ANOTHER Reason Your Resume Stinks
What you're about to read is the single biggest change I've made to resume recommendations since I started looking at them 18 years ago.
Even if you think your resume is perfect... think again. Even if I've TOLD you your resume is perfect... think again.
Because it doesn't matter how good it looks when you finish it, or when a friend or professional looks at it. All that matters is whether the recruiter or manager at the hiring company likes it.
And there's a relatively new reason why they won't.
The latest edition of MS Word (the one you likely have, not any beta version for the new MS Office) has a new 'feature' called "Reading Layout". I'm sure you know about it - some of you may like it, some may not.
It basically displays a Word document in a form made to look like a book, with two pages side by side. Here's what Microsoft's website says about this great new feature:
When you open a Word document from an e-mail message, the document opens in reading layout view. This view displays your document like pages in a book. The pages are designed to fit well on your screen — and text is automatically displayed using Microsoft ClearType technology, which makes the document more legible.
It sure sounds harmless.
Unless your one page resumes displays as TWO PAGES when it comes up in Reading Layout, because you sent it as an email attachment.
When I recently had to rebuild my laptop from scratch, I forgot to turn this feature off (more on how in a moment). So, I've been noticing that resumes that are sent to me are opening up in Reading View.
I only noticed the problem, though, when a close friend asked me to help him with his, and after I personally edited it down to one page, it nevertheless showed up in Reading Layout in two pages. I had to double-check to ensure I was looking at the right resume!
Microsoft's intent might be laudable, but in trying to make the fonts readable, they can't make them as small as they would be if they were proportional to the reduction in page size necessary to fit two pages side by side on your screen. You can check this with any Word document - you'll notice that pagination in this view is different, and line breaks (a key part of editing resumes, due to accomplishment bullets) are different as well.
If you want to turn this feature off, you can. Just go to the Tools menu, select 'Options', and then click on the 'General' tab. In my version, at top right of that dialog box, you can uncheck a box named, "Allow starting in Reading Layout."
Of course, the hiring manager isn't going to look at your resume on YOUR computer.
There's no solution in MS Word for this dilemma. You can't mandate how your resume appears on any screen but your own.
So:
- Your resume should never appear longer than one page (there are rare exceptions).
- MS Word can't guarantee you that. (It's likely, in fact, to do the opposite - always longer than one page).
Therefore:
I henceforth recommend that you send your resume out as an Acrobat document - in PDF.
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Send resume out as PDF: Can do,
Send resume out as PDF: Can do, check.
Reduce resume to one page: That's taking a little bit longer! Back to the drawing board...
For what it's worth, Reading View becomes "Full Screen Reading View" in Word 2007, but the (unfortunate) functionality is the same.
Gary
I don't know why this did not come up
I don't know why this did not come up sooner. It always seemed prudent to me to send in PDF so that the resulting file would be read as intended. There are many factors with document formats which are not read-only as PDF generally is, such as:
1. You do not know the computer platform your resume will be read on
2. Whether they even have or use MS Word
3. Font/Typeface differences
4. Inadvertent deletion
5. repagination concerns
6. different dictionary --- then to the reader you misspelled words, even if simply from different dictionary this would be a bad impression (e.g. different english dictionaries US/UK/CAN/etc.).
7. grammar checker --- you may have bent the rules of grammar to fit it on one page and a lot of green underlining in your document can leave the wrong impression
Don't forget to be sure to honour (
... don't forget to honour (see,
... don't forget to honour (see, spelling...) the postings file type requirements. Some want text only and not pdf, word or other possible formats.
Regards,
Jonathan
JBird- Good points. Alas, the vast
JBird-
Good points. Alas, the vast majority of firms specifically ask for MS Word documents! These will take pdf's... but if one is asked, one tends to comply.
Mark
Mark, Just want to say thank you for
Mark,
Just want to say thank you for your advice on resumes. I'm trying to change the format of my resume, but I'm one of the "college" candidates. I've been out of the college for two months, but I have over a year of work experience in my field and plenty of projects with the university to fill my resume. My problems lies with the chronological arrangement of my projects(which I have labeled as "Related Experience") and my actual work experience. Do I list my projects and work experience together, or seperate? I'm asking about this because I have a few projects I'm really proud of. Oh, and what about a posting for the cover letter? Any chance you can give me/us a little advice on this critical subject? Lastly, I really hate to ask but any chance you can critic my resume. I'm applying to a great company on Monday and your help would really be appreciated.
