Your Three Most Common Resume Questions Answered (And Explained)

Do you have well-meaning friends and family members who love to share their opinions on what your resume should look like? Do many of these opinions conflict with each other? Don’t worry, we can help straighten some things out. Let’s go over three of the most commonly asked resume questions:

Question #1: Should you limit your resume to one page?

The short answer on this is: it depends. Yes, yes, yes, this may not be the ironclad answer you hoped for, but before you accuse us of click-bait, let us explain.

Ultimately, the length of your resume is going to depend on what type of job you are applying for.  For most jobs, a dynamic one-page resume that hits on the major points of the job ad and sells your skills and experience will be your best option. For a more senior level job, or one that involves technical or engineering skills, you may need to include more information, so Hiring Managers will be okay receiving a two or even three page resume.

Question #2: How much experience should I include on my resume?

Should you be include your late-90’s stint at Blockbuster Video in your resume? Unless the job ad explicitly asked for experience stocking copies of Speed 2 on a shelf, the answer is, sadly, no.

Hiring Managers are interested in the types of experience that is relevant to the position they are hiring for. Your goal is to share it in a concise way and not overstay your welcome. Unless it is extremely relevant, or it fills long job gaps, you can leave out food service and temp work.  In addition, while you may need to go back more than a decade for the aforementioned technical or senior jobs, Hiring Managers aren’t interested in reading more than ten years of experience, so anything more than a decade old can be cut out as well.

Question #3: What education should you include on your resume?

First things first: employers assume that you went to high school, so unless it is your latest educational experience, you can leave it off your resume. As for college, you can list each college you attended, from community to grad school, along with what you have studied. If you are still actively in college, mention that you are ‘pursuing’ your degree.  One item that you shouldn’t list with your education is the years you attended. Employers can’t legally take age into account, so adding a timeframe for when you attended college isn’t necessary.