Have you ever sat down to edit your resume and debated if you should condense all of your skills, work experience and education to fit on one page or continue to add more details in order to make yourself appear more desirable to a recruiter or potential employer? If you have ever had this internal debate, you aren’t alone. In fact, this is a very common stumbling block that job candidates come across while applying for open positions. Although there isn’t a right or a wrong answer to this question, one page resumes are the standard across many industries for several reasons. While a single page may not seem like enough to nail down an interview, many hiring professionals expect and prefer candidates who limit their resumes to one page.

 

Limited time: Sadly, employers simply don’t have the time to sit down and carefully analyze every resume that lands on their desk. In fact, an eye tracking study conducted by The Ladders found that recruiters and employers spend an average of only six seconds reviewing each resume. This means that as a candidate, you have a very small window to catch a potential employer’s attention and they typically won’t have the time to look further than the first page.

Easy to find information: That same study by The Ladders found that 80% of the six seconds spent scanning each resume was spent on only four areas. Those areas were: name, current position, previous position, and education. Knowing that these are the main areas that a recruiter or employer will be focusing on, you should clearly highlight them on one page so that they can be easily found. Most hiring professionals prefer a resume that has the information that they are looking for right in front of them so that they don’t need to flip back and forth through pages to find out if you should come in for an interview.

Tailored and focused: Resumes that are one page in length tend to be more tailored to the position that the candidate wants to be considered for, and more focused on the areas that are specifically applicable to that position. Recruiters and employers appreciate resumes that lack “filler”, and instead focus on the skills, experiences and education that the candidate has to offer the position they are applying for. Tailoring and focusing your resume into one page can also ensure that relevant details don’t get lost among the fillers and extras.

Comprehensive picture: Resumes are helpful to recruiters and employers because they provide a picture of the candidate’s potential to succeed in the position. One page resumes give recruiters and potential employers a comprehensive picture of your experience, education, certificates and skills while more than one page resumes can break up the picture, distracting them and making it harder to envision the candidate working for their company.

 

If you find yourself struggling to decide if you should condense your resume to one page or extend it to multiple pages, take these reasons to keep it keep it short and sweet into consideration. You may find that one page is enough to convince a hiring professional that you are worth bringing in for an interview.