Resume Length?

[smurfalicious]

So the pet store that I work for part time has an opening in the online division and the pay is better, I'd get real health insurance and a ton of creative freedom.

Now I just need to get my resume and cover letter spit polished, but I'm concerned about length. I'm 27 and I've been working since I was 16 so it's getting lengthy. Obviously I'm not putting my horrible experiences in retail that somehow required me to also wear a mascot costume that was hot and smelled funny, but at 17 I was already holding down a pretty impressive job in web design.

The more minor positions and short term "summer job" type stuff I did when I went back to school I have listed in "additional experience" at the bottom with just the company name, position, and dates. Some of it is cool stuff that I feel shows that I'm not afraid to work, that I have diverse skills and that I wasn't unemployed for great lengths. In that illustrious collection is freelance writing and photography for a local paper and working for my general contractor mom.

So it's already at 1 1/4 pages, but when I add my current position it's going to be 1 1/2. I could pull my photography business off, but I think there are a lot of "soft skills" I gained/developed running it that look really good. I could yank my summers managing/guiding at a guest ranch, but again it came with such awesome soft skills.

Am I a big enough girl now that I justify a long resume? There's so much info out there that I'm confused. I've seen some UGLY resumes come through the store and some of them we've hired. It just boggles me, here are people who went to college while I went to the school of hard knocks and they put together these scribbled out resumes. Probably explains how I got hired at the store with one interview, everyone else had two.

This is so scary, but crying in the bathroom should not be a part of anyone's job. I can write my way out of a reusable grocery bag (made of recycled materials!) and I want someone to appreciate that! And while we're at it, how did I ever become the kind of person who talks about "soft skills." *sniffle* I'm all grown up now!

[Aggie_Ama]

I try to keep mine at 1 page because that is what I was told to do in college to keep interest. Is 11 year old information completely relevant? Can it be discussed in the interview? Can it be put in a skills section and explanded upon? Can you cut down to the bare bones on description? Can you reformat to save space? If not then I guess you need a longer one.

I had to recently polish mine to get my new job and I was told after I was hired it was the best looking one although it was other factors that got the job. Mine has my time spent working through college (now 9 years old) because I was management and find it relevant plus when I was in college I was told working through college is very interesting. Although now I have been out 6 years not sure how interesting it is. It has my post college job. My most recent former job which entailed a promotion and two positions. It was a struggle of my editing training to fit a page. My former co-worker let me see hers and since she was finishing her MBA it was 2 pages because her education was a lot bigger. But she also went in depth with internships which I did not have the luxury of doing and has more positions to put on which are relevant.

[sundial]

I would keep it to 1 page and includes the most recent work experience as well as other job experiences that directly relate to the position you are seeking.

[Mr. Bloom]

I vote one page too. Perhaps you can list the positions, but just expand on the most relevant ones and/or you can use the cover letter in sync to provide insight in the skills gained.

[tctrek]

One page is best. Here's a great podcast on resumes: http://www.manager-tools.com/2005/10/your-resume-stinks

[NoNo]

My brother does interviews at his company and always said he doesn't bother looking at anything longer than a page. They have a lot of resumes to go through, you don't want yours to be the long one. Find a way to weed it down to the essentials, the ones most pertinent to the position you're applying for. Good luck!