Here’s why before you start saying you can’t fit it all.
Most people are terrible writers. A 1 page limit forces to edit well. If you give yourself more room, you will likely shoot yourself in the foot with the common mistakes of run on sentences, a lack of clear focus and talking about responsibilities versus your accomplishments.
A 1 page limitation forces you to write well.
Writing is freaking hard. Resume writing even more so because you have to market yourself strongly and sell yourself.
Ultimately a resume is a MARKETING document. It's not a legal document. It’s not a historical document. It’s not a list of everything you have ever done.
A resume is a list of achievements tailored to the job you are applying for that you are PROUD to share. Brag. A lot.
Marketing documents should be short. They should be exciting. You should work hard to make sure it’s extremely clear how awesome you are and how relevant your experience is for the job you are applying for.
So before you start saying I have too much experience or I can’t fit it all, ask yourself, is the first page incredible? Did I test it with a friend or get it reviewed by a career coach to make sure people know how awesome I am?
The biggest mistake people on writing resumes is writing about the wrong things. Focus on your business impact.
Secondly, it’s mostly your last 10 years of your career that matters.
While the things you did 20 years ago are amazing, unless it was a Nobel prize or some equally amazing award (patents, industry recognition, selling a company, e.g. life milestones), it often doesn’t matter. This applies for the experience section. Education can go far back as needed.
So don’t try to focus on the length of your resume. Focus on making page 1 incredible.
For those in senior roles with 10 plus years of experience. you should still focus on the first page.
The second page should be equally amazing. But only after the first page knocks people’s socks off.
Anything longer than 2 pages is junk and here’s why I will die on that hill.
Your 3 page resume isn’t 3 pages because it needs to be 3 pages. It’s 3 pages because you didn’t edit well.
Fix your first page.
My last point is people often worry about the length of the resume, the design of the resume, the fonts in your resume, etc.
Take it from a professional procrastinator, you are worrying about those things because you aren’t focused on your writing.
You can write an incredible resume with no design in a plain text document. It’s what you say that matters.
Stop fooling yourself by playing with fonts and design.
Better yet use the HireClub Template so you can ONLY focus on the content.
So remember get to a 1 page resume. Make it amazing. Test it with friends. Test it with strangers. Get it reviewed. Then worry about if it needs to be longer.