Its a good rule of thumb to keep a resume to one page. I took a course on resume writing at Drexel University in Philadelphia a few years ago and we were also taught this. Of course there are exemptions. Anyone applying for a senior position at a firm would be one example.

One reason a resume should be one page is because any employers that do follow the one page rule will automatically pass on the resume if its longer than 1 page. Simple as that. This is just one way to reduce applicants. With the amount of people applying for jobs today, they are certainly looking for any way to reduce the amount of stuff they have to read and the amount of people applying for the position as well.

A one page resume looks sleeker. No scrolling (if your reading an email) and no staples, etc.

A one page resume also shows the employer you have creativity and are a problem solver. A good resume writer will find a creative way to format their resume to bring it down to one page. This shows the employer you were presented with a goal or task and were successful in achieving it.

Some Ideas?…. Only list your work experience applicable to the job. If your applying for an IT position in your 30’s, they don’t care about your work as a retail clerk your senior year in high school. Exhausting all the irrelevant work experience from your resume is the best place to start. A matter of fact, your resume should be 80% work experience. Your education gets a highlight and of course your personal info (name, address, phone) gets addressed. Anything else other than awards, achievements, certifications, etc… can be left out in my opinion. Its nice but really who gives a darn (unless its relevant to the job of course!)

PS. A 3 page resume is just silly. I can’t even address that one.

But recently, I have been going through a recruitment agency, that INSISTS I keep my resume to two pages. In the past two years, I haven’t gotten SQUAT for interest using the two page format. Not one interview. Nada. Zip. Zero. So last month I decided to just do my own thing and create a three page resume, and include only work from the past ten years, but providing great detail about those positions.

The result?

I’ve had four face-to-face interviews in the past three weeks.

So, based only on my personal experience, I say dump the one (and even the two) page resumes, and write what you need to tell your career story.

I’m thinking of taking some of the good stuff out of my CV and adding it to a second page of my resume. At my age and stage of life, one page just doesn’t begin to describe my accomplishments.