Length of Resume? 1

[ssilver]

I've been in the computer business for over thirty years. Now that I'm looking for a job, I'm having a problem judging just how much to cut off of my resume. It has gotten pretty long when I want to reflect my work in both mainframe as well as PC work, both areas covering a significant number of years as well as areas of application. My latest work has been in database development. But previous to that I was exposed to areas that are being called for in ads that I'm seeing on occasion today and I would like to respond to. In order to reasonably do that, I obviously have to expose that part of my vocational history associated with the potential job that I'm applying for thereby making the resume I use fairly long -- usually 4 or more pages. Knowing that's too long I feel quite guilty going back more that 14 years. It's puts me into a quandry where I feel uncomfortable and would appreciate suggestions anyone can throw my way.

Thanks,

Stan

 

[carp]

My resume is about 3.5 pages long and that hasn't seemed to be a problem so far.
However, you might want to consider having several different resumes, each of which emphasizes a different phase of your career and summarizing other phases. This way, you could shorten the overall length of any given resume and submit the one that most closely matches the position you are applying for.

 

[jasek78]

Carp is right. I have 3 different resumes, each highlighting a different skill set. 1 for Computer Programming, 1 for Web Development and 1 for 'Management/executive' positions

They are each about a page long and detail my experience related to their subject, and summarize the remainder of my experience.

jason

 

[petersdaniel]

General rule of thumb that I have heard from recruiters is that most employers are only interested in current skills. If you have 10 or more years of work history and that work history is not relevant to your current search or does not add anything to your marketability, it is best to provide a summary of previous experience and leave it at that.

Above all, the most important thing is to develop a good keyword summary at the begining of the document that makes a recruiter or employer focus on the document details.