This may just be the No. 1 question I am asked regarding resumes. People seem to think that the length of a resume plays a key factor in whether or not the resume gets read.

But the reality is that resumes rarely get read, no matter how short or long they are. At least not in their entirety. The length of your resume is not what’s most important. What’s most important is the quality of the content.

Most hiring managers scan resumes, looking for specific content such as what your profession is, what your skills are, where you have worked (and for how long), your job titles and your educational level. They will be on the lookout for any unexplained employment gaps, excessive job hopping and disjointed career progress.

If the resume passes this initial scan, the hiring manager will look for your accomplishments in past positions and determine how closely aligned these successes are to their organization’s future success. If any of this information is difficult to quickly spot on your resume, the reader will probably stop reading very quickly — within seconds.

Some job seekers may be able to package all this information into a one-page resume. Others, particularly those with longer career histories or more frequent job changes, may need two pages. In the U.S. private-sector market, the recommendation is generally not to exceed two pages. If there is something that is truly an important part of your work history, you don’t want to have to wait until page three or later to reference it.

So how can you get the best quality information on just one or two pages? Here are some suggestions.

1. Use space creatively. Create a resume with margins between .6 and 1.0 on all sides. This gives you flexibility with the way the content is laid out. Place dates of employment in a column on the right-hand margin, rather than the left, to eliminate wasted space. If you need more space on the page for content, consider laying out one of the other sections in a space saving way. For example, instead of centering your contact information at the top of the resume and wasting 5 lines, place your name on the first line and all your contact information in a row on the second line.
2. Watch your font size. Font sizes of 10 or 11 generally work best on resumes. Using a smaller font can make the resume difficult to read. But if you need more space, select a font such as Ariel or Times New Roman, which both read quite well in 10 point font.
3. Use bolding to call attention to important information. Consider placing company names, dates, and job titles in bold so they are easy for the reader to spot. You can also use bold to call out key performance metrics, industry awards and other distinctions.
4. Edit and then edit again. Resume writing is a bit different from other forms of writing. Frequently words such as “a” and “the” can be omitted from the resume because these words are understood by the reader, and the meaning of the message is not compromised by removing them. Read each sentence in your resume and see if there is a way to communicate the same information using fewer words. Frequently in resume writing, less is more.
5. Think horizontal instead of vertical. Rather than creating long lists of job skills, language skills, technical competencies, etc., considering placing this information in a horizontal chart to make better use of the space.
6. Strive for balance. A one or two page resume can look great. A resume that is one page filled with text and just three lines on a second page looks odd — as if you’ve run out of things to say. Either prune or expand your content, margins, fonts, and spacing to get your resume down to a full one or two pages.

We’ve all searched for something online by typing in a word or phrase that closely resembles the type of information we are looking for. We find information and make decisions about products and services via these types of searches. Employers use a similar method to find the applicants that best match their open positions. Many companies rely on applicant tracking software to source candidates. By typing certain relevant keywords or phrases into the applicant tracking system, hiring managers can quickly find candidates that fit the requirements for their open positions.

Resume keywords are words used on resumes to describe a competency or skill or to acknowledge experience in a certain job function or industry. If your resume lacks the appropriate keywords, it may never be found by the hiring manager. Here are some tips for increasing your chances of being found by hiring managers by including appropriate keywords to optimize the compatibility of your candidacy to an employer’s needs.

The right keywords
1. One of the best ways to find the keywords that the hiring manager will be searching is to check the job posting or posting for similar jobs. By including those keywords in your resume, you stand a greater chance of being found by the hiring manager. Another great resource for selecting keywords is ‘Best Keywords for Resumes, Cover Letters, and Interviews’ by Wendy Enelow.

2. Stem keywords and vary your word choices. For example, rather than just using the word analyst on your resume, include variants such as analysis or financial analyst as well. If you have knowledge of merchandise planning, also include the word merchandising or assortment planning to the resume to cover your bases.

