Should cover letter and resume be strictly 1 page?

[Syne]

Many people will tell you that an objective statement is not necessary.

[Sum_guy]

This may be a stupid question- but are "career objective statements" really necessary? Especially if you're writing a cover letter specific to a job posting?

personally I'm not a fan. Unless there's a reason or difference in the objective then it adds no value. If you have a different objective from the other 100 people that applied, ok sure, maybe.

I find that most of the time they add nothing and take up space in the more valuable real estate of a resume.

[thunderchunky]

It's hard to get it right. My opinion is it's better to have no objective statement than to have a weak or generic one.

[bbraganz]

Mine was 1 page out of High School. If you have post-secondary education, applicable work experience, and (possibly) some extra-curriculars (ie volunteering etc) I would imagine it would be nearly impossible to fit that **** on 1 page.

[dibksbgon]

Mine was 1 page out of High School. If you have post-secondary education, applicable work experience, and (possibly) some extra-curriculars (ie volunteering etc) I would imagine it would be nearly impossible to fit that **** on 1 page.

Er... How would it not fit on one page? You do not need to go to extreme lengths with the points underneath each heading.
Same with education. You graduate from X highschool. Insert if you were an honours student or what have you. Perhaps if you are in highschool at the time maybe mention which subject you excel in all in one line. If you are done highschool and post secondary insert X college/university, diploma given, major/minors studied, standing of set diploma, (all of those can fit onto one line) possibly a short point about the focus of set degree.

Oh and by the time you are done university, you cut down your resume of a lot of the BS assuming you have accumulated more relevant experience. If you bagged groceries at 16, you are not putting it on your resume...


Also important to know the difference between an education first resume and an experience first resume.

[HTTP04]

Golden rule for resume is

1 page resume, 1 page cover letter

UNLESS, you have years and years of experience

Kinda silly for an undergrad/recent grad to have 2 page resume/cover letter

[Ayotb12]

personally I'm not a fan. Unless there's a reason or difference in the objective then it adds no value. If you have a different objective from the other 100 people that applied, ok sure, maybe.

I find that most of the time they add nothing and take up space in the more valuable real estate of a resume.

See this is what I always figured, but most resume templates still include it. I never bothered with one, so I'm happy other people have the same view.

[Ascott]

This may be a stupid question- but are "career objective statements" really necessary? Especially if you're writing a cover letter specific to a job posting?

Not really. I'd only include one in that circumstance if the employer has you submit everything through a web form and the cover letter is submitted separately from your resume.

[Forhad]

A good cover letter puts your résumé in context and persuades the prospective employer that you are a good match for the position in question. If your cover letter does its job, the prospective employer will begin to consider your candidacy and go on to review your résumé in detail.

[bbraganz]

[QUOTE=dibksbgon;15090882]Er... How would it not fit on one page? You do not need to go to extreme lengths with the points underneath each heading. [QUOTE]

Depends on the positions that you had during university. If they were mindless, yah I guess fitting it on 1 page would be appropriate

[Just thinking]

One page cover and two page resume is just fine. The cover letter is what will grab their attention and your resume will say how qualified you are. Then when you land the interview, your personality will get you the offer.

Good luck.

[nalababe]

[QUOTE=bbraganz;15092286][QUOTE=dibksbgon;15090882]Er... How would it not fit on one page? You do not need to go to extreme lengths with the points underneath each heading.

Depends on the positions that you had during university. If they were mindless, yah I guess fitting it on 1 page would be appropriate

Even if the were not mindless, you don't need to go into detail. You are not just listing everything you did. Unless you are describing an actual measurable achievement, position, location and date will fit on one line.

I did a, b, and c is not a measurable achievement and really is not necessary to list.

[Mars2012]

One page for cover letter and two for resume is fine. I asked DH what he looks at first when he goes through resumes: a)check whether they are in or has qualifications to join the professional association (in his case APEGS), and b) he looks at the experience, whether it's related to what was asked in the job description. The English/grammar has to be very good as well.

[tylaw83]

Depends on the positions that you had during university. If they were mindless, yah I guess fitting it on 1 page would be appropriate

Aren't you in accounting with actual work experience now? I don't see how you wouldn't be able to fit it on 1 page. Intern/summer/co-op experience should take up one paragraph at most.

[Sephora]

One page cover letter, one page resume. Works for me.

It's hard, but I found taking the time to whittle down my resume to one lean page to be worthwhile.