Resume advice?

[Orrex]

I've been with my employer since 1999, but I'm heading to a job fair in the next few days to get a sense of my prospects and possibly land a better gig. I haven't had to complete a resume in years, and I'm a little confused about some of the basics. Can you help?

How many pages are acceptable? I've pared it down as much as I can (I think), but it still takes up a full page and a half. I've heard that brevity is vital, but how much is too much/too little?

How long should my "Objective" be? Just a sentence? Two? A brief paragraph?

Is it acceptable to list a salary requirement, or is that not suitable for the resume itself?

For each entry under "Professional Experience," how many bullet points should I list? I don't want to seem like I'm padding my info, but I want to be sure to list enough relevant detail.

Thanks very much for any insight you can offer. Wish me luck!

[lukasahero]

1. If you've been in the workforce a while

two pages is pretty standard. I know the "word on the street" is one page but I don't think anyone believes that's reasonable for a seasoned professional any more. The key is to get all the real important stuff in the first third of the first page. Things like a summary of your experience and qualifications.

"Objectives" statements aren't really used any more. As much as we would like it to be different, the fact is employers are looking for what you can do for them, not what you are looking to do. And, since it's usually put at the top of the resume, it takes up valuable real estate that should be used for the key qualifications I note in the first paragraph.

DO NOT put salary requirements in your resume. DO NOT discuss salary (if at all possible) until the prospective employer brings it up. This gives you far better bargaining power.

Three to five bullet points is sufficient for each item in "Prof Experience". But don't make stuff up. Use figures as much as possible (numbers, percentages and dollars). Consider using a format in this category that lists your title with a brief summary of the job description and then bullet point your "Key accomplishments" in the role (Saved the company X dollars or Increased sales by X % in the bullet points here.)

Oh yeah, and since I've seen it done recently, not that you asked, don't put any personal info like hobbies etc on the resume. Nobody cares any more.

And most of all, GOOD LUCK!

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

2. Two pages, I agree.

Here's a question, since I'm actively searching for a job (currently unemployed): several ads have asked for salary requirements. I've read online where some "experts" suggest putting in a range, some suggest to chance just leaving it out...what's your take (anyone? anyone?)?

[lukasahero]

3. Personally? Even if asked, I would leave it out.

If they come back and ask again, have your facts ready to support your asking range. If you've never visited salary.com, I highly recommend it. You can get current rates for just about every job imagineable and "personalize" it by experience and location. If you feel your resume won't even be looked at without the information (I'll go on as to why I don't believe that in my next paragraph), go with a broad range supported by your research of market rates.

Why do I think leaving salary off your resume won't be a show stopper? Conventional wisdom right now is that you get about 15 seconds for your resume to capture a screener's attention. If you make it past that cut, you are probably good enough in the screener's eyes to warrant further consideration regardless of whether or not you have listed your salary. If you don't get their attention, then they won't bother looking at your range anyway (or if they do, you should probably run away anyway!) So I say, leave it off and leave yourself room to negotiate.

I suppose there's always the "address their question without actually saying anything" approach that could be used as well. That's where you say something like "Salary requirements within current market rates" but I think that's pretty obviously a cheap trick. It may not be a deal breaker if I thought the candidate was really good but if they were on the cusp so to speak, it might push them off my "yes" list.

Good luck in your search.

[Orrex]

4. Sorry for my delayed response

Thank you for your advice. My resume ran to two pages with a "references available on request" notation at about the middle of page two. I wasn't sure about the Objectives section, and the advice I got was split just about 50/50, so I kept it. But I agree--employers don't generally care what I'm looking to accomplish except as it benefits them. And, anyway, aren't all objectives pretty much the same fluff? "Looking for a position with a strong, growing company offering good potential for advancement" blah blah blah

Thanks again for your help. If anything turns up for me, I'll post here with a follow-up.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

5. Good luck!

[lukasahero]

6. Resumes aren't set in stone

That's a good thing to remember. Whatever form your resume is in right now, it doesn't have to stay that way forever. If you get good responses from it, great - leave it just the way it is. If a week or two from now you find you haven't had any bites, tweak it again. I must have done my resume over about 20 times when I was laid off back in 2003. It was interesting to watch the response to it and now that I have tweaked it and tweaked it, it generates a lot of interest when I update it on monster.

That is another thing to note as well. If you're using electronic job boards, remember to go in routinely and "tweak" your resume to get it back at the top of the heap. You don't even have to change anything on it, just go in to it and save it again as though you had updated it. The way the boards work is the most recently added/updated resumes come up in a search first - you want to keep yours at the top.

And yes, please do post here when the offers start flooding in! :)

[rosesaylavee]

7. One piece of advice...

at the top of your resume right after your name and contact information and/or your objective sentence, list 'accomplishments'in order of importance. These bulleted items can range from how you are to work with (Highly professional, motivated, organized, outgoing, and energetic; resourceful problem-solver who thrives in fast-paced environment) to specific things you have done with others or alone (Developed sales leads resulting in $7M worth of contracts in x amount of time).

Those looking at resumes may scan several hundred at a time - if you can grab them with a bullet point at the top of the page that applies to what they are looking for - you have a better chance of getting them to actually read the entire resume from top to bottom.

Good luck!

[snagglepuss]

8. kick