Shorten Your Resume - I Promise You Need To

Recently I came across the resume of a gent who is over business development for the  US in one of the biggest oilfield service companies in the world (that's over 50k employees, 20 billion dollar company, you get the idea). Dude had been in progressive roles within the industry for the last THIRTY FIVE YEARS, most of which was in sales, but he got his start out of college as an engineer. He holds active memberships in two industry associations and he's got a degree in Petroleum Engineering. In short, he is/was exactly what I needed for the role I was trying to fill. 

WHY AM I TELLING YOU ALL THIS??????

Because I got ALL this info in ONE PAGE. ONE PAGE?!?! No, not front and back. One page!!

 I was astounded. Even with all I (think) I know about hiring, I figured someone with this kind of background would surely need at least two good pages to get enough out there to really spark my interest. 

That got me thinking, are all our resumes too long?? Are we saying too much?? I have decided the answer is YES. We need to be the IKEA of resume-making---build it as simply as possible and flat-pack it with a cool Swedish name. Something like that.

So before you start spring cleaning your house with every organizational tip you see on Pinterest, do a little shop-sweeping on your resume. Even if you're not on the job market right now, it's always a good idea to keep it up to snuff. It'll make it easier to apply for jobs once you do finally get fed up with having to keep inventory on how many paperclips you get from the supply closet........

Office Space

Here are a few easy ways to fit all your awesome-ness on one page. If a senior executive of a $20B company can do it, so can you!

1. Make your header one line. All it needs to have is your name, ONE (primary) phone number, email, and the city/state you live in (no, not your whole address. No one is going to snail mail you anything.) If your name/info take up lots of letters, shrink the font. Like this:

2. Limit your bullet points.  Every time my friends call me for help with their resumes this is the FIRST thing I axe from their novels. They ALWAYS flip out and think that losing the bullet point about how they "use excellent time management to ensure all tasks are completed effectively" is going to cost them the interview. Leaving it in there will most likely make the person reviewing it barf, and so therefore I believe taking it (and the others similar to it) out will better your chances.

I suggest using one (or two if you MUST) sentences, not bullets, to tell WHAT YOU DO, and then up to four bullet points for significant accomplishments on the job. For me that looks something like this:

Y'all I KNOW this is hard. I do. I myself wanted to put like 17 bullet points just under my current job because we all feel like we do SO MUCH, and that three measly little points won't do us justice. Remember though, this resume is just a first date. The person looking at it will skim it in less than 30 seconds and decide whether to push it through or not. Now is not the time to showcase everything. You can do that in the first interview. 

3. Take at least one line out of whatever you have in your past positions. Your past life really does NOT matter that much. I promise, my recruiter eyes spend the majority of the 30 seconds I give you on what you're doing now, and if the rest of the stuff I see (skim) is relevant, that's enough for me. Stick to the same format with one sentence about what you did, and list two, maybe three, accomplishments.

4. Leave the BS out of your "education."  That was a pun, did you get it?? .....OK. A lot of 20-somethings especially have trouble with this. You did a lot of stuff in college (student government, 3 internships, sorority girl, international exchange, orientation leader, peer mentor, and you were Homecoming Queen, with a 3.8 GPA) to help set you apart from the "regular" college kids, and it breaks your heart not to leave all that in your resume....even though you're now 27. Tough. Take it out. The education section should list the degree you got, and where you got it. If you got a minor you can list that too. Do not list the date, courses you took, extracurriculars, or your GPA. None of that stuff matters unless you've graduated from college in the last two years.

Friends, I am sure you are exhausted by now just from reading this. Imagine how you'll feel when you're fighting over what cuts to make from your resu-novel. I think I'll make this a two-part post and share some more on shorter resumes next time. If you're in a funk with yours, reach out! I'm happy to share a set of eyes and always thrilled to share my unwarranted opinions. 

Happy job hunting to you!