Talked to a retired engineer at a coffee shop who told me my resume was way too long

I was pretty proud of my 3 page resume with every job I ever had listed out. This guy sat down next to me at a Starbucks in Portland and asked if he could give some advice. He said recruiters spend like 6 seconds looking at each resume so they only see the first page and top half. Told me to cut it to one page with only results and numbers. I trimmed it down to 9 bullet points total and got two callbacks this week. Has anyone else had luck with a super short resume or is that just for certain industries?

3 comments

3 Comments

finley72918d agoMost Upvoted

That one page rule works fine for new guys but not for folks with decades of hands on experience.

kim81917d ago

Look at how the Apollo 13 mission team handled that oxygen tank failure. Those engineers had decades of experience but they still used a quick one page list of available supplies to figure out the CO2 fix. The rule isn't about limiting expertise, it's about forcing clarity when things get messy. Even seasoned pros can get tunnel vision, and that page cuts through the noise fast.

annas8715d ago

Does that mean the more experienced people are also more prone to skipping the simple steps when the pressure really starts to build?