Giant Résumés Fail to Impress Employers

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304851104579360721244708190

by petethomas • 12 years ago

9 14 12 years ago

online.wsj.com

al2o3cr• 12 years ago

Better title: "Lazy HR assclowns admit they're still using checklists of buzzwords instead of actually reading things"

lmkg• 12 years ago

Equivalently, "time-constrained professionals apply 90-10 rule to increase throughput by discarding time-consuming edge cases."

fredgrott• 12 years ago

I just got contacted by one of the cybercoder recruiters..my profiles and resume show strong android development but this brain dead recruiter wants me doing RoR and big data..say WTF

GuiA• 12 years ago

This reminded me of a debate I've had with some friends for a while.

My current resume (LaTeX 4 life) is 2 pages. It's fairly detailed, and I feel like it gives a good overview of who I am. It has lists of my work experiences (with key achievements and technologies used), education (with specializations and details about my undergrad/graduate thesises), talks, open source projects, volunteering activities - the whole deal.

Then one day a friend of mine joked that in the tech industry, where everything must use emojis and communicate in <140 chars, a 1 page resume is the way to go. I made a 1 page resume (without sacrificing legibility or using 0pt margins), and it's grown on me. It's concise, to the point, no BS- and I feel like it still gives a good window in who I am and what I do (and like to do).

But some friends have said that a one page concise resume came across as ballsy and too confident.

Any HNers have insights on this? Or is it one of those things into which one should put the least amount of thought possible?

rm9992• 12 years ago

Just a note, this article isn't about the length of a paper resume, it's about students using online portfolios to store information on projects, verified transcripts, etc. Basically, a more thorough replacement for a resume.

But regarding your question, I think two pages is perfectly fine in the tech world, if you have enough to say. By the time you're ten years into a career I'd be surprised if you don't want more than a page to talk about what you know and what you've done. I think the aesthetic gains from a one page resume aren't worth the risk of omitting something that's important to a potential employer. It's the four page resumes that annoy me.

ScottBurson• 12 years ago

I'm 34 years into my career and I still maintain a one-page résumé.

I think keeping it to one page shows respect for a reader's time. Instead of dumping everything I can think of onto the page and letting them pick through it for what's important, I do that work for them. In many cases I've customized the résumé to some extent for the employer.

I've never had anyone tell me it was too short.

gboudrias• 12 years ago

But some friends have said that a one page concise resume came across as ballsy and too confident.

I strongly doubt that any serious employer is going to decide to interview or not based on subjective things such as ballsiness. It seems likely to me that they read your number of years of experience and maybe projects, and it's in the interview that they might listen to "gut feelings" such as that.

minimaxir• 12 years ago

Even in non-tech industries, a 1-page resume is strongly, strongly recommended over a 2-page resume if possible.

rayiner• 12 years ago

A one page resume is very traditional. It doesn't come across as too confident at all.

rch• 12 years ago

I refined a version of mine with the Hemingway app. The result seems alright, but I've yet to test it out.

Spooky23• 12 years ago

When I hire people, I get like 60+ resumes for 1 position. So I create a bozo pile, good pile and awesome pile.

Usually we have a couple of people involved. We look for consensus and let people veto folks they feel strongly about. The goal is to talk to about 10 people. Interview 3-5.

Long resume doesn't really factor in. The really long ones are usually bozo-ed, because they are insane. The fact that you were a summer lifeguard in 1992 is fascinating, but really weird to be telling people in 2014.

You should be telling a story with a resume. A 2-3 page resume can tell a good one.

flibertgibit• 12 years ago

Why is this news? This has been common wisdom for ages. The only difference is that, before, there was no web.

Keep it 2-3 pages tops and just in PDF, unless you're a designer or site dev. And provide your github if you're a dev doing JS or Ruby.

Did I miss anything? I have no idea what Java, etc. devs and IT geeks need to have anymore.

mbesto• 12 years ago

I always remind people:

CV/Résumés get you interviews.

Interviews get you jobs.

Focus specifically on those things and you'll get a job.

Giant Résumés Fail to Impress Employers

Related Stories