Resume length best practice for an executive-level leader

Dear Sam: I am a vice president-level leader with an impressive background spanning 25+ years with 5 organizations. In addition, I am involved in multiple boards, possess a master’s degree, am heavily involved in the community, and am active on a speaking circuit. I worked with a professional to develop my resume, which I thought presented my background very effectively, but it spans three pages. When circulating my resume within my internal organization to solicit opinions from my peers, many said my resume should only be two pages long. How do I prioritize and identify want to cut from my resume when I feel it is important to present?

— Stephan

Dear Stephan: I am so pleased you mentioned the idea of soliciting opinions because, unfortunately, opinions are exactly what you received. It is natural to seek others’ approval of your resume, but your peers are inaccurate in telling you it should only be two pages. The norm for executive-level leaders with the depth and breadth of your career is three pages. Typically, once you are at a director level, you can start to warrant an extended presentation. Of course, if you didn’t have all of the additional thought leadership engagements, your resume could perhaps be two pages. You are correct in that all of the information in your resume is very important to differentiate your candidacy. I would stand firm with your 3-page presentation and know that it is a best practice in the personal branding field at your level.

Dear Sam: I just noticed that Linkedin allows me to assign specific skills to select pieces of my experience, education, and other pertinent sections. Given that I have utilized the same skills in every position, would it be prudent to add the same skills to each role? I am a little confused because Linkedin suggests adding just five skills to each position, yet there is considerable overlap in my background. I want to show that I have utilized all those skills in every job. How should I handle this?

— Connie

Dear Connie: Ah yes, the Linkedin skills section! This section makes me crazy as I often see profiles with each of the 50 skills assigned to every single position someone has held. The goal of the skill section is to highlight the unique aspects of each role. Even though you may have performed the same skills in every position you have held, I would hope that there is growth and progression throughout your journey, hence the ability to highlight different types and levels of strengths within each of your positions.

I urge you to prioritize the skills assigned to each section of your Linkedin profile, sticking with the Linkedin guideline of about five skills attached to each position. Hiring managers and recruiters understand that you have likely performed similar skills in each position if you have navigated a progressive journey in the same field. So there is no need to duplicate skills in each section and create an inordinately long skills list under each professional experience. Once you have added a handful of skills to each position, go back into your main skill section on Linkedin and re-prioritize them according to what is most important to your journey moving forward, pinning the top three skills so that those are seen first when someone views your profile.

Samantha Nolan is an Advanced Personal Branding Strategist and Career Expert, founder and CEO of Nolan Branding.

Do you have a resume, career, or job search question for Dear Sam? Reach Samantha at dearsam@nolanbranding.com.

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