In recent years I have been seeing a high percentage of resumes that are too long. Two pages used to be the standard. Now it seems like three pages has become normal. Then there is the cover letter that many people use to say even more about themselves, sometimes running to two pages. All this is too much information for an advertised position submittal.

A resume should entice readers to want to meet the person who wrote it to learn more about them. Resumes should contain some information about the person’s work accomplishments. This information is your marketing pitch. A listing of qualifications, and degrees and work history is also recommended. These sections set the stage for more interaction and details that will be developed in a meeting or phone call.

In addition to these basic and essential components, people are adding hundreds of words describing attributes and qualities of themselves to try to prove how good they are. Phrases such as team builder, leader in development, skilled at improving processes, etc. are found, typically as an introduction to the resume work history sections. These descriptions are all self generated, therefore they are useless.

Why are job seekers adding all this material? Possibly because it’s too easy to write and compose documents on the computer. Now we are getting so good at composition that we forget the purpose.

Just slow down and think about what you have to offer and concentrate on showing enough details of your accomplishments to engender good interest level in the reader. I think 800 to 1000 words are adequate for this purpose. Use your Review tab in MSWord to locate the Word Count function to keep track of how many words you are writing.

I have always thought that the cover letter should be what the name implies, just a cover for the attached resume. It’s not a supplement to the resume or a list of additional aspects of the sender. If there is anything good in the cover letter then I wonder why it is not in the resume. In most offices the cover letter is not even sent to the hiring managers. They only get the resumes.

When you write more than 1000 words in the cover letter and the resume you are revealing that you cannot compose or edit your own thoughts carefully, and that you might be one of those people who talk too much. Don’t forget that one of the most important aspects of the hiring process is filtering out the many responses that most companies receive. I get responses from all over the planet. I spend far more time deleting material than I do calling potential candidates.

Part of the problem with 1000 or more word resumes and cover letters is the time it takes to read them exceeds my attention span. I am not an exceptionally fast reader, but after 30 seconds I am ready for the next resume, having decided keep or delete for the one before me.

On the other hand I still see resumes with shortcuts and informal construction. If your given name is Ronald, then use it, don’t call yourself Ronny on the resume. If you have a work email, don’t use it on your resume, use your home email or a Gmail or yahoo account. Don’t use your work phone number. These features reveal your lack of respect for your current employer’s time and equipment.

In addition to resumes that are verbose, I am seeing detailed personal information and unsuitable photographs on LinkedIn and Facebook. If I am interested in a person’s resume, before I make any additional commitment of my time, I check their listings on these social and business networking sites. If I still feel comfortable with what I see then I may call a person on the phone. Too often I see material that causes me to discard that resume and go on to the next one in the pile.

I have also noticed that the current recession has caused long resumes of more mature and older people to appear in my inbox. These resumes are long because of the length of time people have spent working, and stating the many jobs they have held. But I have no interest in learning details about your work 30 years ago. Just make note of the early employment and spend your words on the most recent contribution you have made to society and your employers.

In many resumes I see the very first sentence contains a phrase about the number of years the person has in doing their work. Commonly this is “23 years of experience” or a variation on that type of statement. I see this and am immediately ready to hit the delete key. We are not hiring people with 23 years of experience. We are hiring people with 23 years of significant accomplishments.

Likewise, the extra words about your proficiency in team building and so on can be deleted if you just show the results, achievements and accomplishments that you created using those skills. Those will validate your potential value to an organization far more effectively than hundreds of self generated adjectives.

These current topics in resume writing should offer some help in our difficult job market. Call me at 847-382-6015 if you have any questions or email your resume to danbrockman@comcast.net for a free critique.

Dan Brockman is a frequent article writer for magazines and ezines on the subject of resume writing, job hunting and placement using recruiters. Dan has been a recruiter for 30 years and has 50 years in the business world to qualify him to write informative materials with authority.

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