Why Experts Need Multi-Page Resumes

The one-page resume rule is a lie. As a resume writer, I'm breaking the industry’s biggest myth. Putting together a great resume takes a bit of expertise. Almost like an architect. All the details matter. 🏰 I'm about to say something that might ruffle a few feathers… The one-page resume rule? It's a myth. And if you're over 50, it's actively hurting your job search. My client Robert is 52 with 25 years of operations experience. He'd spent eight months getting zero responses with a one-page resume from another writer. When I saw it, I could barely read it. It had crammed his entire career—including three company turnarounds—onto one page in font so small I needed to zoom in to read. "But everyone says it has to be one page," he told me. Look, that one-page rule made sense in 1985 when people mailed resumes. Now? It's just a way to force experienced professionals to make themselves look less impressive. Think about it. Would you trust a surgeon who could fit 20 years of medical experience on one page? We expanded Robert's resume to three pages. Within a month, he had six interviews. Two months later, he landed a VP role making $45K more than he was targeting. If you're over 50 and still following the one-page rule, here's what you need to do instead: ✅ 1. Lead with your biggest wins. Put your most impressive accomplishments in the first half-page. Don't bury 25 years of success at the bottom. ✅ 2. Focus on the last 15 years. You don't need every job since 1995. Highlight roles that show progression and impact. Older stuff can get one line or disappear entirely. ✅ 3. Remove graduation dates. Seriously. Nobody cares when you graduated. Your experience speaks louder than any degree date. ✅ 4. If over 35, Use two pages minimum, three max. One page says "I don't have much to offer." Three pages says "I have substantial experience." Find your sweet spot. Your experience isn't a liability. Let’s stop treating it like one. The companies rejecting resumes because they're longer than one page aren't the companies you want to work for anyway. 📌 Ok so question, how long is your resume? Let’s talk about it in the comments. 🎥 (@sand castle university)

Senior engineers: Why are you hiding your career? If your headline or summary says “30+ years of experience” …but your resume only shows the last 10? I’m not impressed — I’m confused. I get it. You’ve heard the advice: “Keep it to 2 pages.” “Don’t go back more than 10 years.” “Less is more.” Here’s my take — as someone who hires senior engineers every week: That advice doesn’t apply to you. You’re not applying for your first job. You’re applying for roles that need your full background — systems, leadership, judgment, and evolution. If you built flight-critical systems in 2001 and that’s still relevant today? I want to see it. If you’ve led complex teams, solved hardware nightmares, or touched classified programs over two decades? Don’t shrink it down to a paragraph. Your resume is not a summary. It’s a blueprint of how you got from engineer to expert. Don’t trim down the parts that prove you’re ready for the next big challenge. Own your experience. Show your depth. Let it work for you. PS- Not sure how to include older experience without overwhelming your resume? I dropped a quick tip in the comments that might help.

As a hiring manager at Amazon, I saw 100s of one-page resumes, and skipped most of them for one common reason. (Here's why these resumes often get rejected.) Most people believe that the shorter the resume, the better it is. But that does not work at the senior level. If you're aiming for a $200K+ role, the company wants to see evidence of impact, scope, strategy, leadership, and results. And a one-page resume cannot show all of that. A highly tailored resume often leaves out: - Cross-functional complexity - Business outcomes and metrics - The scale of ownership (budget, team size, reach) - Strategic initiatives and decision-making So instead of looking concise, you end up looking underwhelming. Here's how ambitious women inside The Fearless Hire get their resumes right, and land $200K-$500k interviews: 1. Don’t list what you were assigned. Show what you changed. Bad: “Managed cross-functional team on internal tools project.” Better: “Led 15-member team across Engineering, Ops, and PM to deploy internal tooling platform, reducing manual reporting by 70% and saving $2.5M annually.” It highlights scope, collaboration, technical delivery, and clear business value. 2. Scope tells the real story, use it. Bad: “Oversaw product roadmap and feature delivery.” Better: “Owned multi-region product roadmap for $80M B2B platform with 12 enterprise clients and 6 cross-functional pods.” Senior hiring managers want to know the size of your impact, budget, team, markets, and complexity. 3. Replace vague filler with high-signal language. Bad: “Results-oriented and detail-focused professional with strong communication skills.” Cut this line entirely and give them a metric-driven win instead. Better: “Scaled platform reliability to 99.98% uptime by leading incident response redesign across 3 global teams.” Two pages is standard for senior roles, if used well. - A one-page resume says: “I’ve done some things.” - A well-structured two-pager says: “I’ve led big things, and here’s how.” But it must earn the space: - Lead with a positioning summary (not a generic intro) - Curate bullets by business impact, not job duties - Use white space and formatting to make it skimmable At the $200K+ level, you’re not applying as a doer. You’re applying as someone with an impact. That’s how your resume needs to read to impress the decision makers. Share this with someone preparing for a high-paying role. P.S. DM me "Career" to apply for The Fearless Hire if you are a mid-career woman aiming at $200k-$500k roles. Let's fix your resume and build a positioning strategy that actually gets you hired.

