I would like to get my hands on the author of the 11th Commandment: “Thou Shalt Not Have More Than A One Page Resume.”
Who said that? Why? It is the most overused axiom in the resume world. Now, let me be clear: if you are looking to enter into the medical sales field, and you have less than three years of outside sales experience, then yes, a one-page resume is entirely appropriate. But I have seen people cram 20+ years of excellent medical sales experience on one page using such small font that you need a $27M Electron microscope to read it. But more importantly- people are more concerned about fitting everything on one page that they sacrifice vital information in order to do so- information that could secure them an interview! In my 35 years of medical recruiting, I have never, EVER seen a candidate eliminated because he/ she had a two-page resume. I have seen candidates eliminated, however, if the resume is hard to read, or if they don’t have pertinent information on it.
If your background merits two pages- so be it! Just make sure that the information you provide is attractive to the reader (accomplishments) and not an overblown pontification of how good you are. A well-written resume will allow the hiring manager to come to that conclusion.
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