Ask HN: Why are resumes longer than one page frowned upon? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why are resumes longer than one page frowned upon?

9 pointssnprajwal15 comments

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?

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Think of it in the context of why you send out a resume in the first place. Contrary to how it might seem, it is not to get you a job - nobody is going to read every word and get all excited about every detail and then bump you to the top of their list.

Instead, it is about getting you an interview. You want them to be able to skim the resume, see some good chunks of potential in it, and want to know more. That way, they will call you.

A long resume is going to have too much detail to make those highlights stand out. Your content will fight with itself to get the reader's attention. It is going to make someone sorting through a (sometimes literal) pile of resumes just think, "I don't have the energy for this" and throw your resume out.

Think of it for what it is - marketing. Get someone's attention, show them you can solve their problems, and make them think: "I should call this person."

Good point.

Then perhaps 2 CVs? 1 one-pager for advertising and getting the interview, and 1 multi-page, detailed, for the interview?

(Asking for a friend, with ~20yoe :)

No one will read a multi-page CV for an interview. It will be a conversation and some set of questions from both sides.

It 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.

I'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.

They 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.

Readability 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.

I 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.

As 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.

I get hundreds to thousands of CVs for an opening. I spend 5-10s on each one. That's why. Your resume should basically tell me that I should talk more to you and why.. doing it on one page or two pages max is how you optimize for it. I cannot spend more than 5-10s on each one or I would never finish

I’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.

It's also worth noting that the "one-page-rule" does not apply everywhere. In academia, for example, longer resumes are very common.

Recruiters skim through resumes rather than read them. Hence, making important contributions on the first page itself becomes important.

Probably: (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.

Plenty of people with 20+ years of experience work in Silicon Valley.

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