Title: Prioritize content to yield résumé success

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Dear Sam: My résumé is three pages long. How do I condense it without omitting important information? - Cindi

Dear Cindi: While I do not know the extent of your career, let's cover some general principles to help determine the appropriate length for your résumé. First, a résumé is not a narrative of your entire career. Instead, it is a strategic image of what you have done that positions you for what you now want to do. Think of your résumé like a brochure for a product. A brochure doesn't tell you all of the technical details of the product being marketed; instead, it highlights key points to gain the interest of and prompt action from the target buyer. There is a "rule" in résumé writing that you should "present the big and save the small," meaning your résumé should focus on the high points of your career, leaving supporting details to be discussed during a personal interview. Regardless of the length of your résumé (or career), the most important details of your candidacy must be highlighted at the top of page one. With recent surveys suggesting the résumé screening process is as little as seven seconds long, it only makes sense that the top of page one contain the sales pitch. Hence, up-to-date résumés contain qualifications summaries that market key experiences and strengths instead of including self-serving objective statements.

Review your career in relation to your current goals and make sure you are not presenting older unrelated experiences (positions 15+ years back), redundant information, or too many details that will lose the reader's interest. Be sure you are also focusing on accomplishments versus responsibilities, and prioritize what you include by following the "present the big and save the small" rule mentioned above. Also, make sure you are not including sections that contain irrelevant information more related to your personal rather than your professional life. I see a lot of lengthy résumés that are only made so by the inclusion of sections containing volumes of data on personal interests, unrelated advocacy activities, dated professional training, etc. I imagine after prioritizing your information, reviewing what details really relate to your current career goal(s), and removing old information, you should be able to produce a nice, clean, and uncluttered two-page resume. Remember though, it's not the length of the résumé you should focus on; instead, be sure, regardless of the length of your résumé, that the most important information appears in the qualifications summary at the top of page one. I wish you well, and thanks for the great question.

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Dear Sam: Due to downsizing, I have recently found myself back in the market searching for a job. I have not had issues getting my résumé noticed in the past. I have more than seven years' experience in outside sales and have my résumé organized in chronological order. Do you think I would get noticed by choice employers more quickly if I used a functional résumé format as opposed to a chronological format? - Lauren

Dear Lauren: Probably not. In fact, functional résumés are rarely as effective because they leave the reader wondering what you did when and where. Functional formats should be resorted to only in situations where you have no chance of getting past the screening process if you use the traditional, and much more widely accepted, reverse chronological format. These situations could include frequent job hops, limited related experience, large employment gaps, and more. You can certainly pull out some career highlights and organize those by functional area, creating a combination or hybrid format, but be sure to note where each was achieved. Your qualifications summary should serve as the overview of your related and/or transferable skills and experiences; in that summary, you can pull out keywords which will focus attention on the areas you would likely highlight in a functional format. Instead of resorting to the functional format, use great content, organization, formatting, achievements, and a strong qualifications summary to grab the reader's attention.

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Do you have a question for Dear Sam? Write to dearsam@semissourian.com. Samantha Nolan owns Ladybug Design, a résumé writing and interview coaching firm. For more information, call (888) 9-LADYBUG (888-952-3928) or visit www.ladybug-design.com.

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