As a fresh grad, can my resume be 2 pages or more?
Do recruiters prefer resumes to be brief like 1 page only or is it okay for it to be 2 pages? What about 3 or more?
Context: For this post, I’m not going to talk about the contents of the resume, how to make sure it’s something recruiters want to and will finish reading, or how to arrange the pages of your resume. I’ll only focus on the number of pages and how to frame it since that’s what the question’s asking. All this from the perspective that the reader is a fresh grad at most.
In my opinion, if you’re <3 years out of college, and you’re looking for a job aka not being pirated, then it should be 1 page only. If you’re fresh out of college or still in college, then anything above 1 page is just superfluous chatter on our part.
Why? We’ve done nothing relevant enough to merit a 2nd page.
What we’re doing with our 2nd page is sharing a laundry list of everything remotely resume-enhancing that we’ve collected. That’s not something a high value candidate would do. That’s something a mediocre person trying to cover up their mediocrity would do.
Someone who knows their a good fit for the job wouldn’t waste time trying to obscure why they’re the best fit. They'd go straight to the point. "Here's the 3 pieces of my past experience that are most relevant for this job."
We don’t want to waste the recruiters’ first impressions of us on the idea that we don’t know how to market ourselves to them specifically. Everyone’s going to spray and pray. Very few are going to email a succinct, targeted, 1-page resume that’s meant for that specific job.
Stand out by being one of those few.
Get to your point as quick as possible. Show them that you’re the best for the role before they hit the bottom of the page. Because before the recruiter hits half the 1st page, they already know if you’re someone they want to talk to. Or if your resume is going back in the pile.
All your friends, peers, enemies, and batchmates (and maybe even you) are thinking, “I’m going to wow this recruiter with my 5 page resume filled with things that sound so impressive!”
What they aren’t thinking is the next part of that sentence, which is, ”...but aren’t actually going to be relevant to the role that the recruiter’s filling, meaning they probably won’t finish looking through all of this BS I wrote.”
Put yourself in the recruiters’ shoes. If you’re insanely busy, and you need to get something done and off your list, would you read carefully a 5-page paper that looks identical to a stack of 100 other papers (that you also have to read)? Or would you skim through it instead, looking for specific keywords or highlights?
Make sure you’re always thinking about how the recruiter will perceive you, especially against a stack of people with the same background and experiences listed as you. You aren’t existing in a bubble where your only being compared to the job description. You are always being compared to the pile .
A strong 1-page resume will break the recruiters’ autopilot skimming mode and get them to note down your name and number. That’s the goal of the resume after all. To move you to the interview stage where you can close the sale.
Related: What’s more impressive, internship experience or school achievements in a resume?
But Justine, what if I really want the recruiter to know everything about me?
If that’s what you really want, to list everything down and direct the recruiter to learn more about you, leave a clickable bit.ly on your resume PDFs.
Not only are you saving space, but you can also track how many people wanted to know more about you.
Where should that clickable bitly lead to?
Your portfolio pages or
A hosted website dedicated to talking solely about yourself. (If you want to save money, I vote using a free Wordpress. Make the domain name the same as your email. For example, justineltchua@gmail.com means a justineltchua.wordpress.com)
Related: How to find an internship that fits your academic schedule
What can you do instead of making a 2-page resume?
Make multiple targeted 1-page resumes. 1 per every field you want to enter. Place them in separate folders named after that specific field.
Don’t get them confused. You’ll ruin your impression in a snap if you send your finance resume for a marketing role. Stay alert! I have made this mistake too many times before, unfortunately, so learn from my mistakes!!
Just remember: At the end of the day, your resume is a snapshot of specific accomplishments that will make the hiring manager want to learn more about you.
You want to market yourself as the best candidate as fast as possible. Like how we don’t watch a 1 hour ad to consider buying something, it shouldn’t take you a number of pages and paragraphs to get the recruiters to consider you.
Your resume length shouldn’t be a symbolic summary of your entire life. It should be proof that you can communicate effectively and efficiently.
Hi! I’m Justine.
I’m the founder and writer of all things in The Bumpy Career and welcome to Resume, a slot where I share things I’ve learned over the course of fixing my own and a lot of people's resumes, so that you guys don’t have to trial and error this stuff like I did.
Find me on other platforms.
LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter