The content and sections of a resume are not the only considerations when students attempt to write a resume.
There are many other things that one has in mind, the most important being the length of the resume.
This is a debate that has been going on for as long as student resumes have been around – how long should a resume be?
Some people believe that chances of employment are high for candidates if they write long resumes.
While some employers may agree, long resumes are quite a put-off.
Look at it this way; employers have to go through hundreds of resumes, and long resumes can be quite discouraging.
Experienced Vs. Entry Level
It is alright for experienced people to write long resumes. As far as students are concerned, long resumes are not very welcome by employers.
It is a given that students have little or no experience, so an employer tends to believe that a longer resume is mostly fabrication.
It may or may not be true, but there is no way you can explain this to an employer while he is going through your resume.
Generally, employers take just 20-30 seconds to go through a resume. Why? The reason is simple – lack of time.
Now it is up to the student to make sure that these 30 seconds work him or her by providing reliable information on his or her resume so that there are higher chances of an interview.
Resume Length and Sections for High School Students
A high school student’s resume should not be more than one page as one page is all that a student will need to provide information such as an objective, academic accomplishments, volunteer or part-time work history and skills.
If all this information cannot fit on one page and some of it spills onto the next, do not use the second page.
In a situation such as this, you can always reformat your resume to make sure that those extra lines fit on the first page too.
Resume Length for College Students
Where college students are concerned, two-page resumes are not a no-no.
By the time a student has finished college, he or she may have held down part-time summer jobs, internships, done volunteering and even taken out a semester or two to work full time.
It is evident that he or she will have more to put in a resume. Two pages for a college student is enough space to write a resume in.
A student’s resume should be as long or as short as his or her experience and academic, and skills information is.
However, going beyond two pages may end up putting an employer off – remember, you can portray more even if you write less so the focus should be on the quality of what you write as opposed to the quantity of information.