I tend to see this a lot on the internet - unless you have 20 years of experience (or around that), your resume should fit in one page. Why is presenting one's experience and abilities in a better and more relaxed format considered a bad practice? On a tangent, have you ever had an experience where a multi-page resume worked better?
Ask HN: Why are resumes longer than one page frowned upon?
1–10 of 17 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why are resumes longer than one page frowned upon?
#2Readability perhaps :) If one is reviewing it (along with N others), they want to get the point asap. If they have questions or are intrigued, they'll ask in the following stage.
Re: Ask HN: Why are resumes longer than one page frowned upon?
#3Recruiters skim through resumes rather than read them. Hence, making important contributions on the first page itself becomes important.
Re: Ask HN: Why are resumes longer than one page frowned upon?
#4It depends. Depends on the years of experience - obviously 10-20 years of experience, especially in different companies, would not fit on 1 page. Depends on the position level you are applying to - higher level position requires better justification of previous positions held. Depends also on the reviewers, some use specialiced HR software, others are rather old school.
Personal experience: I have around 13 years of experience in 6 different companies. This along with the usual stuff like education, languages and skills fit fine on 3 pages. Had to change the job due to personal reasons last April. Got an interview on the first application. Now am working there. Company is rather conservative I would say.
Re: Ask HN: Why are resumes longer than one page frowned upon?
#5I can tell you that when interviewing many years ago the 30-page full-colour with photos CV did not go down well.
I don't think there is anything wrong with 2 or 3 pages of CV for a (UK) tech job application, but getting it all on 1 (or 2) shows ability to summarise and get key points across efficiently. And the intervire team may have many CVs to read.
And if you used to be CEO at a famous multinational, or run a country, you don't need more than one page.
Re: Ask HN: Why are resumes longer than one page frowned upon?
#6Probably: (opinion only)
∙ TLDR
∙ One page is enough for keywords, which is all that software scans for.
∙ Recruiters don't have multi-page scanners. Just iPhones.
∙ If you have 20 years experience, (more than can fit on one page) you're too old to work in Silicon Valley.
I put "synopsis" at the top of my resume, and was asked how long I worked at Synopsis. I didn't.
Re: Ask HN: Why are resumes longer than one page frowned upon?
#7I’ve never had a one page resume except perhaps seeking my first job.
Once you add experience and education how can it be less than two pages?
No one has ever commented that mine was too long.. it’s currently 4 pages with 20 yrs of experience. I doubt it will get longer I’ll just cut older job details down to add new jobs.
Re: Ask HN: Why are resumes longer than one page frowned upon?
#8I've never had this experience, and I've always adhered to a two page resume. One page simply isn't long enough to fit your skills, education, and experience.
Re: Ask HN: Why are resumes longer than one page frowned upon?
#9They are not.
That "one page" rule of thumb has to do with how easy it is for the time-constrained reader to find relevant information in the document, not with cramming everything into a single page.
It is perfectly fine to detail your apprenticeship at X and your 3 years of experience in Y in further pages as long as those are mentioned on the first page.
If some critical info can _only_ be found on page 2 or 3, then it doesn't exist.
Re: Ask HN: Why are resumes longer than one page frowned upon?
#10As an interviewer in a big tech company, I don't have time to analyze 2 pages of resume. There are hundreds of candidates. It probably won't matter that much to the company who is hired. Interviewers just want to get the interviews over with.
However, if I'm hiring for my own small startup, I would carefully comb over every detail of the resume because hiring the wrong person could mean the death of my company.