How Much Information is Too Much on Your Resume?

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Your resume provides potential employers with a quick snapshot of who are you, and what you have to offer. You want to provide enough information that they can determine your skills and accomplishments (and want to learn more), but not so much that it is overwhelming or confusing. It can be a fine line. There are also certain trends that have gone out of style – such as including references on your resume.

If you’re on the fence about whether you’ve included too much, here are a few things to consider:

Personal Details

Including basic contact information such as your name, address, phone number, email address, and LinkedIn link is fine. In fact, employers expect it. Adding additional details such as age, marital status, children, or race, is not necessary and can cause unintentional discrimination or bias. Plus, this information is not relevant to your ability to do your job. Leave it off, and skip the headshot while you’re at it.

Blocks of Text

If your bullet points are three and four lines long – or more, chances are, you’re trying to pack in too much information. Keep it short and to the point, conveying what you did and what it accomplished. Focus on the most important points; you can go into more detail during an interview if necessary.

Repetitive Information

Do you have multiple bullet points expressing similar information? Or the same phrases appearing across several jobs? Look for ways to condense. Combine information or pare down responsibilities that have already been noted elsewhere. Determine what is most important for each role.

More than 3 Pages

For most job seekers, a one- to two-page resume is sufficient. For those with more extensive experience or accomplishments, they may have three pages. Any more than that is overkill and will quickly lose a hiring manager’s attention. If your resume is more than three pages, it is time to make some major revisions and reassess what you are including. Remember – elaborating on the past 10 years or so is the general rule of thumb. Anything older can typically be consolidated or removed.

Extraneous Information

Some details are simply not necessary on your resume. If you are not a recent graduate, save space by removing details about your education such as GPA, classes you took, or organizations you were in. Unless your hobbies are incredibly relevant to the job or show a major accomplishment, they can be left off too. Reasons for leaving? Salary history? Company contact information? Nope, nope, and nope.

Source: B2C