Why the one page resume is the wrong strategy
When working through my project roadmap session with my clients, I ask the question, “How many pages would you prefer?” By the time I ask the question, we reviewed the resume strategy and design of six or seven of my samples.
The client viewed multiple two-page resumes and several three-page resumes.
Even seeing job-winning resumes, they still tell me, “I always heard you should have a one-page resume. But I guess that rule changed.”
By assuming that cramming everything on one page or leaving it to bare bones, just the facts, ma’am one-page resume, you might as well not have a resume.
I resist the urge to scream!
The rule of One-page resume was never a rule!
This myth (yes, I said myth) has done more damage to job search than any other wrong strategy.
As a triple-certified professional resume writer with years of successful clients and job-winning resumes, the one-page resume myth drives me crazy.
I don’t understand how colleges, career centers, state and federal job centers, and many other people can continue to propagate the one-page resume myth.
Why is the one-page resume the wrong strategy?
The one-page resume means you leave out critical information or shrink the font and cram everything into the resume to destroy the resume’s marketing value.
Marketing? What does that have to do with resume writing? Yes, that’s a big problem.
People who tell you that you don’t need a one-page resume don’t see the resume as a marketing tool. The product you are marketing is you.
To capture your value in the resume, you need two pages. However, if you rose to the top of your career and need to illustrate multiple points of success, you may need a three or more page resume.
Some people think you should just cut out information to make it fit. But this means you don’t tell the story well. You don’t engage the reader. You rarely include keywords and value-drive success stories to engage the reader.
How do I know it works?
I continually get successful landing stories from my clients. They win because they told their career story in compelling ways captivating the reader. Their resume featured unique job-winning strategies to reach the right readers.
If you are stuck using an ineffective one-page resume and would like to be one of my client success stories, read more here.
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Julie Walraven
Professional Resume Writer
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