How to Shorten Your Resume
For one reason or another, your resume is too long.
Maybe you’ve finished your first draft to find you have a 5-page monster on your hands. Or maybe you’re like me, and you just dump accomplishments and dates haphazardly into an overgrown document until you need them. Maybe you’re simply overqualified for a role.
Pushing past the 2-page limit is easy. Cutting down can be tough.
Here are 5 ways to condense your resume, along with why these methods work. (I always challenge my clients to question the “why” behind the career development advice that they receive. If your career development coach cannot explain the “why”, get a second opinion!)
Format.
I wrote a blog on how to format your resume here. Oftentimes, once the right formatting rules are applied, I see my clients’ resumes shrink anywhere from half a page to two pages. I recommend reading the full blog post if you have time, but here’s quick summary of the highlights:
If you can cut your resume down to 1 page, do so. Reason? Your recruiter can skim everything at once, and you reduce the odds of a lost page for companies that still print resumes.
If you have over 10 years of experience rich with accomplishments and regular promotions, you can jump to 2 pages. But for the reasons above, stick to 1 page if possible.
Use size 10 font for the body, size 13 font for section titles, size 14 font for your name. Reason? The difference in font sizes ensures a recruiter’s eyes can snap easily from section to section. Size 10 for the body allows you to pack in more content without sacrificing readability.
Use 0.5-inch margins. Reason? Size 10 font with 1-inch margins makes your font look small, framed by so much white space. Reducing the margins creates a “zoom-in” effect on your font. You can also include more content without sacrificing readability.
Get rid of your bio section.
A preliminary bio section (often at the top of your resume below your name) is often used as a self-introduction. When I worked as a Resident Assistant in college, mine might say something like: “Accomplished Resident Assistant with 7 semesters of experience. Self-motivated and strategic. Created safe and welcoming housing spaces for 250+ residents and hosted 60+ floor events. Seeking to further develop creativity and influence in freshman housing on East campus.”
Sounds nice, right? But believe it or not, everything I just wrote there is unnecessary. Here’s why:
Anything in your bio section that lists what you do (Resident Assistant) or how long you’ve worked (7 semesters) should be listed elsewhere in your resume. You should have a section for work experience, and each role and its length (down to the month and year) should be clear subheadings. Re-listing them in your bio section is redundant and wastes recruiters’ time.
Anything in your bio section that describes your personality (self-motivated and strategic) absolutely needs to be backed by quantifiable achievements. Recruiters recognize that anyone can say anything about themselves. (I could say I’m flexible, even though that’s not particularly true in the way I express my personality.) You need to prove to them that you are what you say you are. For example, to say I’m strategic, I could write as an accomplishment: “Tailored 5 events every semester to marginalized residents, scoring 40% higher in floor engagement compared to the building average.” That proves I’m strategic.
You may have been advised to include key, wow-ing accomplishments (250+ residents and 60+ floor events) in your bio. But those accomplishments will be re-listed as bullet-points in your work experience section, so the information is once again redundant. “I should catch a recruiter’s eye!” some might say. Yes, true! But the best way to catch a recruiter’s eye is not to sequester your best accomplishments up front (which brings to question the purpose and strength of the rest of your resume). The best way is to ensure that your entire resume is chock-full of quantitative achievements. (If you need help quantifying routine or intangible work, contact me in the form below!)
One last piece that can be eliminated with your bio is a summary of your personal career goals (developing creativity and influence). Giving this information upfront is getting ahead of yourself. Remember that your resume should lead to an interview, which then leads to a job offer, which then leads to negotiating, which then leads to acceptance or rejection. Wait until you have an offer in your hands to start negotiating what you get in return. At the very first stage of a selection process, recruiters will view your requests or demands as self-entitled - or potentially even arrogant!You also don’t need to list the way in which you plan to pursue your personal career goals (freshman housing on East campus). The moment I apply for an opening, my recruiter would immediately know that that prospective role is part of my career development somehow. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have applied in the first place.
Use lines for multiple items.
Not only will using lines for multiple items cut down on overall page length, but you can also reduce awkward patches of white space.
I wrote another blog post on how to flush left and right simultaneously. Use this formatting technique to pair roles with their start/end dates, awards with their dates received, and degrees with their years received or GPAs.
Use numbers.
In standard English grammar, most experts agree you should use numbers for 10 and any number greater than 10 (e.g. 11, 12, 13, etc), while typing out any number smaller than 10 (e.g. nine, eight, seven, etc). In your resume however, you should use numbers for all numbers listed, including the number one/1.
Not only will this save bits of space, but this will also increase readability. Given a wall of text, our eyes will often jump to specifically marked sections: bolded or italicized words, capitalized words, punctuation, and numbers. You want a recruiter to easily track through accomplishments by following your numbers.
Compare this text…
Built community with over two hundred and fifty residents by engaging in over three hundred intentional and documented interactions, hosting over sixty floor events, and decorating and theming the floor.
Assisted in hiring five resident assistants and two hall directors.
Formally trained and mentored six new resident assistants.
With this text…
Built community with 250+ residents by engaging in 300+ intentional and documented interactions, hosting 60+ floor events, and decorating and theming the floor.
Assisted in hiring 5 Resident Assistants and 2 Hall Directors.
Formally trained and mentored 6 new Resident Assistants.
When you read the first text, you have to read almost every word to understand what I’m trying to say. If you skim the second text quickly however, your mind will pick up “250+ residents”, “300+ intentional”, “60+ floor events”, “5 Resident Assistants”, “2 Hall Directors”, and “6 new Resident Assistants”. Based on that, you can get a summary for what I’ve done and what I’m conveying almost immediately.
Remember: recruiters look at your resume for 6 seconds on average. Readability is key. And by using numbers, you save yourself a little bit of extra space at the same time.
Cut down on old history.
If you have over 15 years of experience, old work may not need to be weighted as heavily as recent work. Why? A recruiter wants to see relevant experience. (In other words, are you capable and competent? Do you have all of the right knowledge, skills, and attributes?) Oftentimes, in older jobs, you were still in the process of learning the traits that you’ve mastered today.
If so, comb through old jobs and eliminate down to the top one or two most relevant achievements. Shorten role descriptions to contain the most key and applicable responsibilities; one or two sentences will do the trick.
How far back should you start cutting? Once you’ve completed all of the other resume-shortening steps above, I recommend starting at your oldest role and working your way up until you’ve reduced down to one or two pages. In other words, the more content you can keep, the better. (One exception: You do not want your most recent or second most recent roles to look sparse. Recent roles with thin content convey the message: “I was not very successful in these roles!” If you find that you’re cutting down on those, you likely have 25+ years of experience and need to take out a few of your oldest jobs entirely. They will likely have very little, if any, relevance to your prospective job.)
I hope this helps! If you follow these steps but are still struggling to get your page count down or if you find that you’re an exception to what I’ve written here, please reach out in the contact form below or email me at megan@ryancbailey.com. Happy to help in any way I can!
Megan Koh is a Career Development Coach, with over 7 years of experience in helping others find and achieve their dream jobs. Originally from Atlanta, she now lives in Charlottesville, Virginia and is married to her sweetheart Danny.