Best Practices For Engineering Resume Length

I’ve been seeing a lot of one-page resumes lately — and I want to urge IT job seekers to think twice. My perspective may differ from recruiters or hiring managers in other industries, but in Information Technology, a one-page resume often does more harm than good. Here’s why: 1. If your career is longer than four years, one page is not enough to show the technologies you’ve worked with and the responsibilities you’ve held. 2. You risk underselling yourself if you compress years of valuable experience into a single page. That said, your resume also shouldn’t be five or six pages long because no one will read that much detail. The sweet spot is usually 2–3 pages, with enough space to highlight your technical skills, projects, measurable outcomes, education and certifications without overwhelming the reader. Bottom line: In IT, your resume is your chance to show depth. Don’t cut it short. But also don’t bury the reader in unnecessary detail. Strike the right balance. For those in IT: what’s the ideal resume length you’ve found works best? #ResumeTips #JobSearch #InformationTechnology #CareerAdvice #Recruiting

Despite what you may have heard about sticking to one page, there's no hard-and-fast rule for how long your resume should be. Let me break down the pros and cons to help you make the right choice for you. 𝐏𝐫𝐨: 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 Single-page resumes make you summarize your points concisely. You'll be less tempted to add fluff. Hiring managers appreciate candidates who can pitch their skills succinctly rather than waste their time.This is ideal for entry-level job seekers and recent graduates. 𝐂𝐨𝐧: 𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐃𝐨 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 For executives and mid-level professionals, a one-page resume simply won't showcase your achievements effectively. Your years of experience and accomplishments are worth sharing with hiring managers. Don't fear that second page! Research shows recruiters were 2.3 times more likely to hire someone with a two-page resume (and 2.9 times more likely for managerial roles). 𝐒𝐨, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞? If you're a recent graduate or seeking entry-level roles, one page is typically sufficient. Employers expect minimal experience and will appreciate conciseness. When competing for higher-level roles, hiring managers expect longer resumes. Two pages give you space to clearly express your skills, accomplishments, and experience without cutting essential details. For executives with extensive accomplishments, publications, or specialized training, a three-page resume may be best. Use that third page strategically for publications, education, and awards. Here are 5 general guidelines to help you maximize every inch of resume space: 1. Ditch the Filler Cut fluff or "resume speak" from your resume. Instead, incorporate keywords from the job description to show how you match their requirements. 2. Skip the Technical Jargon Employers are more impressed by concise, powerful statements than technical, complex words. Aim for simple, substantial, memorable statements. 3. Strengthen Your Case with Supporting Details Replace long-winded sentences with action verbs and specific achievements. Add impressive stats or even visual elements that provide proof without distracting. 4. Use a Readable Font Make sure your font isn't so small that it's hard to read. Hard to read = won't be read. Also, don't go with too large of a font, it can give the impression of being more junior level. Not the impression executives want to make. 5. Keep It Relevant & Interesting Each statement should explain why your skills and experience make you the ONLY ONE for the job. Tailor your resume to the specific position rather than telling your entire work history. Need help with formatting? Here's a resume template perfect for executives and mid-career professionals: https://lnkd.in/euFAH39f Save it now for your next resume update. #careers

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.

A client came to me with over 8 years of experience because they struggled to get interviews. They had 3 years in Data Science and 5 in Data Analytics & Engineering. Worked at a Fortune 500 company for the last 3 years. Their goal was to land a Senior Product Data Science role at a top-tier company. But despite the experience, only junior roles or interviews at small startups came through. Even after paying for a resume review from a coach (who didn’t understand the data field), the results weren’t there. So we got to work. Here’s what we fixed (that most mentors miss): 1. A one-page resume that undersold everything It was just one page and was missing two relevant roles. There wasn’t enough space to: • Highlight DA/DE skills that pair with DS expertise • Feature LLM/MLOps projects • Show ownership and growth from a Fortune 500 background So I proposed an A/B test. We built a two-page version, modeled after a past client who landed a $150K+ MLE role with less experience, and it worked. Resume rule of thumb: Under 5 YOE → 1 page Over 5 YOE → 2 pages But always test based on your context 2. Experience bullets that sounded junior Even with great experience, the bullet points lacked impact. We rewrote everything to show: • What they did, how they did it, and the measurable impact • A clear summary: title, YOE, accomplishments, and niche value proposition • Consistent formatting (4–6 bullets per role) • Unique action verbs, no repetition 𝗪𝗵𝘆? If your resume sounds junior, you’ll get junior responses. 3. No visibility on high-impact projects Projects were buried or had generic names with no links. We: • Gave them catchy titles • Linked directly on the resume, GitHub, and LinkedIn • Highlighted tools, outcomes, and real-world impact Visibility = credibility. With our job search dashboard, we tracked the A/B test results: New resume → interviews with Amazon, Meta, Google, and Apple Old resume → still stuck at startup-level roles Here’s everything we actually did: Updated resume in under 2 hours • A/B tested it before applying to top companies • Built connections and added value to get referrals • Reached out to hiring managers and recruiters • Practiced interview prep daily without cramming    𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀: 1. Final round – Amazon 2. 2nd round (waiting) – Apple 3. 1st round (waiting) – Meta 4. 2nd round (waiting) – Google They went from overlooked to competing at the highest level, without adding more experience. Your resume isn’t just a job list. It’s your first impression. Your bridge to the next level. You can’t get results like this with generic advice. Every job search is unique. That’s why I tailor solutions to your exact situation. Drop your biggest resume questions in the comments, and I will respond to each of them.