Your résumé is your personal advertisement. The purpose of a résumé, therefore, is to sell you, not to describe you. In order to grab a recruiter’s interest and create a positive impression within a few seconds, your résumé should be comprehensive and tidy.
One-page résumés are appropriate for college candidates (entry-level candidates, to be more specific,) and candidates with less than ten years of work experience. Such candidates rarely have substantial accomplishments to justify a résumé of more than a page in length.
More-experienced candidates may use two pages to describe their accomplishments. Even here, one-page résumés are recommended. Recruiters will survey the second page only if the contents of the first page are appealing.
A one-page résumé acknowledges the importance of a recruiter’s time. A two-page résumé is a sign of disregard.
Compact your Résumé
Follow these guidelines to consolidate your résumé content into one page.
- Comprehension is crucial. Recruiters hate wordy résumés. They first glance through the organization of a résumé and quickly skim over particulars in key sections. A strong, comprehensive presentation is consequently appealing.
- Avoid a tell-it-all résumé. Avoid the common mistake of providing too many details. Leave some details for discussion in a potential interview.
- Restrict accomplishments under each position held to two or three bullet points only. Weed out unimportant details. Use phrases if necessary.
- Do not cram. Do not reduce page margins and font-sizes or eliminate white space. Résumés crowded with information are hard to read.
Conclusion
A one-page résumé is usually long enough to present all the essential information concisely and captivatingly. It can easily engage a recruiter and convince him/her that your background merits further consideration.