5 Reasons Why Your Resume Should be No More Than Two Pages

I get this question a lot. If you’re a sales professional, a crisp resume is a must. But the more experience you have, the longer the resume usually becomes. Most people “update” their resume by adding the new job to the top of the page and call it a day.

But Sonja, I heard a three-page resume is fine.

Just about everyone, from your next-door neighbor to your old boss, has an opinion on your resume. In fact, the more people you ask, the more opinions you’ll get! And of course these views will often contradict each other. 

How do you know what to do? Who should you listen to?

Take it from a recruiter: we look at thousands of resumes over a year, and we decide who to interview based on LinkedIn profiles, referrals, and resumes.

“How can you stand out when a recruiter or hiring manager has an in-box of 200+ resumes to review? That is why first impressions—particularly visual impressions—are so vital to your success in the job search process.”
— Wendy Enelow & Louise Kursmark, Modernize Your Resume: Get Noticed… Get Hired

#1. People Have Short Attention Spans

Resumes are skimmed, not read. And if your resume is too long, you won’t be called. 

No call, no interview. Your resume has one job: get hiring managers and recruiters to pick up the phone.

#2. There’s Never Enough Time in a Day

Recruiters have 25 to 50 jobs to fill at once, and always have more applicants than openings. For every single opening, there are at least 250 applicants. 

If a recruiter has 25 open requisitions to fill, that’s 6,250 resumes or more to review, and reviewing resumes is only part of the job. So KISS: keep it to one or two pages.

#3. Craft the Right Message

Your resume should be tailored to an audience, and as a salesperson you already know how this works: lead with what the buyer cares about. 

If you’re sending cold resumes out, think about your reader and adjust your messaging accordingly. Two pages force you to make those choices instead of sending everything and hoping.

#4. Stop at Fifteen Years

It’s easy to get attached to something on your resume. Maybe it’s that stellar performance you had at IBM nineteen years ago. 

But no matter how much experience you have, your resume should cover the last ten to fifteen years and not more. If you want to preserve the full work history, keep a master resume and submit it later in the process if requested.

Although it may seem impossible to fit fifteen years into two pages, anyone can make it happen with the right amount of editing. 

If you struggle to eliminate chunks, keep the focal point on your last three roles, because that’s what matters most, and remove bullets from older positions since those accomplishments become less valuable over time. 

It may be painful at first, but once you get started, it gets easier.

#5. Your Resume Makes a Rapid Impression

Most resumes get 6 seconds of love and attention. 

Yes, that seems short, considering it took you 10 years to earn those achievements and at least 8 hours to type them up. 

But think about meeting someone for the first time. Humans make rapid decisions based on first impressions. Sure, it’s not fair, but it’s reality. 

Consolidating your greatest achievements into two pages makes it easy for hiring managers to see your successes at their own break-neck pace. 

Every word on your resume needs to work hard to get you an interview, and hiding your hard-won accomplishments in a cluttered Word document only sells you short.

The Big Idea

Most resumes should be one or two pages. Resume length is one of the few instances where less is more, and these rules won’t let you down:

• Five years of experience or less: one page.
• Ten years of experience or more: two pages.

Consolidate aging experience, and eliminate bullets that tout “coordinating,” “administering,” and other activities. 

Make room for achievements, goal attainment, and awards instead. That swap, from duties to results, is the one simple shift that improves any sales resume.

If your resume is three pages or, gasp, more, you have some editing to do. Start with these five quick resume fixes, then try it and see if you don’t land more interviews.