Resume Length

Question

Hi all,

I am trying to get my resume in order and I was having difficulty paring it down. I have heard that the rule of thumb is no more than 1 page? Is it safe to say that one should eliminate all activities that pre-date college?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

thanks

Rubashov1 · Answer

Yes, most likely. If you're just out of college with minimal post-college experience, then reconsider. But in that case you probably wouldn't have much trouble keeping it to 1 page in the first place.

Two other things that might help scrounge up some space, but that you might have done already: leave out an "objective" section and "references on request" line. The former should be adequately addressed in a cover letter (or just plain obvious) and the latter is assumed.

riverripper · Answer

Dont go beyond 1 page unless you have Phd and tons of publications or something crazy like that.

Nothing before college qualifies. If you have worked for a few years dont use anything from college. You can write about those in essays but your resume should be professional accomplishments.

3underscore · Answer

When you get to school, it will be one page - be you 22 or 32. You have to make do with what you have, delete stuff, summarize stuff like noone's business.

It is not a pleasant operation. And when I finish the summer, I have to find space for that. Which will leave about 2 lines on my first job (which sucks, as it was pretty great for leading chat).

kryzak · Answer

keep it to one page. I have a masters and 7 years of WE and I got it down to 1. Though with the MBA extra education space, I'll have to pare it down even more...

helg · Answer

That's my concern as well. But I guess the guys in the recruitment office will show us some tricks :wink:

pelihu · Answer

1 page is appropriate for MBA applications. Later on, I think the rule of thumb is 1 page for every 10 years of experience.

ncp · Answer

By MBA applications, do you mean applying to B-school or rectuiting while in school?

dox · Answer

I used a two page resume for my MBA apps, although I'll be shortening it to one page once I start my program. Being a non-traditional applicant with a wide variety of research and entrepreneurial experience, I wanted to make sure that all of my activities were adequately explained. That being said, anything pre college should be cut and if you can cut it down to one page, you probably should.

isa · Answer

What about WE during summers in college? does that no longer count if you have post-college full time experience?

thanks!

pelihu · Answer

We had an exercise in a leadership class where, in small groups, we looked over dozens and dozens resumes from MBA students. Kind of a 'what would you do as an HR manager' type of deal. Compared with the quality of experiences that most MBA students have (especially at top schools), summer/part-time/internship experiences during and before college really pale in comparison. Good MBA resumes are packed with impressive relevant details and when people included earlier experiences, it was kind of a running joke that they didn't have much to share in their resumes. I think 1 of 15/20 resumes included college experience, and those pretty much all came from people with three years or less of work experience.

Regarding length, I think resumes for MBA applications and those used for MBA recruiting should both be one page. In fact, there shouldn' be much difference because you'll start looking for a job a few weeks after to step onto campus.

bhatiagp · Answer

Should ideally be one page. Can go upto 2 pages ( Avoid it if possible . )

An MBA resume should ideally only highligh achievements , with basic overview of job responsibilities ,academic background, Mention GPA , or rank if worth mentioning only , else avoid, Mention GMAT score if on the higher side > 99th percentile or above, else avoid. Incase some award , paper publication in college was awarded mention it ) , mention languages, and extracurricular intrests.

To save space :- Mention intrests and languages in one line

ie. 
  Languages  
English ( Excellent) , Hindi ( Native) , French ( Intermediate ) , Arabic ( Basic)

It should be in reverse chronological order . Current job mentioned first.

Also try to quanity as much as possible your achievements , including the projects you have worked on in you work ex.

jb32 · Answer

For an MBA resume, above 3.0, put your GPA. Same for GMAT, above 650, put it down. Actually, education should be at the top for an MBA resume, then your work experience. Also, as for languages, only put them down if you are an intermediate level or above. If you can say 30 words in French, don't include French on your resume. You wouldn't want an interviewer to start an interview speaking French and you look like an idiot when you have no idea what they are saying. Then, your first words in the interview are: 'I really don't know that much French'

sm332 · Answer

thanks for the pointers everyone ... now I need to get down to revising my resume. Any volunteers for critiques. It would be much appreciated ... be as critical as you can!!!

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