One page résumés need to die?

Stop the presses!

Did that headline just say what I thought it said?
YES.

ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY. And unequivocally.

Unfortunately, this one-pager myth keeps getting perpetuated by well-intentioned yet hopelessly outdated career centers advising people to keep it short and sweet.

But the real problem lies in the fact that in containing a compelling work history to only a single page, many people don’t really get to tell the whole story.

So how many pages should you have?

Two pages for professionals, but three pages are acceptable for CEOs, scientists, educators, or technical people.

What changed?

Understanding the hiring manager / recruiter / headhunter perspective is key.

They are willing to keep reading if you are providing meaningful and meaty content.

Don’t blather on to fill pages. But if you do have a lot of accomplishments, the reader will gladly keep going so they get a better sense of what it is you have to offer.

Recently, I met with Derek Zeller, who is a well-respected recruiter nationally who also is a contributing writer for Recruiting Daily.

I posed the following question to him: “What is one of your biggest pet peeves as a recruiter?”

The first thing he said was that people who only provide one page résumés drive him crazy.

So go ahead. You have permission.

TAKE 2 PAGES.

The more information you provide that is helpful for making the business case for hiring you, the GREATER your odds are of being selected for the next step.

Period.

As always, provide measurable results to demonstrate HOW you made a difference at the company, and therefore moved the needle forward.

Remember, recruiters are parsing your résumé to find out how you made a difference at a company as a basis to gauge what you might be able to do for the job opening.

So take the space, but make sure you curate it carefully.