The “Standard” Resume Debate

I re-did my resume earlier this week for two reasons:

1. My internship is ending, and they’ve asked me to stay on as their web copy writer.  Hooray.

and 2.  For a class assignment. 

In doing this assignment, I’ve been actively disagreeing with my professor about whether a resume  should one-page or not.  Personally, I think that if there’s important and relevant information that can’t fit on one page, you shouldn’t omit it just because it’s not the standard - you want to stand out and get noticed by the recruiter.  Maybe it’s just me, but I think the one-pager is restrictive, and one-dimensional, which is the last thing you want to appear as to a potential employer. 

Because I’m an advertising major, a lot of the times that I’d apply for a job, my resume would be accompanied by not only the standard cover letter, but also a portfolio of sorts, so there’s leniency with “following the rules” in this regard.  I’m pushed to “think outside of the box” and “colour outside of the lines,” so adhering to the standard just seems contradictory to the nature of the work. 

Whatever way you slice it, a resume and cover letter are advertisements.  You really need to sell yourself to the recruiters and get noticed.  With this mind set, and the fact that there really is no cut and dry way of doing this things successfully, I see the “standard” as being a bad thing.  I’m not saying that anyone should make their resume 2 pages if they can fit it all on one, but I hate to think that people leave things out, or literally sell themselves short, because “that’s the standard.”

I’ve spoken to a few people who have been in recruitment positions and asked them their thoughts, and they’ve all agreed with me.  I’ve gotten,

 ”What? One page? No.”

and “It should be as long as it needs to be.”

I’ve also asked a few friends, who have given me mixed responses.  Although they agree with my over-all concept, they also think that having a two-page resume could spell doom, because some H/R departments are very strict and won’t accept them.  Luckily, I also (reluctantly) have a one page resume because i’m not a complete anarchist.  

What are your thoughts, internet?  How long is your resume, and do you think (assuming it’s more than one page) you could fit it into one without omitting something important?  Would you still hire a two-page resume anarchist like me?

writing to communicate

A few weeks ago, I got the best piece of writing advice I’ve heard in a long time:

“You’re not writing to impress, you’re writing to communicate.”

It was an off-hand comment made by one of my professors to my class about the way we should be writing our assignment. I don’t think it occured to anybody else how brilliant a thing it was to say; but evidently, I thought it was a great piece of advice and it has stuck with me. (As have alot of things this particular professor has taught me over the past year.)

It seems like such an obvious thing to say, “you’re writing to communicate.”

Well, duh.

But i’ve found that so many people my age have ingrained in their minds that they have to write a certain way - To use a certain tone and scholarly words and follow certain formats in order to sound smart. But if it’s at the expense of the clairty of your message- what’s the point? Who cares how smart you sound if nobody has any idea what you’re talking about?

Personally, whenever I’m writing something I aim to be as straightforward and concise as possible. 

It’s a big part of why I love this exchange that happens in lectures:

Student: How long does this paper have to be?

Professor: As long as it needs to be.

My thinking is, unless someone is reading your work for pleasure, you don’t want to drown them in literary cliches thinking it will impress them into thinking what you’ve written is worth reading.  There’s a huge difference in the language used to write something for clairty, or technical writing and writing something for artistic expression, or more creative writing.  And too few people make this distinction.  I’m sure everybody has had experiences with these people.  People who make their writing so overly-fancy-sounding thinking it’s impressive, when in reality the reader is tilting their head and needs a second opinion to figure out exactly what they’re reading, feel free to share. I would, in fact I have a great example, but that’s enough out of me.

So, something to keep in mind or disregard:

You’re not writing to impress. You’re writing to communicate.