I've never understood the guidance of limiting people to a one-page resume. Perhaps back in the day when we were dealing with paper resumes - I can see why *some* people would think it's more convenient, but that's centering on the convenience of the reviewers rather than allowing candidates to fully showcase their skills, experiences, and who they are. Does that sound right to you? I think it's selfish and has consequences. It's 2024 - haven't we been working with digital resumes for 25+ years now? How hard/inconvenient is it to scroll to a second or third page??? How many LinkedIn profiles can be viewed fully without scrolling? When you're scanning for BQ's and looking to get a general sense of a person, I've never found the length of a resume to be an issue, and I've personally handled 10+ page resumes (paper and digital). I have never nor will I ever be inconvenienced or bothered by reviewing multi-page resumes. When people have to limit themselves to 1 page, they are often in a position to actively eliminate content - words that might actually make a difference to a human or machine reviewer. How ridiculous is that? When framed this way - it's actually putting people at a disadvantage and lowering their chances of consideration. I know that for some people and for some roles, a one-page resume may be achievable without negative impact, but here's the reality of resumes: - most resumes are viewed digitally now, making length less of an issue - diverse experiences can't always be condensed into one page - longer resumes allow for better visibility in ATS/matching systems - more space means more room to highlight specific accomplishments - some fields, like academia or tech, often require more detailed resumes What's your take on the one-page resume guidance? P.S. I am sure some of you might be thinking or will comment about why resumes should be dead/replaced with something else...I'll share my thoughts on that soon. 😁 #resumes

The 1-page resume "rule" is dead. Last week, an Aspire MSL member sent me her resume for review. She’s an experienced researcher with impressive credentials — but it was one page. I sent it back. Told her to redo it. Why? → Because the one-page rule is outdated and holding too many people back. We live in a digital world. → People are scrolling, not flipping through paper resumes. The idea that you need to cram years of experience and accomplishments into a single page is ridiculous. Your resume should tell a story — who you are, what you’ve done, and why you’re qualified. If you’re cutting valuable details just to hit an arbitrary one-page target, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Hiring managers want to know what you’ve accomplished. → Give them the full picture — even if it takes two or three pages. Stop selling yourself short. → Your career is worth more than a single page. Do you agree — or are you still holding onto the one-page myth?  

More than 95% of Fortune 500 companies now use AI-powered applicant tracking systems (ATS) to screen résumés and these bots don’t care if your credentials fit on one page. Yet students overwhelmingly still cling to the decades-old “one-page rule,” even as rejection rates for online applications exceed 85%. In a hiring landscape dominated by algorithms trained to search for specific keywords and detailed achievements, brevity often equals invisibility. Research shows that longer, well-targeted résumés significantly improve match scores in ATS software and increase callbacks for qualified candidates. It’s time to retire the one-page gospel and embrace a more strategic approach: focus on relevance, detail your impact, and tailor your résumé to each role, even if it runs two or three pages. In today’s market, the biggest mistake isn’t saying too much: it’s saying too little. https://lnkd.in/gepWiAy6

Recently, I reviewed a senior executive's resume and was shocked by several critical issues. It became clear that the resume was generated by a resume builder, which unfortunately led to significant shortcomings. Having worked with Senior Executives and helped them secure highly coveted leadership roles, I can confidently say that his resume had several critical flaws. This resume is unlikely to lead to interviews, networking calls, or any further opportunities. ➡ Critical Flaws in the Resume: - Lack of Context in the Summary: The summary was generic and failed to capture the executive’s unique career trajectory and expertise. - No Quantifiable Achievements: The resume lacked metrics to showcase the executive’s impact, making it hard to assess their contributions. - Lacked Value Proposition: There was no clear value proposition, missing an articulation of the executive's unique strengths and how they could benefit potential employers. - Not Aligned to the Target Job: The resume was not tailored to the executive’s target role, failing to highlight relevant skills and experiences. -One-Page Limitation: Constrained to a single page, the resume did not provide enough space to detail key achievements and qualifications, which is crucial for senior-level candidates. ✨ My recommendations for a Compelling Executive Resume: - Highlight the executive's unique career trajectory and expertise. - Use metrics to demonstrate impact. - Articulate unique strengths and problem-solving abilities. - Tailor the content to align with the target job. - Use a two-page format to detail key achievements and qualifications comprehensively. #executiveresume #jobsearch #executive