Also, include different ways of saying certain titles. So, a CFO should include both CFO and Chief Financial Officer in the body of the document. A candidate in the pharmaceuticals industry should use both pharmaceuticals and pharma to describe their industry. A job seeker with experience in mergers and acquisitions should also list the abbreviation M&A, and an HR professional with experience in employment law such as the Family and Medical Leave Act should also use the acronym FMLA. By including variations on the word or phrase, you can increase the likelihood that your resume will be found regardless of the keyword the hiring manager is using for the searching.

3. While it is important to optimize the resume, it must be done in a way that still makes sense to the human reader. Be sure to balance the needs of the human reader with search engine optimization techniques to create the best results. Weave word variations into your document in a logical and natural way.

4. Extend the keyword concept past the resume. Keyword searches are not just limited to applicant tracking tools. Recruiters and hiring managers frequently perform keyword searches on social networking sites such as LinkedIn to find appropriate candidates. Make sure your profile on LinkedIn is robust and also includes a lot of keywords.

Keyword suggestions
Below are some examples of how to incorporate keywords into your resume.

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER (COO)

Operations Risk Mitigation
SEC Registration/Compliance
Acquisitions
Due Diligence
Vendor Selection and Management
Technology Upgrades/Integration
P&L Management
Forecasting/Budgeting
Human Resources
Administration
Hedge Fund
Product Marketing
Investor Reporting
Client Relationship Management
Office Openings and Closings

HUMAN RESOURCES GENERALIST

Talent Acquisition
College Recruiting/Internships
Management Development
Employee Handbook Writing
Competitive Benchmarking
New Hire Orientations
Payroll Administration
EEO and I-9 Compliance
COBRA Administration
ERISA Administration
Reductions in Force
Benefits Design/Administration
Policy Writing/Implementation
Applicant Tracking
Budgeting/Forecasting
Corrective Action Plans
Staff Management

SENIOR LEVEL MERCHANDISING EXECUTIVE

Apparel Merchandising
Merchandising Strategy
Production/SKU Planning
Competitor/Market Analysis
Cross Functional Team Building
Product Development/Launch
International Licensing Relations
Vendor Sourcing/Supplier Relations
Product Standardization
Inventory Management
Leadership and Mentoring
Account Relationship Management
Purchasing Negotiations
Costing
Budgeting
Color and Trend Forecasting
Staff Development

I review a lot of resumes. And most of them have at least one of four major problems related to content, style, and form. Does your resume fall into one or more of these categories? If so, it may be time to perform a checkup on your resume to improve the overall health of your job-search campaign.

The job description. These resumes list job responsibilities galore and often look like the writer literally cut and pasted their job description into the resume. What makes a strong resume is not simply the description of your job tasks; it’s how successfully you execute on those job tasks that makes you unique and makes you interesting to a hiring manager.

Tip: For each position you have held, create a brief paragraph that describes your job responsibilities and job scope including the size of your budget and staff. Use bullets to express your accomplishments and how you perform your job smarter, faster, and more efficiently. Showcase examples of how you help the companies you support make money, save money, save time, improve processes, acquire new business, or keep existing business.

Before: Implemented new CRM system.

After: Implemented new CRM system that improved lead generation by 20% and cut data redundancies in half.

Before: Responsible for revamping new hire payroll processes.

After: Shaved weeks off time required to add new hires to the payroll system and eliminated longstanding payroll redundancies and recurring errors by revamping new hire payroll processes and streamlining data collection.

The statistics dump. These resumes show metric after metric –.a 50% increase in sales, a $2M decrease in operating costs — yet they never explain how these stellar results were achieved. The hiring manager needs to understand the story behind your accomplishments — what obstacles you faced and what these statistics mean within a given context — in order to be wowed by you.

Tip: Create accomplishments that prove a quantifiable impact and an explanation of the achievement.

Before: Conceived and implemented the Finance First program, achieving $700M in incremental assets.

After: Conceived and implemented the Finance First program, the company’s first-ever and most successful integrated marketing program for financial advisory services. Inaugural campaign achieved incremental $700M in assets and earned reputation as the gold standard for all company marketing campaigns.

Before: Attained a 50% increase in funding budget for clinical trials.

