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before anyone asks, I should clarify this is the Word version of a resume. If you are going to create a text version just left justify everything and change the formatting a bit:

NAME
Street Adresss
City, St ZIP
Phone
E-mail

EDUCATION

XXXX – XXXX
University, Location
Degree, Grad date
GPA

you get the idea

Hmmm.

I dunno what to say. I've got a rather long resume--by anyone's standards. Even the "abbreviated version" comes in at about 6 pages I believe. Even using your point form I'd probably hit four pages.

Trouble is, I've been a consultant/contractor for far too long I guess. I've accumulated a great deal of dissimilar experience, and I end up putting it all on there. I have been pretty good at trimming out alot tho'.

I suspect I haven't had trouble before, due to fact that I don't often submit a resume to a singular job as much as I'm recruited out of a database somewhere, and let's face it: More Keywords == More Hits.

I don't tend to directly apply for specific jobs, so I imagine that the rules are somewhat different. Even so, I've never had a problem there before.

I guess the other point is, that I'm not so sure that I feel confident that point form facts can illustrate as much as I'd like.

So here's my question: On an abbreviated (2 pgs!) resume, how can you as a recruiter really get a feel for someone's depth? Sure, you can see the places they have worked, but do you get to feel that the candidate has nearly "seen it all"?

I find most of the developers I mentor these days, would not have more than two pages, even at the pace I wrote my current resume, so the level of detail would be similar.

Now, I did do a stripped down version in HTML, which had collapsing sections that you could click on to see more information, but I wasn't sure that any recruiter would care enough to bother.

And additionally, if you really are looking for a formulated answer for resumes, why not build a web interface that gets simply the data in the format that you require. Or is that why the system for that is in place on the Microsoft.com careers site? ;p

Garrett

How technical should a resume be? It is always tough to know if I get too geeky in my responsibilities and accomplishments, will the HR front door know what I am talking about and pass me along to the insider who definitely knows what I am talking about? Patents and publications can be especially confusing because they are aimed at a very niche group.

At some point education becomes a distant memory <g>, so wouldn't it be better to list Experience/Achievements first? I would imagine that if your last qualification was obtained > 5 years ago, then the previous positions held since then would be more relevant. Obviously if you're a recent graduate or you don't have a lot of experience then your education becomes more important.

This might be the ultimate dumb question:

If I apply to two job offers via the Microsoft Careers web page and customize my resume for each position, do these two resumes coexist in the tracking system, does one overwrite the other, or are they merged?

The point is: get the resume into the hands of the "right" person, not so much to get the "right" format of the resume itself.

BTW, 6 pages is WAY too long. You can get away with 3, though.

Daniel - the resumes will actually coexist in the tracking system.

wow. lots of comments.

Garrett - good points. I'd say a resume should largely be a "teaser" for a longer version or interview. You need to hit the highlights. And we do have a resume builder on our website.

Niall - the more technical, the better. We want to know about your contributions. I think a good way to think of it is recruiters can understand tech speak ... we just may not be able to speak it back to you.

Kevin - it's ok to list education at the bottom, but (and this is just me) education is the first thing I scan to, no matter how experienced someone is

Daniel - the resumes co-exist. I talked about that a bit in the "journey of a resume" post. So you could submit different versions for different jobs.

Udi - good points. hopefully some of these ideas will help get your resume in the hands of the right people.

I am working on a resume that I hope to keep to one page. I have graduated from college (ComSci) in 1998 and since then I have been a software engineer for 3 years and a security analyst for 2+.

Having recently gotten certified in information security (CISSP) all signs are I love information security as a career choice. Since my prior software experience was in an SEI-CMM 5 environment, I feel the software development experience complements information security from a software quality or auditing perspective and that information security is critical going forward with technology.

How can I convey all this in a one-page resume? Is a resume that's one page for a very technical field a shot in the arm or the foot?

Thanks,

Patrick
colemnpg@msn.com

Patrick - we've been getting a lot of these questions. Advising on your resume is hard not knowing more about your, what you want to include on your resume, what type of job you are seeking etc.

Here are some general thoughts though. Not every resume has to be one page. In fact, if there is information that you think is important I see no reason why you couldn't have a second page. Just follow some of the guidelines that Gretchen and I have given around being concise, direct and focused on your resume. I think this might get you a fairly strong resume :-)

So, basically, it's CV/resume lottery ! One recruiter wants education at top, another at the bottom, one thinks cover letters are important, another doesn't.

This isn't a flame, just noting that 3 recruiters at the same company have 3 different views, so really we should just make our resume the best we think it can be, avoid obvious mistakes, and not worry too much about whether you've put education at the top or the bottom !

anu

Yes. Those were all our preferences. Content is most important.

Well, what I'm wondering about ishow much of a difference it makes to you if, for example, education is at the top [or at the bottom]. I understand you have a preference, we all have innate preferences/biases/likes and dislikes, but does it affect the way you view and judge the resume ?

