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Here’s a tip to job seekers in IT: don’t submit a 1 page resume. It tells us nothing. I just reviewed about 2 dozen resumes. Some were 1 page long. They basically told me nothing. I want to know what you’ve done, even more than a listing of which technologies you have some experience with. I would rather go through a 7 page listing of your experience than a 1 page basic summary.

Also, if anyone is looking for a helpdesk/sys admin position in the San Francisco East Bay (Contra Costa County), send me a PM and I will point you to our job posting.

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2

My resume is only 1 sentence long…

" I am Groot"

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3

Hired.

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You’re hired.

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I am groot

(Translated) Sorry…due to recent events… I have since become under-aged to seek employment…

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6

How long should a resumé/cv be?

I’ve always been told no more and no less than two pages, with a large easy to read font. I now struggle to fit everything on two pages (although it is a bit easier now that industry standard is not to include your address and reference details).

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7

The role of a resume/CV is to get you an interview. Nothing more, nothing less. If it contains things that are not relevant to the role you are applying for, or does not show how you could add value to the organisation, it is too long.

If it omits details about you that would enhance your application, it is too short.

Of course, that means that it could simultaneously be both too long and too short. In that case you are clearly not tailoring the resume/CV to the position you are applying for. USUALLY, but certainly not always, the more senior the position, the more detailed and wide ranging the resume/CV will need to be.

The more detailed and complex the job posting you are responding to, the longer the response to it will be.

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Interesting, most places want one page or they won’t even consider you. Mine is 1 page and a half so I keep it concise but will keep it in mind.

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9

Have an online application that includes some short answer questions. Or have a set ready to email out to candidates before the interview.

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I have heard it both ways so I think you may find that it is a personal preference more then a rule.

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11

The problem is that different people have different requirements and expectations. I understand that it is very common in the US to require a single page resumé; anything more is automatically rejected.

In the UK, they generally ask for a C.V. but actually want a short version, say 2 or 3 pages at most. A real C.V (Curriculum Vitae [lit. ‘path of my life’] ) contains everything from the school days through to employment history, and would cover anything that you have worked with or been involved in; and this would also include voluntary, part time, or charitable work. It would not be unusual for this run to more than 10 pages. However, the only people that ever want this are usually within the field of academia.

As ICH indicates, the real purpose of what you submit is to allow you to get your foot in the door; nothing else. I don’t believe that anyone ever gets hired because of their C.V., but more usually because of their performance at an interview. But you cannot shine for the hiring person if you cannot get in front of them.

It would be helpful if those hiring did actually specify more accurately what they expect to see, but failing that, follow some basic guidelines, and ensure that what they indicate is important within the job advert, actually does appear within your application.

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12

I think it all depends on what you put in your resume.

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13

So what’s a job seeker to do? You got individuals saying “don’t do this,” you have career counselors and job-seeking-advice writers saying “do this,” so what’s the right answer? Without knowing the content of the one-page rezes you’ve been getting, we don’t know why they’re only one page.

Maybe the applicant doesn’t have anything to talk about because they’ve been just automatons doing what they’re told. Maybe they’re brilliant sysadmins but have difficulty expressing themselves with prose or harnessing a bit of ego to talk about themselves, and need some coaching to break out of their self-effacing shells.

Because here’s my one-pager. I’d like to think it tells the story adequately:

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2017-10-26_07_47_34-OhnuiResume.docx_-_Word.png450×584 38.4 KB

I also have little problem with ego. :slight_smile:

I trimmed it down to one page because of that job I’d had since 2000. Anything before that is totally irrelevant to whatever I’d be applying to, since I don’t want to be a computer repair field technician anymore. But I’ve also removed the lesser projects and tasks from that entry (it’s much more detailed on my LinkedIn page).

I know the MCP means absolutely nothing to real IT pros who understand the Microsoft certification track. It’s in there for the sake of business people and leading into a conversation about my certification paths.

But would you reject mine if I applied, just because it’s one page? Or are you just frustrated that you’re getting a ton of simply inappropriate “not a good fit” candidates who are either struggling to even fill that page or are just mass blasting applications to anything and everything out there to see what sticks?

(for the record, I am not applying for a job :slight_smile: I have quite an excellent one, and a fringe benefit is that it isn’t help desk!)

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14

I’m accepting applications right now. I’ve gotten one-page resumes that were full of good stuff. I’ve gotten 3-pages ones, double and triple-spaced, that were mostly irrelevant stuff.

I look at a resume and think, “This was how you responded to the critical task of trying to convince me to hire you. This is how you will respond to other critical tasks I assign you.”

Writing resumes, setting up servers, creating networks, or whatever,

if you don’t know, learn;

if you don’t understand, ask;

if you don’t see why, do it anyway.

If you don’t care, apply somewhere else.

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15

Yet another case of the ‘Job Seeker Disconnect’. Applicants have it HAMMERED into them by ‘professional employment counselors’ that their resume should ONLY be that one page. Because you need to make an impression very quickly given the limited time most HR people or managers have to review it. I was belittled for having a 3-page resume, so I whittled it down to two. But I have a one-pager as well, if that’s what is asked for.

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Most of our paperwork in IT is direct and to the point, resumes should be the same. 7 pages would be a joke. Can you imagine all the fluff, and BS that would be crammed into a 7 page resume?

There is no reason to receive a novel from each applicant. That would just be a waste of time. If their basic 1-2 page resume looks good, bring them in for an interview. That is how you really learn about them.

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17

Maybe you are just frustrated because you are getting lousy applicants. I’ve always been told 1-2 pages is acceptable. Or you could also specify this in your job posting. Seems every hiring manager has different requirements.

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Can you imagine seeing a job posting only asking for 5+ page resumes? Forget that. This is an IT job, not a journalist.

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screaming.jpg
And here we have the problem. There’s literally no way to know what each person at each company considers an “acceptable” resume length. Job seekers must guess and hope for the best. It’s so frustrating!!

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I submitted a one page resume, which led to a 20 minute telephone interview, which led to a high-paying Federal position. Thank you Clearance!