After: Attained a 50% increase in funding budget and a renegotiated contract for clinical studies by benchmarking research costs, linking research costs to the unique attributes of the study group, and guaranteeing sponsors an expedited review process and on-time trial start date.

The touchy-feely. Most resumes I see start out with an overview paragraph describing the person’s personal attributes. Everyone seems to be a dedicated, loyal, hard-worker, not to mention a great communicator and a team player. Yet there is no actual proof that the candidate possesses any of these personal attributes on the resume. And without the proof these are just words — and a waste of space.

Tip: Create a profile section that focuses on your proven success and the big picture value you can offer an employer. Your profile is like a movie trailer. If the trailer is good people will want to see the movie. If your profile is compelling, people will want to read the rest of your resume.

Before: Results-producing Marketing professional with a proven record in developing, executing and analyzing comprehensive marketing strategies in support of company goals and objectives. Directed the creation of marketing tools and steered the execution of marketing programs. Demonstrated successful growth in targeted markets through implementation of key projects. Excellent leadership skills; built and guided top-performing marketing teams. Adept at communicating with all levels of management, vendors, and internal departments or partners to coordinate overall marketing efforts. Proven to be reliable, dependable and professional.
After:

Marketing & Operations Professional

consumer goods ▪ retail environments ▪ multi-site locations ▪ corporate & in-store experience ▪ Fortune 500

Marketing Program Management … Experience launching new products and services and reversing struggling campaigns into strong performing programs with annualized ROI.

Operational Transformations … Continuous success tightening operational infrastructures to streamline processes, eliminate redundancies, scale resources, optimize staff, and enhance measurement and reporting capabilities.

Leadership … Reputation for creating programs that motivate staff to collaborate and embrace company mission and values. Demonstrated success retaining employees, spotting talent, and mentoring high potentials.

The cookie cutter. These are the resumes that were crafted using a template and look like thousands of other resumes. They make you look lazy and just not that into the whole job search gig.They scream “I don’t have an original thought in my head and I like it that way.” You don’t need to be Picasso to create a resume with a few interesting design elements. The goal is not to use design elements to make the resume look pretty; it is to use design features to make important information stand out.

Tip: Think outside of the box. Create your own resume style to best showcase your information. Don’t be afraid to use tables, charts, or graphs if they help get your point across. Step away from the Times New Roman font. There are other good choices for resumes including Arial, Arial Narrow, Calibri, Veranda, and Tahoma.

Before: Improved revenue growth, client growth, loan commitments, and deposit growth significantly during tenure.

After:

Last week AOL Jobs interviewed me for an article about fonts and asked me which fonts were preferable for resumes. While many fonts including Arial, Arial Narrow, Times New Roman, and Calibri are fine, others really have no place on a resume. You can click the link to read about my opinions on resume fonts.

But what struck me as interesting were some of the comments from frustrated job seekers saying the font shouldn’t matter. And maybe it shouldn’t. But it does.

Recruiters and hiring managers are sifting through dozens, maybe even hundreds of resumes every day. If the font is too small, too bold, or too fancy they may just skip your resume in favor of something easier to read. And if your font is too whimsical or childish, or all caps they may just question your judgement.

Put yourself in the reader’s shoes. Have you ever gone to multiple websites searching for a product or service? Do the aesthetics of the site influence the amount of time you stay on the site? If key information is difficult to find do you spend a lot of time looking for it or do you move on to the next site? If the site has annoying pop ups or distracting music do you click away quickly? If the site doesn’t look very professional do you question the quality of the service they are offering? Yes, you do.

It’s no different with resumes. The way they look is an important part of your professional brand. Select a font and resume style that is easy to read so the decision maker stays engaged and hopefully contacts you for an interview.

Deciding how much of your career chronology to report on your resume can be a tricky thing. If you focus on information too far in the past, an employer may quickly figure out how old you are and possibly discriminate against you based on your age. But if you don’t report early career experience, a hiring manager may determine that your omission was deceptive once they meet you, and this could damage your candidacy as well.

