THSCC Forums

I just got another 4+ page resume from a network engineer that I'm doing a technical screening on. He'll be doing what I do, but up in DC. I've always thought that over two pages was excessive. I'd try to keep it down to one page, but I have 29 years of experience at my job, so I give myself the extra page and try not to fill it, depending on what position I am applying for. The guy does have 20 years of experience, but this seems excessive to me. My company hires people for this role with a very narrow and specific skill set, so I could technically qualify myself for this job in three paragraphs.

This has happened multiple times now, so I don't know if all of these people are doing it wrong or if I'm out of touch. It's been a few years since I sent out a resume, so maybe I'm doing it wrong.

What do you guys consider a reasonable resume length for a technical professional with 20 years of experience?

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."

Two pages would be appropriate unless someone has changed jobs and/or skill set every 5 years or less, in which case the person probably has no clue.

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'66 CORVAIR MID-ENGINE V-8
'88 FIERO GT

Seems like laziness to me. A resume should be crafted towards the position. Condense the less relevant material to a few sentences, and focus on what matters. Use LinkedIn for the extended version.

Or, keep a huge one, with everything and try to get by with one size fits all.

But, what do I know, I'm celebrating my one year anniversary at a summer internship 20+ years of less relevant experience, and 1 year of what matters most. I had pared my resume down to 2 pages. One page of experience, and one page of patents and publications. After a bit, I dropped the second page, and just referred the reader to linkedin for the full CV. The short version resulted in more call-backs.

I've done from L1 to L8. Current in networking from dark fiber to RSVP-TE, SONET, voice TDM with more hops in between than Zayo's transit network trying to move a packet from RDU to JFK today. Absolute boatload of Voice/SIP credentials as well as a ton of traditional telco knowledge. Standards work, patents, etc. Bunch of non-current sysadmin and dev experience as well over the last decade.

My resume is 1.5 pages.

After a point your resume shouldn't grow. I get senior resumes all the time with all sorts of completely outdated roles at companies that don't exist anymore and technologies that were obsolete when I was in high school. (Please tell me more about your ATM experience, or that pascal you wrote straight out of high school mr mid-40s man)

So yeah, 2-3 pages is pretty much an absolute top end for me and write a damn cover letter. I want to say our record was something like 14 pages. I wasn't the hiring manager so I can't find it. I do remember that the guy sucked.

I'm bored after 2 pages.

If you are applying for an engineering role I'm probably going to still interview you.
If you are applying for a sales or marketing role I'm probably throwing it in the trash as you can't get to the point.

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2001 Honda S2000 - SOLD
2012 Boss 302
2003 BMW 330i

That! Halfway through page 2 I got tired of reading it all and started only reading the first couple of words in each line to see if it was something relevant. By page 4 I was only reading the section headers.

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."

If his resume is that long, then imagine how long and tedious the TPS reports will be!

2 pages max, although I did see a single page resume that the person had formatted like a linked in page almost. They filled the damn thing up with all kinds of marketing filler/nonsense.

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2013 Scion FR-S 10 Series - Solo Spec Coupe
Sold: 1999 Mazda Miata DD & CSP - viewtopic.php?f=25&t=15327

2 Pages max. I nod off after the first page and if you've been out of school for long enough to be employed I could care less about your GPA. Now if I see that you were a class winning autocrosser I'd hire you in a minute.

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1990 Faded Reddish CSP Lite Miata
2002 Electron Blue Corvette Z06
2005 Mazda 6 Wagon
2003 Nissan Pathfinder DTV (Dog Transport Vehicle)

Agreed. I actually value the hobby/interests area of a resume if you are ballsy enough to put it on there these days.

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2001 Honda S2000 - SOLD
2012 Boss 302
2003 BMW 330i

Late to the party.

I have had the chance to sit in on a few interviews with my current role. I was brought up thinking 2 pages is max. that being said, I have seen quite a few in the 3 to 4 pages and as already said, got bored reading them.

I've been in the crappy role of having to read hundreds, maybe a thousand resumes in my past career. I read the short ones first and if I don't find someone qualified in the short resumes, then I read the longer ones. I like it when people add a few hobbies. It shows that they aren't lab rats. I look for hobbies that involve team work and communication. Don't list all your patents, just how many you have and what they are generally for. If someone is interested in you, they will google.com/patents and look under your name. It's all about using your time wisely if you are hiring.

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Mike Miller
AutoX VP 2016/2017
Just a C Stock Miata DD
Mazda Speed 3 Family Car
Corvette Z06 Toy

So I just did my resume and mine is a page and a half. It helps I've been at my current employer for 17 years but my goal was to add key words and hope that gets me in the door.

I didn't add hobbies.......

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1990 Faded Reddish CSP Lite Miata
2002 Electron Blue Corvette Z06
2005 Mazda 6 Wagon
2003 Nissan Pathfinder DTV (Dog Transport Vehicle)

I got in the insurance business because I listed hobbies. I was applying for the claims department at Allstate and listed Automobile Restoration. The district manager asked me what that meant. I said I have a TR6, Renault Le Car, and a Ford Granada (this was 1984) and I try to keep them running.

I became friends with him later and he told me that he left the office and said "If that cocky little sob can get to two interviews driving those pieces of crap we need to hire him"

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2002 MCS, 2003 MCS Track Rat, 2003 Generic White Yukon, 2003 BMWk1200rs, 1973 CB350F, 02 996. 08 Cayenne Turbo
http://www.clinehallagency.com