Does my resume draw attention to my most valuable achievements and experiences?

What you want:

Not more than 800-900 words over 2 pages, preferably less words. 2 pages with lots of blank space on page 2 is no problem.

 

Why you want to the above:

Resumes that are accepted to business courses and job interviews at consultancy firms almost always are considerably below this limit. The resumes approaching the limit of 800-900 words typically are less structured than those with fewer words.

You want your resume to be easily process-able by the recruiter, quickly drawing the attention to your key achievements. Adding more text makes this more difficult.

 

What you want to avoid:

3 pages

 

Why you want to avoid the above:

No recruiter will read your cv top to bottom, but will scan it. Increasing the length of your cv will only increase the changes that they will miss key elements. Furthermore, more than 2 pages shows poor skills in synthesis, a quality crucial to consultants. Keep in mind that most professionals, including former consultants, try to hand in 1 page cvs.

 

What you want to avoid:

You listed all your achievements and quickly realized it was too much for 1 page, so you started using a second page. However, when you finished you had only 1.5 page left. So you just kept going, adding more detail and descriptions to the achievements you already listed to get to 2 pages.

 

Why you want to avoid the above:

Same as before: this makes it more difficult for the recruiter to find you key achievements.

 

Back to CV checklist