Hiring managers are generally most interested in your more recent experience; few will see much relevance in what you achieved 20-plus years ago. But if you were with the same company for 30 years, you can’t chop the first 10 off of your chronology. Also, you can’t list the first job you’ve ever held as something that you obviously couldn’t have achieved right out of school.

So what’s the best solution? I advocate for being transparent about your chronology but not adding a great amount of detail to earlier, less relevant positions. For example, you might just list the company name, job title, and a brief description for jobs that you held 15-plus years ago. Or, as an alternative, you could just group similar roles together in a statement that reads something like:

“Held a series of business development roles with increasing responsibility for companies X, Y, and Z between 1980 and 1990.” or “Prior to 1987, held accounting and business analyst roles  for seven years at ABC company.”

Resume data is like an inverted pyramid. You want to give the most “air time” to recent achievements and minimize the attention paid to earlier positions, without trying to hide them.

When it comes to resumes, longer is rarely better. In today’s fast-paced world, hiring managers generally spend less than 15 seconds looking at a resume. They want to be able to see your key differentiators quickly, and they will rarely look past page two to find the information they need. So how do you keep your resume concise without sacrificing clarity or quality? Here are some common resume problems that can result in a document that is too long and some recommended fixes.

A long job history
If you’ve been working for 20 years or more, it can seem like a difficult task to craft a resume that is only two pages. But this can be accomplished without sacrificing the quality or accuracy of the document. One strategy is to create a separate category for all employment experiences that are more than 15 years old and group them in a section labeled Early Career Experience or Additional Experience. This section allows you to summarize early experience in just a few sentences and save space for more recent and relevant information.

Additional Experience
Prior executive leadership experience with XYZ Company as Vice President of Sales (1990 to 1996) and five year career with ABC Corporation progressing in various sales, sales management, and corporate marketing positions.

Multiple temporary or consulting assignments
If you have worked multiple assignments during a short period of time, your resume can become confusing for your reader, and the short gigs can make you look like a job-hopper at first glance. To remedy this, create a category called Temporary Assignments or Consulting Assignments and give an overview of the highlights of the experience rather than listing the details of each.

HR Consultant, various assignments 2008 to Present

XYZ Company. For global technology solutions company, selected to create U.S. recruitment strategy for division representing 1,500 employees in six offices. Trimmed recruiting budget (projected savings of 25-50%) using non-fee, referral, and social media recruitment strategies. Recruited team to support $17M in new business.

ABC Company. Developed the business strategy and execution plan for an alternative candidate sourcing model that minimized agency costs and leveraged online networking and employee referral programs to deliver $100K in savings in first 5 months of implementation. Also developed and revised employee handbooks for Baine Co. and Matthews & Associates.

Too much information about job tasks
Resumes can become unruly if you include long lists of job responsibilities followed by long lists of accomplishments. To prune your document, create a paragraph of no more than 5 or 6 sentences to explain your job tasks and only bullet your key accomplishments. This strategy will save space and allow your reader to focus on your most important achievements.

Created the strategic direction and execution plans to support large scale corporate events and product launches. Oversee all pre and on-site communications and advertising, media planning, exhibit construction, invitation management, VIP hospitality, sponsor management, and exhibit construction. Manage relationships with 5 advertising agencies. Budget: $10M; Staff: 3 direct reports, 10 indirect reports

• Recognized with Marketing Award in 2011 for orchestrating the company’s most successful campaign at the country’s premier sports event while trimming event costs by 10%.
• Project-managed product marketing campaign at an international ski resort resulting in 30,000 qualified leads in just 3 months and a 5% conversion rate.

Dedicating equal space to every job experience
Just because you’ve held seven jobs over the course of your career doesn’t mean you should dedicate the same amount of space to each job. Focus on relevance and generally spend more time explaining more recent positions than those held earlier in your career.

Poor use of white space and fonts
Sometimes resumes become too long because of poor decisions about design. Don’t create margins that exceed one inch on any side, and use a font of either 10 or 11 points.

Want more resume tips? Check out our e-book, 15 Items for Your Resume To Do List and our resume samples.

