I have this situation, when I apply for jobs I have sent 3 page CV with depth of information. I am exploring new opportunities in my field of interest. Should I send resume that is one page with minimal info, just the basic or send a 3 page CV. Some HR and managers are ok with CV as they can get more info on what I have done and decide if they want to call. But when they are getting hundreds of application for a job, is it wise to send elaborate CV or a concise resume?
I only send a one page resume and let the portfolio do the rest of the talking.
One page resume that’s detailed and concise. One page CV and have PDF samples of your work available if they request it.
Thanks! I updated to a new one page resume. I 've " designed" the page in illustrator for pdf rather than a word document. I am wondering if recruiters will think it is too much or find difficult to process through their keyword search.
One CLEAN page resume. No pictures, only black and white text. You should have an additional page for references, but do not send that version until it is requested. The 1 page resume can be a design challenge in itself. We can usually tell immediately by the formatting of the resume if it is worth looking at a portfolio. Same goes for the cover letter. Don’t muck up your inquiry with a bad cover letter. Also if it isn’t clear on a company website always send email first and ask if you can send resume and samples (also 1 pdf) and where they should be sent. Don’t waste your money on postage, it’s 2012 for goodness sakes!
After nearly 15 years of experience and tons of things that don’t neatly fit, I finally broke into a two page resume, so I’d find it pretty odd to look at a resume from a junior or even senior candidate that needed to be more than one page. Edit down to the essential and assume the person looking at it is looking at 200 others. If you could get it into 4 lines I’d be much more impressed than 3 pages.
It can be a challenge to edit down to what is needed but it really helps you to understand your core value at each position. This is mine: http://michaelditullo.com/Design/RESUME.html
A resume length should be comparable with your experience and position. A junior or recent grad needs not more than 1 page and should be sure tO include only relevant info. Don’t pad it with you job at McDonald’s or your paper route. A manager 10-15+ years probably has a cv with 2 pages and includes relevant experience other than employment such as teaching, guest speaking, board of director positions, etc. if you are super famous like Karim you probably don’t even have a resume, just one line with contact info for your booking agent.
R
I believe that this is the important part.
Not sure that the number of pages is that crucial. I have done quite a lot of stuff, both professionally and education-wise, even though I am applying for junior positions. (An I am not talking about stints at McD or the like)
So in my case it is the questions whether I cramp everything onto one page, with tiny type or if I lay it out in a clean and simple fashion onto pages, which are easy to browse and to understand.
I decided to go for the latter and have one page dedicated to contact info, education and skills and then have a second page with experience, exhibitions and awards. In other words a personal page and a professional page.
I concise’d my resume to a page. I did this few weeks back and I have been using this. What’s your comments? things to change or improve? Thanks!
I’d prefer it if:
It was in portrait format
Had your name at the top, not Shyam Ideas
Didn’t have the “score card” look.
Experience should come before education.
right now the first thing I see is that you rate yourself as 4 stars in Alias Studio Tools which is about the last thing I care about when looking through a resume. The entire interests and knowledge sec ion I find awkward.
Don’t like the landscape format or the star ratings. The background text makes everything unclear. Shyam ideas font is not good. Rest looks laid out ok.
Is your name Shyam ideas?
R
How would you scan through a resume, any order?
1.Objective, or purpose
2. Experience
3. Awards and recognition
4. Skills- Digital, personal abilities
5. Education
“Interest and Knowledge is awkward”, meaning its not necessary, don’t care, or?
@ both Micahel & Richard, thanks for the great points. I had it Shyam Ideas to have a “Name” for freelance and contracts and to keep it same as the name in the web. Maybe the score card is outdated and defers from the purpose.
Why do you prefer portrait to landscape? I used landscape to fit things better with some white space.
I saw both of your resume, and I see your extensive experience, awards and how few things are in common. Either show your digital skills and I understand that at your level of experience, it is a small thing than others that proves your capability.
How were your resume when you were recent grads?
This is my order of importance as I scan through:
Experience
Education
Soft skills (presentation skills, working style, etc)
Overview - this can be a simple paragraph about you and can be helpful
Recommendations (do you know anyone I know who things you are good)
Here is what I don’ care about:
Skills - I don’t want to hear about your hard skills. Saying you are a good sketcher is not worth anything to me, it is just taking up space. SHOW me in the portfolio.
Awards and Recognition - they are gravy but not important
Objective - I’m going to assume your objective is to get a job with me
Interests - some people like to see this, but I don’t care if you snowboard. I guess it would be of interest to me if you listed something like design history.
I’ll try to see if I can dig up my resume from when I was a recent grad. It is probably on a Zip disk somewhere! 
I remember my first boss saying he loved my resume because it was super clean, it didn’t have any tricks, and didn’t fluff anything. I think I literally only had half the page filled up. It clearly stated in one typeface my name and contact info, where I went to school, the one internship I had, the couple of freelance gigs I completed, a couple of awards at the end and that was it. I remember him saying he didn’t usually interview people from the school I went to because he felt they usually were not up to par, but that my resume caught his eye so he gave my portfolio a look, and that was that. My first job.
@Michael, great to see your priority and hope to see your oldies.
Some things that I am still biased is the corporate hiring process, HR scanning and choosing candidates through keywords. Wouldn’t it be to your advantage if you have most of the words from the job description so that the computer can filter you for the interview? such as computer skills.
I think there can be 2 different resume, one to show Designers that you approach directly and one for HR for keyword filters. Does this sound practical?