What About a Two-Page Resume?

As more resumes are increasingly delivered in an electronic format, the conventional wisdom is changing regarding resume length. The two-page resume used to be the standard for many industries, with several human resources experts advising that one-page resumes were even better. As hard-copy resumes begin to disappear, however, issues of the length of a resume became far less important, with keyword usage and the quality of writing becoming increasingly important.

Until extremely recently, common advice regarding resumes was to keep them to a maximum of two pages, with one page being even better. The thinking was that anything longer than two pages indicated too much irrelevant information. Because human resources departments and hiring managers looked over resumes personally, a job seeker didn't want to run the risk of losing their interest with a long document and therefore trimmed her job experience and qualifications to fit on a two-page resume.

However, as of 2015, a human being rarely is the first to "see" a resume, especially in larger companies. Instead, resumes are delivered electronically and are scanned by computer software that looks for the specific keywords that the human resources department deems most relevant to the position. Since all preliminary resume screening is done electronically, the length of the resume is no longer particularly relevant to the company's response. Instead, the computer looks for the right keywords regardless of the length of the resume.

Computers now weed out the resumes of applicants who aren't qualified or who are otherwise inappropriate matches for a job. This means that by the time a resume makes it into the warm hands of a real human being, that manager knows she's reading the resume of someone who is a real candidate for the job, someone who should be taken seriously. As a result, she's less likely to skim, something that happened frequently in the past when human resources departments had to weed through stacks of resumes in person.

Because the hiring manager now has the time to take resumes more seriously, it's far less important to hit the goal of the two-page resume than in the past. A hiring manager or potential boss may only read a handful of resumes, so she's likely to read carefully, appreciating a longer resume that's well-written and provides a full picture of the applicant over an artificially truncated two-page resume.

The trick now is to balance your resume, realizing that it may be read by a computer and a human being. Include all the keywords that are relevant to the position to get your resume before a human, but organize and write it exceptionally well to impress the hiring manager.

As businesses transition away from the old-school, two-page resume, you should plan to do the same. Since some companies may still be concerned by resume length, tailor each resume you submit to the specific position you're applying for, but make sure to add the appropriate keywords. Versatility in your resumes is likely to pay off as your hard work comes to hiring managers' attention.

Photo courtesy of Hui-Ying Ke at Flickr.com