It's time to rethink the one-page résumé

Mint

17-07-2025

The job seeker's gospel commands that a résumé fit on a single page. It's time to rethink that tenet as artificial intelligence screens more job applications.
A one-pager is designed to highlight your credentials for busy hiring managers who won't take time to read a second page anyway. But there's no need to cater to a human glance if a bot is going to read your submission instantaneously.
In fact, a longer résumé can increase the odds of getting through an initial review by giving you more space for the relevant words and phrases AI is trained to spot.
'A couple-page résumé that focuses predominantly on your impact in previous jobs is extremely important," says Hari Kolam, chief executive of AI recruiting software maker Findem.
Findem combines résumés with public information, like LinkedIn pages and intel on past employers, to generate candidate profiles for clients. It tries to translate jargon into plain language—helpful for everyone and especially those with technical backgrounds, like scientists and veterans. Partners include RecruitMilitary, which is loosening its one-page résumé guidance.
Kolam says applicants have to make themselves 'discoverable" by feeding the AI tool enough info.
If you're a job seeker with a single-page résumé and an inbox full of automated rejection notices, you have permission to scream in rage at this news. Let it out…then start fleshing out that CV.
A word of caution: Don't get carried away. Some software can tell when you're playing keyword bingo.
Plus, a person will probably look at your résumé if you get past the bot. Recruiters say they're generally willing to read multiple pages from an experienced candidate who made it through the AI screen, but four or five is pushing it.
Benjamin Keen learned this the hard way during a six-month search for engineering jobs. He expanded his one-page résumé to five and got little traction.
'My breakthrough came when I saw a listing where I matched everything in the job description," says Keen, 44, who lives in Pennsylvania. 'I submitted my résumé—the old résumé—and I instantly got rejected."
He hit the sweet spot when he enlisted Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant to produce a three-page version tailored to an open role at a financial-services company. He got that job and started this month.
Expanded résumés have long been the norm in academia and the federal government. They are a big change in many other lines of work. People are adjusting at different speeds.
I touched off an internal debate when I asked the Brixton Group, a tech recruiting firm, about résumé lengths. Sean Slater, an executive vice president, still prefers one page or maybe two. 'I cringe at the long-winded résumés," he says.
But Brendan Sobel, Brixton's chief recruiting officer, notes hiring managers increasingly view résumés on smartphones. They have to scroll down to read even single-page submissions.
'In that sense, the number of pages is becoming a less relevant metric than clarity and structure," he says.
Brixton Vice President Simon Key goes further.
'While I can't speak for every industry, for the vast majority of technology professionals, I firmly believe the one-page résumé is dead," he says.
What's a job seeker to make of three opinions from one recruiting firm? The surest way to get it right in this evolving job market is to ask a recruiter's or company's preference, assuming you can get hold of a human.
The single-page rule remains practically set in stone for one group of applicants: those less than five years into their careers.
Don't be the pretentious rookie who imagines such limited experience requires more room.
Also, do your homework to determine whether a prospective employer is old-school or well-resourced enough to deploy people on the front lines of résumé reviews.
McKinsey uses artificial intelligence at some stages of the hiring process but not for initial résumé screens, says Blair Ciesil, a partner who co-leads recruiting at the consulting firm. The people reading applications there typically expect a one-pager.
'It really makes you think about what matters most," she says.
That could mean expanding certain résumé lines and leaving others off entirely.
Traditionally a résumé lists a candidate's experience in reverse chronological order. Ally Andrus ditched that format when applying for sales roles in Chicago recently.
She had a slew of internships and short-term jobs as a college student. But many of the businesses she worked for—including a salon, a custom T-shirt maker and a dating app—had little to do with the positions she sought as a 26-year-old professional.
So, Andrus limited her résumé to her education and a single, long entry about the only full-time sales job she had held since graduating in 2021. She detailed her key performance indicators and internal awards, which she logs in a computer folder that she calls her 'brag binder."
'Anytime I get praise or a shout out, I keep track of all of that so when I update my résumé, I have the numbers to back it up," Andrus says.
She started a new job as an account executive this month.
In her case, adding length to the résumé was more about beefing up an important section than tacking on another page. That's a good model for all of us.
AI makes the rules fuzzy, but it is clear that length for its own sake isn't the way to go. Today's résumé should feature more of what's relevant to an open job and less of what's not.
If it happens to run over a single page, that's increasingly OK.
Write to Callum Borchers at [e-mail]