Thank You
Rubo
What's the big deal?? It might appear
What's the big deal?? It might appear as two pages on the screen when reading in this mode but when it's printed, it'll still print on one page only... The "reading" format is for view-ability on the screen only (and personally I like it because my eyes have spent too many years in front of the computer screen :-)
Having said that, I dislike having to send resumes in word for other reasons; You can't control what it looks like when it's printed out (as you can with PDF) but more insidiously, if you have versioning switched on, your complete resume history is available to recipients - if they choose, they can see all those awful, embarrassing paragraphs you previously deleted!
To remedy this, I suggest saving as RTF (Which is often in itself an acceptable format for recruiters) then saving back as DOC format. This removes any extraneous bloat that can end up in your word file (i.e. unnecessary file size) as well as ensuring things like version history is not available.
One final note, it's more difficult for recruiters to extract text from PDF files and that's usually the reason they prefer word documents - especially if they use an automated keyword processing system to scan your resume for skills with which to populate their database.
Peter, Melbourne Australia
p.s. You may be interested to know that in contrast to M&M's assertions for the US market, the Australian market typically *requires* resumes of 3-4 or even 5 pages (shock!, horror!) Under some circumstances a one pager can suffice as an introduction but less than 3-4 is usually frowned upon and often ignored. That's not to say that I don't fully support the concept of a one pager because it forces you to have really thought through your work history and achievements. I think I'll start a crusade for one pagers...
Peter- Thanks for the
Peter-
Thanks for the comments!
It occurs to me that an Aussie here would be well prepared, because a good "raw" resume ought to be 3+ pages - with everything on it. I've found that if one doesn't keep those old notes, they're gone forever.
I like the idea of doc-rtf-doc. That eliminates many issues.
Mark
Rubo- I would love to say yes, but
Rubo-
I would love to say yes, but choose not to. I fear the deluge, frankly, and routinely am working on 5-10 resumes at any given time.
I would list your related experiences separately, and put those that start earliest at the bottom. I have seen a similar college approach where each bullet had a date on it, versus trying to characterize each "job" each time.
Regarding cover letters: we have a cast on that topic, but we don't plan on releasing it until we offer (for sale) a suite of 15 casts (or thereabouts) on How To Interview. It will include everything - how to prepare, how to record your answer, how to introduce yourself, how to answer the big questions, how to close, how to discuss salary, etc. Sorry that won't be out for a while.
Wish we could be more help. Unfortunately, if we even answered one tenth of the individual requests we get, we'd be doing nothing but that.
Mark
Just wanted to say thanks again for the
Just wanted to say thanks again for the great service. My nephew just graduated from college and he sent me his resume to look over. My first thoughts? Manager Tools! We did a rework of the format, and I emailed him a link to the cast, as well as the Kellogg School presentation video for some interviewing pointers. Hopefully it will help him out...
Hello Mark & Mike, This is my first
Hello Mark & Mike,
This is my first post in the forums .... I am a Cameroonian working in Nigeria. I can't find the words to express my gratitude for the work you do. I have read and still read quite a lot of business and self-improvement books. Manager Tools GETS IT - you people capture the needs of this generation - the DIY generation beautifully. Like they say where I come from ... MI YAKA NOH NOH (thank you with the grace of heaven). Keep it up.
I'm particular intrigues with DiSC and would be glad to help expand how it applies int he reverse direction (you the person who know DISC is the subordinate and your boss doesn't). Your casts cover quite a lot and it would be nice to look at the following
#Giving feedback to your boss -eg like an Executive Assistant
#Helping your boss be effective (believe me, in some parts of the world - you have bosses who are your bosses for no other reason than that they are older)
Merry Xmass by the way!
Mukom- If only we didn't urge
Mukom-
If only we didn't urge CAUTION about giving feedback to one's boss. VERY dangerous.
Thank you for your kind note!
Mi yaka noh noh, and Merry Christmas.
Mark