thomsen]

I always wonder about "results-oriented" ... does anybody cop to being "process-oriented"?

[dfisher]

Remember, this is more of a management-oriented resume. That means it's going through the HR churn, most likely, and that means keywords. So results-oriented is there for a reason. Results-oriented means something in the world of suits. (And yes, indeed, I have seen resumes for certain positions say "process-oriented" because process was exactly what those positions were about, just as I have seen service-oriented and customer-oriented, all of which we should be anyhow.)

Welcome to the brave new (and sucky) world of scanned resumes.

If I were applying for a copy or line-editing job or a reporting job, trust me, that would change as would several other things.

[maggie leung]

I'd advise against applying to HR for newsroom jobs. Find out who in the newsroom hires for the job you want and apply directly. You want a human being who knows news to look at your resume asap. At midsize (200k+) and large papers I've worked at, HR is shorthand for "Please lose or bury my resume."

[csmount]

There are lots of good suggestions and good things to consider here (Doug's keywords, for example).

But bottom line for me as a hiring editor is this: If you're looking for a copy editor position, you sure as shootin' ought to be able to get your resume down to one page. (As someone suggested, don't be afraid to have a trusted colleagues look it over; everyone needs an editor....)

[dfisher]

I'd advise against applying to HR for newsroom jobs. Find out who in the newsroom hires for the job you want and apply directly. You want a human being who knows news to look at your resume asap. At midsize (200k+) and large papers I've worked at, HR is shorthand for "Please lose or bury my resume."

I don't disagree at all -- and the first thing I'd do is network and find out who the direct hiring editor is and try to contact that person directly. Always have and always will.

Having said that, go and review the recent job postings on the ACES board. A significant and increasing number are requiring you to go through an HR person or, worse, fill out one of the dreaded online forms and attach (or key in) a resume.

In some of those cases, you will find that the hiring editors are being told by corporate that they are not to take calls or other communication directly.

And if you are going for any job above a certain level in most chain-owned operations these days, I guarantee HR will be involved, most certainly at the local level and, in many cases, at the chain level. Get used to dealing with it, and get smart about dealing with it. That means having a resume tailored for those situations where there is no alternative route.

[maggie leung]

Interesting. I've worked at eight chain papers and have never applied through HR. I've been a rimmer, a slot and a copy chief, and am now an AME. I'm not much of a networker. If I don't know who the hiring editor is, I check online and call to confirm name and spelling with a live person in the newsroom. If I want to work somewhere, I apply cold instead of waiting for an ad to appear.

[Jim Thomsen]

Maggie's experience is mine as well. In the handful of cases when I've sent in a resume in response to a posted newspaper job that steered me to an HR gatekeeper, I've always tracked down the copy desk chief and made a human connection. They always say: "Oh, don't worry about HR. I'll take care of it." And they do, and that's that.

Of course, I'm not usually looking for a manager's job.