How Long Should a Resume Be? Answers to All Your Length Questions

Let's get right down to it: for most job seekers, a one-page resume is your target. 

Most recruiters spend six seconds (or less!) looking at your resume. One quick way to wind up on the rejection pile is to have an intimidatingly long document. 

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule (and we'll get into the fine details), but if you want your TL;DR upfront, it's get rid of the fluff on your resume and chop it down to a single page. 

If you apply to jobs after college with a resume longer than one page at worst, you'll look conceited, and at best, ill-informed. List your relevant internships and experience, but leave off college courses and long lists of extracurricular activities unless the job is directly related. You don't have to worry about your inexperience if you are a new grad — hiring managers expect that from applicants fresh from college.

Crafting a resume is different than listing your job history for an application. 

Your resume should not include every single job, internship, and project you've completed; you should select the parts of your career history that fulfill the listed requirements in the job description. 

Remember, you want the hiring manager — who's working quickly to find reasons to put you on the toss pile — to glance at your resume and see only relevant, succinct details about your work experience.

When you're applying for a job in a specialty sector that requires one, such as a government job, academic job (where you'll need a curriculum vitae instead of a resume), or if the job is very technical/your applicable work history is very extensive.

As someone who made the switch into the civilian sector after federal service, I was surprised how many professionals with 5 to 20 years of experience opted for just one page to lay out work history. Government jobs require lengthy, multi-paged resumes, and in the military career transition courses I attended, our career counselor never mentioned that one-page resumes are the status quo for most civilian jobs.

I wondered how — and why —these seasoned professionals (with plenty of skills and qualifications) stuck to one page. However, I soon found out once I started reviewing resumes as part of my job, and worked with career coaches who were experts on the topic. 

It's easy: take out anything irrelevant, make the formatting simple, and condense your work history. When you're forced to stay within the confines of a single-page document, you'll only keep the relevant, important information — which is exactly what you want in your resume. Trim the fat!

If you're not quite sure whether your resume is the correct length for the job or industry you're applying to, ask someone!

The beauty of the digital age is that there are online career forums (like Fairygodboss!) where you can ask for opinions from a community of professional workers. Reaching out directly to a friend, former colleague, or mentor is another way to find out whether you're in the ballpark or not. 

And if you're really uncertain, you might want to consider working with a career coach or other industry expert.

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