2 Page Resume: When Is It Ok To Use? (With Examples)

A two-page resume could very well crush your chances of landing the job, but only if you are an entry-level or less experienced candidate. Asking “can a resume be two pages” turns out to be a bit of a trick question, as there are scenarios in which a two-page resume is appropriate and scenarios where it isn’t.

Creating a resume that will impress and set you apart from the crowd is a delicate process. A great resume should only contain the most important, impressive, and relevant details of your professional life.

The ideal of a one-page resume is born out of the nature of the application process. One page resumes are more readable and easily digestible to hiring managers who go through countless applications each day. A one-page resume allows them to find the information they are looking for quickly.

However, there are cases where paring down your resume to only one page may hurt you more than it helps you. If you find yourself leaving off crucial details simply to fit it all onto the same page, you may benefit from a well-designed two-page resume.

In this article, we’ll look at how to decide on your correct resume length, how to fit as much info as you can in a small space, and how to write your perfect two-page resume.

How Long Should Your Resume Be?

You may have heard the general rule of thumb that a resume should only be one page in length. Typically this is true, but there are some instances where a two-page resume is perfectly acceptable.

When crafting your resume, the two most important factors to consider are the relevance of the information you’re providing regarding the job and your resume’s overall readability. Great readability means being as concise as possible, but if all your most relevant, important information ends up taking up two pages, that’s okay.

For entry-level candidates or anyone with less than five years of experience in a particular field, the one-page resume rule should be followed. Seasoned workers are allowed, and in some instances even expected, to have a resume that is two or even three pages long.

While the one-page resume rule is useful, it is often followed by workers who have advanced their careers past the need for this rule. While hiring managers expect (or even require) a resume of at least two pages for positions that require high levels of accomplishment, many otherwise qualified candidates lose out for fear of submitting an overly-long resume.

The length of your resume is also determined in part by your industry or specific title. For instance, in academia, you are often required to itemize all of your publications, leading to multiple-page resumes. You will also likely have a multiple-page resume if you hold or are applying for a manager position.

To answer the question again, it is perfectly acceptable for an experienced worker to have a resume of two or more pages. For some employers and positions, it is even expected. The key is to make your resume as short as possible and tailored to the position while still showing that you are highly experienced.

What’s the goal of a resume?

William M. Mitchell CPRW
Resume LinkedIn Profile Development Consultant
The Resume Clinic

The resume is not a place for soliloquies or grandiose musings. Respect your reader’s time and strained focus by keeping content compact and simple.

Recruiters spend 63% of their time on the phone. Because of that they skim resumes for an average of only 7.4 seconds each. Use various strategies to deliver information in easily digestible bites.

Keep sentences to 20-25 words or less wherever possible. Make good use of whitespace and seriously consider for each and every line whether the advantage gained by its presence is worth the extra page real estate occupied and the impact on the reader’s time and concentration.

Tips for Writing a Two-Page Resume

Writing a great two-page resume begins in the same way that writing any resume begins. You’ll have to include the following sections:

• Your name and title

• Relevant contact information

• Summary statement

• Work experience

• Education

• Relevant skills

You’ll also need to include any other sections that round out your resume and demonstrate your relevant experience. This could be volunteer work, publications, hobbies and interests, awards, or any other section that helps you demonstrate your fit for the position.

Here are some other tips for appropriately crafting your two- (or more) page resume:

• Put contact info on all pages, skills, and summary only on page one. This is crucial for clarity and for increasing your chances of being remembered. It also acts as a safeguard in case one or more of your resume pages gets lost.

• Decide the format and maintain consistency. You have the choice between a functional and a reverse chronological resume. A functional resume prioritizes your skills and qualifications, while a reverse chronological resume shows your career mobility and experience.

• List your most important information first. Don’t let the most important aspects of your resume get lost. Be sure to highlight and emphasize your most important works and achievements on page one.

• Don’t continue a section on a different page than you started on. Your second (and third, etc.) page should begin with a new section, not the runoff from a previous section.

• If it’s between one page and one-and-a-half pages, consider revising. If the second page of your resume is less than half a page in length, it gives off an unfinished feel. Consider editing your resume down to one page, or see if there is important information you’ve left out.

• Focus on the past ten years. You may have a career that spans multiple decades, and we congratulate you on the hard work. However, focusing on the last ten years keeps your resume up-to-date (and prevents novel-length resumes).

• Be concise and focused. Just because you’ve decided upon a multiple-page resume, that doesn’t mean you can be extra wordy in your bullet points. You’re going to want to use as few words as possible to get your point across well.

Tips to Make Your Resume Shorter

Regardless of the resume length you’ve decided to go with, you’ll want to be sure that the page length is absolutely necessary for the purposes you’re trying to accomplish. If you suspect that your resume ought to be single-page, but you can’t quite fit it, try implementing the following tips:

1. Focus on the main idea of each sentence and re-word as needed. The ideas you present in each bullet point or sentence should be brief and precise. Re-read your sentences and decide what key idea you’re trying to get across, then shorten them accordingly.

   This goes for any section, including your summary statement. No sentence or bullet point should have more than three lines of text.

2. Take out filler words and extra information. Many article adjectives (“a,” “an,” “the”), conjunctions (“and,” “or”), and prepositions (“to,” “for”) can be omitted with no sacrifice to clarity. It creates a functional style of writing that is considered appropriate for resumes.

   Also, see if there are any places where you are giving supplementary information, and see if you can edit that out.

3. List important accomplishments rather than job duties. As a seasoned worker, listing out all of the duties and responsibilities you held in each one of your jobs can end up taking an incredible amount of space. Further, your most essential responsibilities may get lost amongst all the others.

   A good solution for this is to list only your highest and most relevant accomplishments from each position. Tailor it to the job you’re applying to, and use numbers and hard data whenever possible.

4. Remove anything that isn’t 100% relevant and necessary. If you’ve included any info that is either irrelevant, optional, or doesn’t add much value to your prospects, now’s the time to take it out. Any optional section, such as “hobbies and interests,” should be removed at this stage.

   You’ll also want to remove any info that is a bare minimum expectation for almost anyone in the professional world. Being proficient in Microsoft Word or working independently are not qualifications that will set you apart as a stellar candidate.

   Remove high school educational information if you’ve graduated from college, as your graduating from high school is already assumed. Also, remove your physical address from the contact information unless you expect to be contacted by mail.

5. Change the formatting. Finally, if your resume still isn’t fitting, you can make different design choices. Try widening your resume margins to give yourself more space, though don’t make them smaller than one inch.

Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.