If you’ve got it, flaunt it

Welcome to my post about resume length.  If you came in from a search engine expecting pictures of busty women, well, I’m sorry to disappoint.  You can leave now if you wish, but stick around and you might learn a thing or two.  Oh, and if you actually are new to COTJ, please click here to  sign up for my RSS feed.

Peter flaunts it

I’m going to try to keep this post short and sweet, just like the HR/Recruiting experts I trust, love, adore, and am friends with say a 20 somethings resume should be.  In writing this post I’m going to keep my thoughts to a minimum, take out important details from what I’ve learned in my recruiting experiences, and bunch everything together so that I don’t go beyond 375 words (or one page).  Doesn’t that sound just like your resume writing strategy?  Yep, it does.  Yikes.

Before going too much further, please realize I’m not advising to go write up a 5 page resume.  I’m not for anything that is a waste, so after reading this quick rant you definitely shouldn’t go nutty banana party on your resume, stretching it for pages and pages.  Don’t do that, idiot.  Just…listen.

Not all college students, but a portion of of them are involved in leadership positions, activity programming boards, and work internships, all while making the Dean’s List, studying abroad, and getting inducted into their programs honors society.  As a recruiter, I want to know every bit of that delicious shit.  I want to see every leadership position.  I want to know activities you planned on campus, and I definitely want to know which internships, and how many you took on while a full-time student.

Flaunt it, baby.  Flaunt it.

Don’t hold back.  Let us read the goods.  List everything worth mentioning, which means it shows your value to the company.  Provide details, but don’t write bullshit either.  With every addition to your resume, ask yourself, “Does this prove my value?”  If yes, then please include.  If no, then take it off.  So simple.

No one expects that you have the experience to warrant more than one page.  If you really do, then prove them wrong.

What’s your opinion?

Do you think I’m a jackass?  Great, tell me that, and make sure you tell me why.

HR/Recruiters –  Do you seriously discount skilled candidates if their resume is longer than a page?

Current and previous job seekers – Do you only use a one page resume?  Why?  Who brain washed you?