Each year, Career Directors International hosts the resume writing industry’s most prestigious Toast of the Resume Industry™ (TORI) resume writing competition. Resume writers from around the world compete for awards in 9 writing categories and Career Solvers has made it to the final round! Career Solvers has received 15 nominations in the past and 6 wins. Each time the competition gets bigger and fiercer and that’s part of the fun. I’m honored to be part of a competition with some of the best writers in the world.

This month my Career Collective colleagues are discussing tactics for giving your job search strategy a mid-year checkup. My tips for a resume checkup are below. Be sure to check out the sage advice of my colleagues as well by following the links at the end of this post. You can also view my video on resume tips for $100K+ professionals here.

In today’s challenging economy, job seekers will need to implement a strong self-marketing campaign in order to get noticed in a crowded job search space. That campaign starts with strong marketing collateral, particularly a quality resume that quickly gets their candidacy to the top of the resume pile. Below are five strategies for crafting a more powerful presentation of your qualifications to get noticed faster and accelerate your job search.

Create a Personal Brand
What comes to mind when you think of companies such as Apple, Google, and Nike? All of these companies have a strong company brand and employer brand and the mere mention of their name brings certain images of their value and market differentiators to people’s minds. It’s really no different for job seekers. They also need a strong brand and a clear and compelling message of value that tells employers why they should hire them. Every resume needs a profile or summary at the top to position them as a leader in their field and showcase their top achievements and brand attributes.

Lace Your Resume With Keywords
Every resume needs clear evidence that you are qualified to do the job you are applying for. Keywords are the words that validate your candidacy and help the hiring authority determine if you have the “must haves” for the job. By creating a special category for your competencies on the resume, you make it easier for your reader to quickly understand your areas of knowledge or expertise. Since both humans and computers may be screening your resume, it is important to list keywords in all the forms that they may be recognized by employers and computers. For example, if you were involved in mergers and acquisitions, use this term and the acronym M&A.

Focus on Accomplishments Over Job Tasks
Anyone can slap information from their job description onto a piece of paper and call it a resume (and many do). But the resume should not be a laundry list of “stuff you did.” Instead, it should be a marketing tool that proves your value to the organizations you supported. Discuss initiatives you led that helped the organization do something smarter, faster, or more efficiently. What impact did you have on the companies you supported? Can you show how you helped these companies make money, save money, save time, grow the business, or keep the business? Do you have metrics (numbers, dollar figures, percentages) to validate your achievements? To create your own accomplishment statements, use the CAR formula. Think of Challenges you faced in your position, the Actions you took to address those challenges, and the corresponding Results. By focusing on your stories of success over job tasks you can demonstrate to your reader not just what you do, but why you are good at what you do.

Just Say No to Cookie Cutter Resume Templates
Ditch the Microsoft template and create your own unique resume design. You never want to look live everyone else when you are applying for a job. The point is to create a one-of-a-kind representation of you as a candidate. Keep the presentation tasteful (no neon green resume paper!), but don’t be afraid to infuse a little bit of style or even color into the document. Use text boxes, bold, and spacing to call special attention to the most important information in the document and use space efficiently. You only have a certain amount of space to communicate your message (1-2 pages) so consider that space precious real estate and use it wisely.

Take Your Resume Past 1-2 Pieces of Paper
Traditional paper resumes will continue to be an important part of the hiring process, but Web 2.0 now plays a leading role as well. More and more recruiters and hiring authorities are “googling” candidates to review their online presence, so it is becoming increasingly more important to have a branded online presence and virtual resume that matches the one you are using to communicate your message of value offline. For right now, LinkedIn still appears to be the “darling” of the recruiter and hiring manager community. Recruiters and hiring managers are leveraging LinkedIn to find candidates because it is an extremely robust database. Take the time to build out your online profile/resume with information about key achievements and consider adding your LinkedIn URL to your paper resume or email signature line for greater exposure.  Additional tools that people are using to build both online identity and their network are Google Profiles, ZoomInfo, Facebook, Branchout, BeKnown, Twitter,  Plaxo, Spoke, Xing, Ecademy, Ziggs, and Naymz.

