[happilyliving]

I have resume that needs quite a bit of shortenining, I am hoping for some pointer on how to shorten the resume from 4 pages to maybe 1.5 pages. I've never been too great at putting one together so a help would be appreciated.

[ebaines]

Without seeing your resume all I can do is tell you of some mistakes with long resumes that I've seen others make:

1. A resume is not a biography. You do not need to tell a complete story about every job or project you ever worked on.

2. Focus on your skills, responsibilities and accomplishments, as opposed to writing about what each project was. If you can state in three sentences why you would be a good hire for a company (as you might put into a cover letter) make sure the resume focuses on experences that demonstrate those points.

3. When you get into an interview the hiring manager will ask for more info, so don't feel that you have to put all the details into the resume. For example if you are a design engineer working on an X-Ray compulator you do not need to write about what an X-ray compulator is, but rather your accomplishments on the project.

4. Consider tailoring the resume to the specific job you are applying for. For example if you are applying for a sales position with a software company and your experience is in sales of steam boilers, focus on areas of commonality such as experiences and accomplishments in dealing with customers and establishing business partnerships, as opposed to writing about the boiler business.

Hope this helps.

[joypulv]

I'm in the camp that says a resume should always be one page only.
A c.v. can be as many pages as you want.

My theory also is that your most recent job, if the most important, should take up a good 3 or 4 lines, and as jobs go back in time, 2 lines or even 1. Lump all the 'little starting out' jobs into a 1 liner, something like Prior to 2002: fast food clerk, busboy, carwash,

For schools, fit each one on 1 line only, including degrees. Don't include full addresses and zips.
If you put an 'Interests' line at the bottom, limit that to 1 line.
If you put an 'Objectives' line at the top, limit that to 2 lines.

A cover letter can be 2 fat paragraphs about how skilled and reliable you are, and how you want to work for their company more than anything in the world. Write a partially new one for each company. Limit it to about 2/3 page.

[Wondergirl]

ebaines (and joypulv) gave you terrific information on how to shorten your resume. If I were you, I'd pare it down to one page -- and yes, that's possible. As the two other responders said, a resume is not your work history, but is a summary. A resume is supposed to be a quickie teaser to get your foot in the door and get that interview. You can leave your 40-pager resume with the interviewer after the interview is finished.

If you do a functional or skills-based resume for each job you apply for (easy nowadays to make changes on a Word program), focus on the skills you can transfer to a new job and mention your accomplishments that would interest that company. If you want samples, let me know by posting again.