5 Simple Ways to Streamline Your Resume/CV – for greater impact
Research from Career-Builder has shown that one of the top 10 reasons that employers dismiss candidate resumes from consideration is due to them being more than two pages long. This was cited by 22% of employers.
While there is no steadfast rule for the ideal length of a resume, you should bear in mind that most recruiters/employers are time-pressurized and the longer the resume/CV the less likely it is to be read, or at least fully read by a recruiter, reducing your chance of being selected for the job.
However, although I said that there was no steadfast rule for ideal resume length, I did not want to leave you completely in the dark, and can offer some general guidelines. As a graduate/junior candidate with limited work experience you should aim for a one to two page resume/CV, while your typical career professional should aim for a two page resume/CV.
But, the problem that many of you may find is that your completed resume/CV may be 3, 4, 5 or more pages which simply makes it too long.
So, the question is, how can an overly long resume/CV be reduced down to the optimal 2 pages in length, without reducing the impact of the resume. This is simple. The resume/CV needs to be condensed by excluding any peripheral information and focusing in on the most pertinent, resonant and job relevant information from your resume. And below I have set out several simple steps to enable to you to both de-clutter and at the same time streamline your resume to it packs a much greater punch.
1.Remove job duties and only include achievements
When you write a resume, consider including just the job title of each role, and removing the duties (especially if they are self evident based on the job title) AND just include your achievements for each role. Achievements are the most important part of your job employment entry in your resume, so prioritize them.2.Prioritize your achievements
It is not necessary to include all your achievements for every role. Just focus on including your achievements that are most impressive and most relevant to the role you are applying for. Discard/Exclude less relevant achievements.
3.Minimize white space
Make use of tables and efficient layout to minimize the amount of white space in your resume/CV. White space in a resume/CV is effectively wasted space which could otherwise be filled with relevant information which should reduce the vertical length of resume/CV without losing any information.
4.Summarize roles occurring over 10 years ago
Generally, employers will be interested in your most recent employment experience and will be less interested in your work experience of more than 10 years ago. Therefore, in order to use less space you can consider providing a simple summary of your roles which occurred more than 10 years ago – making sure to highlight any relevant and notable achievements within this period.
5.Summarize or reduce emphasis on less relevant roles
If you find that certain roles in you history are less relevant to the role you are applying for, consider placing less emphasis on the roles, by including less achievements or being very economical with the wording of the achievements. This is known as resume/tailoring.
Some recruiters use hiring software known as an applicant tracking system (ATS) to shortlist candidates which means no human will ever see the actual CV itself as the information will be automatically extracted and entered into a candidate database. Once you have completed your CV you’ll need to run it through an app like Jobscan The Resume Optimization Tool so you can optimize your CV so it rises to the top of the automated shortlist tool in the ATS. This final optimization step to make your CV ATS-Friendly will maximize your chance of being invited to interview.
Click to optimize your CV/Resume for ATS using Jobscan The Resume Optimization Tool
Click to optimize your CV/Resume for ATS using Jobscan The Resume Optimization Tool
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