Your resume is an important part of your search strategy, but it is not the silver bullet. Make sure that you are using multiple methods of search to get in front of employers and not just relying on the job boards. Be sure to enlist the help of recruiters and your network. Research the companies you are interested in and try to build relationships with decision makers at these organizations even if there is not a current opening. Build out your profiles on the various online networking sites and don’t forget the value of professional organizations for education and relationship building. Happy hunting!

4 Summer Strategies to Step Up Your Job Search, @DebraWheatman, #careercollective

Putting Your Job Search Up On The Rack For Inspection, @dawnrasmussen, #careercollective

Mid-Year Job Search Checkup: Are you wasting your time? @GayleHoward, #careercollective

What is your unique value proposition? @keppie_careers, #careercollective

It is Time for Your Check-up Ms/Mr Jobseeker, @careersherpa, #careercollective

Mid-Year Career Checkup: Are You “On Your Game?” @KatCareerGal, #careercollective

How to Perform a Mid-Year Job Search Checkup, @heatherhuhman, #careercollective

Reposition your job search for success, @LaurieBerenson, #careercollective

Mid-Year Job Search Checkup: What’s working and What’s not? @erinkennedycprw, #careercollective

Mid-Year Job Search Check-Up: Getting Un-Stuck, @JobHuntOrg, #careercollective

Mid-Year Check Up: The Full 360, @WalterAkana, #careercollective

5 Tips for Fighting Summer Job Search Blues, @KCCareerCoach, #CareerCollective

Are you positive about your job search? @DawnBugni, #CareerCollective

Where Are The Jobs? @MartinBuckland, @EliteResumes, #CareerCollective

Mid-Year Job-Search Checkup: Get Your Juices Flowing, @ValueIntoWords, #CareerCollective

When Was Your Last Career & Job Search Check Up? @expatcoachmegan, #CareerCollective

I often tell my clients that rewriting a resume is like cleaning out a closet. It’s hard to clean out our closet because we can become emotionally attached to some of the items in it. Perhaps it’s a dress you bought a decade ago that is no longer in style or a pair of pants that no longer flatters your figure. Or maybe it’s that impulse buy that seemed so right at the time but turned out to be so wrong and has been sitting in your closet for years.

We struggle with the same issues when rewriting resumes. It may be hard to let go of  the half page dedicated to that Y2K conversion you worked so diligently on in 1999 or the extended paragraph about the direct mail campaign that was novel in 2001 but old hat in 2011. And what do we do about that dot.com venture in 2000 that only lasted 4 months and turned into a dot.bomb? Sometimes we need someone with a more objective perspective to step in and clean out our resume.

I help people let go of the clutter and the irrelevant and get them to focus on the parts of their background that will be most valuable to employers. And I cultivate a similar strategy when I help clients prepare for interviews.

Recently I started thinking about my wardrobe/resume analogy and  how integral what’s in your closet is to your overall presentation and value proposition to employers. A great resume and a great interview strategy should be complemented by a great outfit for the interview. The clothes need to be just as relevant as the message on the resume or elevator pitch.

So I’m thrilled to introduce Career Solvers’ latest service offering…image consulting through a new partnership with Style of Success image consulting for men and Vada Image Consulting for women. Career Solvers clients can now take advantage of the expertise of image consultants Ann Lindsay and Dianne Boras and purchase image consulting services and packages that include personal color and style consultations, closet clearing and wardrobe analysis and personal shopping services. You can learn more about these new services here.

In case you are wondering, I have gone through this process myself. A few weeks ago Dianne examined the contents of my closet. She helped me let go of a skirt that I’ve dubbed my Y2K skirt because it was that old and that unflattering and she convinced me to give up an impulse buy dress that never really worked and still had the price tag on it. She also helped me gain a better understanding of the best colors and styles for my shape. She removed the emotion from my closet so I could move on and remain relevant to the people seeking my professional services.

I hope you will check out this new service. After all, shouldn’t you look as good as your new resume?