How Long Should a Resume Be in 2024? (Best Practices)

Introduction

Shortlisting resumes is the initial step in the entire hiring process. You must list all your achievements and skill sets to make your resume stand out from the crowd.

But when writing a resume, you may need to remember how long a resume should be? The length of the resume solely depends upon your experience and educational background. The most appropriate size is one page in most cases.

Exceptional cases are always there. If you are from higher management, like a CEO, director, or scientist, the length of the resume can go up to two to three pages as well.

What is the Best Length of a Resume?

This section is bifurcated into three titles to understand the resume's length better. Find out the category you fit into:

Freshers / Students / Beginner's level employees

How long should a resume be if you are a student? The answer to this question is one page.

There may be scenarios where you need to complete it on one page. In that case, you can elaborate on your educational qualifications, volunteer work, or any project undertaken to make your resume look appealing and more potential.

But freshers need to keep in mind that they should not exceed it. As you don't have work experience, you are not supposed to bluff your resume.

The same answer applies to entry-level employees with two to three years of experience. A one-page resume is enough for the beginners where they can flourish all the details on a page.

Mid-level employees

Mid-level employees are categorized as people with more than five years of experience. Again, the ideal length of a resume is one page, but this is not a hard and fast rule. In many cases, a two-page resume will also do.

But you need to understand that all important details you have to mention on page one as many hiring managers may not turn to page two.

You need to keep in mind that your resume needs to showcase all your achievements and skill set. You need to choose very wisely what details your resume needs to have and what needs to be omitted.

Top-designated employees

Top-designated employees like the CFO, CEO, Director, Medical Researcher, or some top-notch officers from the Government undertaking can make a two-page resume or more.

However, if you have more than ten years of experience, you must remember to add details of the last three to four years of employment and not focus on the job you did 15 years ago.

For example, if you have been the manager of the market research team for five years, you don't need to show that you worked as a social media accounts intern as a fresher.

Next time, you think about how detailed a resume should be and think about the latest achievements rather than long-back progress to add to a resume.

Resumeup helps you choose the resume template that works well for you based on your experience and the field.

What is a 30-second Rule for a Resume?

When crafting the resume, you must remember some golden rule. Remember, your resume is not alone in the pile. It gets compared with all the others. Your resume should get onto the interview pile within 30 seconds. Otherwise, you’ll never get a chance to appear for the interview.

It’s important to structure your resume focusing on the – Content as well as the formatting.

You must mention your achievements, skills, educational qualifications, and other career highlights. How will you do that on a single page?

• Consider things to remove from your resume - You must select things of fundamental importance. For example, once you have adequate experience, you can remove any volunteer work or full-fledged educational details from your resume. Instead, fill it in with the latest career advancements and achievements.
• Take care of the formatting— The proper formatting can add some extra space to your potential. Consider working on the document margins and font size. You don't have to choose a fancy font size and style. Make your resume appear formal while remembering that it has to be readable.
• Use bullet points - Use only bullet points. For every role you add - use three to four bullet points. Make these points brief. Use concise and to-the-point sentences. Resume Bullet Points Generator can help you come up with the clean bullet list format based on the inputs provided.
• Tailor according to the job application - The information you are flourishing in the resume has to be relevant. For example, if you are applying for a software engineer position and have teaching experience, it is better to remove the teaching experience.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a three-page resume too long?

A three-page resume depends upon your achievements and the fields you are working in. For example, if you are working in a medical field with more than 15 years of experience, your resume can go up to three pages, as you have to mention all your work areas and job profiles in detail.

However, in such cases, you must also remove all the outdated methodologies and experiences you may have.

On the other hand, if you are a fresher, regardless of your field of study, a three-page resume is too long and inappropriate.

How do you fit a resume on a single page?

You need to carefully craft the resume outline and express it in bullet points, and in a concise manner. You need to show your recent tasks and jobs. What if you have worked in 10 organizations? How would you deal with such a situation?

Add only three to four years of recent job experience in that case.

The best is to get help from resume builder platforms like resumeup.ai.

Would the resume builder platform consider how detailed a resume should be?

Yes, the resume builder is the best platform to get the most desirable resume with the higher chances of shortlisting the candidature.

The platform will manage the resume's length while ensuring that all the essential details are mentioned.

How do I complete a one-page resume as a fresher?

You can elaborate on the educational qualifications if you cannot fill in one page as a fresher. You can also add any volunteer accomplishments or projects undertaken to fill in the entire page.

Final words

If you are still thinking that a resume has to be one page, then analyze your category — are you a student, mid-level, or higher level?

But if you are still confused and don't know how to make an impactful resume, simply head to resumeup.ai, which will help you create the most relevant and informative resume.