Guy Kawasaki's entry on
How to Get Into Silicon Valley gave me a bit of pause today. Guy is a brilliant venture capitalist/engaging speaker/fantastic writer. Speaking from a firmly heterosexual standpoint, he's also a fairly good-looking dude - which of course on this blog means
instant credibility. He's pretty much the Hawaiian Justice Gray*!
So, when Guy says the following, I get a little scared:
"
Here’s the 1/2/3 Rule of Resumes:
-
1 page long. When some job candidates read this, they will think, “Guy is referring to the hoi polloi
and unwashed masses, not me. I have ten years of experience at four
different companies covering five different positions. My resume needs
to be two—maybe even three-pages—to adequately explain the totality of
my wonderfulness. And the more I mention, the more the company might
see things they like.”
As a rule of thumb, if you can’t
pitch your company in ten slides or pitch yourself in one page, your
idea is stupid and you suck, respectively."
Not *quite* the size of my current resume
You see, my resume as it stands is currently
3 pages long. Let me tell you, I was *squeezing* stuff in order to get it to fit that length! I'm not including obvious bullet points like "
poet laureate", and "Your Mother said she'd hire me, if you know what I mean" (always good for a guaranteed callback). My resume contains just the normal everyday stuff about my work history, accomplishments and what benefits I've been able to bring to the companies I've consulted for
aside from my ridiculous good looks, charm,
and rare ability to carry off the
pink dress shirt look.
Now, I am certain that in his entry Guy *is* only referring to the unwashed masses and simply forgot to write the part about "Justice Gray is a notable exclusion due to hotness that is off the hook, y'all" (as you can tell, I've definitely got Guy's writing voice down pretty well). And even if he wasn't, so what if Guy thinks that I suck? My mother still thinks I am pretty rad - another fact I have left off every resume except for the one that got me my first tech job.
However, what is my life without the tacit approval of Guy Kawasaki to guide it? It is with that in mind that I am going to attempt to knock my resume down to *1 page only*. After all, if "less is sometimes more" works in software design, it should work for resumes as well...at least I hope?
I'm curious:
1) What do you guys think is an appropriate length for a technical resume?
2) Is it a different standard in different regions?
3) If you are responsible for hiring, is there a resume length that you will discard as "too short" or "too long"?
4) For that matter, how long is your own resume?
5) After reading Guy's entry, are you thinking of shortening it?
Update: As if this were not more difficult, the ever-glamorous
Gretchen Ledgard of JobSyntax has posted that
she feels Guy Kawasaki is wrong!! But Gretchen is *also* full of great and wonderful advice!! Who to choose when either choice leaves someone's heart broken?
"Torn between two lovers...feeling like a fool..."*with some minor additional accolades, of course
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