If not, then I have no issue at all, if it does, then I'm not entirely sure that's fair - do you see what I mean ?

But I am finding this a fascinating insight into the minds of recruiters ;-) !!

cheers

anu

No, no. it really doesn't matter about format. I was just giving my opinion of what I like best, but it does not make me reject a resume b/c it's not in my preferred format. Again, content is what matters. Also, if you read all our opinions, you'll notice the difference are slight - but the basic concept is the same: direct, concise, and tells us about your contributions.

I appreciate all the information I have reviewed on this site. I changed careers recently which involved taking an Information Technology course. I obtained my MCSE, MCSA, A+, and Network+ in about 7 months. I have a few years previous experience in customer service. I have since worked with MSN support and I am currently employed at IBM Canada. I was wondering about your thoughts concerning function and hybrid resumes for a technical position for someone changing career paths or would you still recommend the above format. I am of the understanding that the functional or hybrid allows one to carry transferable skills forward in an efficient manner.

Sincerely,


Mark Ghobril
mark.ghobril@msn.com

Hi Mark - I would always recommend a chronological resume, perhaps accompanied by a cover letter that explains your career goals. This is the best format to get your resume read and noticed. You could also develop a functional or hybrid resume, but I would only send that to a recruiter or hiring manager once you get a personal call.

> So, basically, it's CV/resume lottery ! One recruiter
> wants education at top, another at the bottom, one
> thinks cover letters are important, another doesn't.
>
> This isn't a flame, just noting that 3 recruiters at
> the same company have 3 different views, so really we
> should just make our resume the best we think it can
> be, avoid obvious mistakes, and not worry too much
> about whether you've put education at the top or the
> bottom !

I've noticed the same problem and I think this is the ultimate justification for pushing XML resume formats on a global scale.

That way, if a certain company likes education at the top, they can bloody well have their stylesheet put education at the top. Then the unfair bias will go away, and people start getting hired based on more sensible comparisons such as their actual qualifications to do the job.

I'm sure it's a pipe dream, but at least it's good to see HR-XML in use, even by Microsoft. Maybe one day everyone _will_ use HR-XML for their resumes. :-)

My entry-level first job resume looks quite similar to that format. But now that I'm a professional with 3 years experience, I'd like to take out the three internships that had previously taken up all the real estate on my resume, with my current job and all it's tasks. Does ONLY one job experience, albeit a very good job experience with many responsibilities, look weird, uninteresting, or less appealing than having three experiences listed? Is there any reason to list growth experience internships despite the fact that those internships are not nearly technically demanding as my current full time job?

Ed - overall I think that your internship experience was valuable and you should include it on your resume. You may want to lesson the amount of space/content that you give or provide to this area of your experience, but internships should still be listed. I have had about 6 years of post grad work experience and I still list my internships and so does Gretchen :)

A few years ago I decided to postpone the final year of my CSC degree to take a full time job with a software company where I was an intern. Now, 5 years later, I've risen to the level of senior developer. The fact that I only have 3/4 of a diploma was never a problem, but now that I'm starting to explore other opportunities, I'm afraid it could become one. How do you suggest that I convey my education on my resume? I want to be upfront about the fact that I didn't finish my degree, but I don't want that to be the point where the recruiter stops reading

Jeremy - interesting that you ask this question. Gretchen and I had a similar conversation about this with a peer about a week ago. My biggest piece of advice would be to list your educational experience, but indicate that you did not finish your degree. In the age of background checks, if you fail to include this piece of information it could come back to haunt you later.

My thought is you probably finished as much as was valuable to you in your program and have learned even more in the ensuing years. Just be honest and upfront and I don't think this could really harm you in the long run.

Best of luck!

Almost the same situation for me. I went to college for 3.5 years after graduating HS in 1989. I came within 20-30 units of graduating but had job opportunities come up that I could not turn down. One thing led to another, and now it's 2004 and I never finished my degree, but have over 9 years work experience.

My question would be, how do I best design my resume given the following situation. I worked for myself and ran my own web business for the first 4 years out of college, then sold my business and went to work for a company where I am today, now with 5 years here. Meantime, I've been doing my own thing with a few successful web sites on the side. How do I present the years of work I did on my own?

Also, where I work, I'm kind of a jack-of-all-trades in IT, doing everything from ASP to .NET to networking to SQL to writing DALs and Business objects. Of course, I prefer writing code, and specialize in DB-driven .NET apps, but how does it look to not have ever formally specialized in anything?

Francesco - I would probably recommend writing the side work you did in a special section (like "independent work experience"). You should definitely mention it though.

I can't really answer your last question. I think it depends on the job for which you are applying. Some jobs require someone who has been a jack of all trades. Some require people who were specialized in a certain area. Again, I think I'd just list out all your experience, and if there is a particular area you want to specialize in moving forward, talk about it in your objective and be sure to highlight it in your experience.

The perfect CV??

I sent in a resume to EA this morning through my good friend Nathan, who was kind enough to start up...

that is a very nice standard resume

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