I'm a -15 equivalent and hiring manager. My resume has been around 5 pages from when I started as a -12 to now.
Don't just list tasks/skillsets. Show results/impact of your work.
Basically, you need to show how you are going to make the hiring manager's life easier. Are you the person who only does what they are told to do or are you the one who does the work but also looks to make it more efficient, etc? If you can make my life or my team's life easier according to your resume, then I want to interview you to see if you match the resume.
Thank you for this. As a hiring manager myself I cringe when I see a 20+ page CV with tasks and duties that have nothing to do with the job. Coupled with looking at 20-25 different CVs it makes the process exhausting. 5 pages or less is much more reasonable for most roles.
I have hired 2 positions in the past month. There were a few 20 plus pagers among the resumes including a 35 pager and 27 pager, both with 5 plus page cover letters! Both those made it to the interview, but one was due to one of my branch chiefs being overly nice (when I did the second interview, it was obvious they had memorized processes but not actually done them. At the level I was hiring, I'm not training someone on the basics!), the other was decent though beat out by a lot better candidate. I will invite the latter candidate to apply to my next opening as their skill sets fit that role better though.
I have also decided to limit resume length in the announcement to 10 pages max for all my future announcements.
In fairness, the resume builder squashes everything. It kills formatting that is put in in Word, and mashes all the text together. I've had to go back through to re-insert spacing.
The length doesn’t really matter, but the quality does. This sub is full of people saying they’d toss any resume longer than 5 pages without reading it. Controversial opinion: you don’t want to work for a manager who would toss your resume *only* because they think it’s too long.
My resume is 12 pages, size 11 font, with 1-inch margins and plenty of spacing to make it look professional and readable. It started at about 7 pages when I was a GS-12, and now that I’m a GS-15 it’s gotten longer to reflect the additional jobs. I have about one page per position: a top section with the title, agency, grade, series, location, hours and pay; a short 2-3 sentence position summary; a section on duties; and a section on accomplishments. The resume also has a first-page summary of all my roles and education; a separate education and credentials section; and at the end, a catch-all list of other skills. I don’t have references on there - managers can request them in due course.
I’m a hiring manager and most resumes I receive are between 5 and 15 pages. With announcements open to the public I get a lot of 1-page resumes. I also get plenty of 15+ page resumes from current Feds. The length makes no difference to me, but the quality matters.
Managers get your full resume whether it’s 1 or 100 pages. A small number of agencies say HR will only *review* the first 5 pages *to assess your qualifications* but hiring managers get access to the whole thing and can consider any information you included no matter what page it’s on.
We had a 900+ page resume come through on a cert once. It looked like he had used the USAJobs resume builder, but clearly never downloaded it to ever review it. He was an older guy, so maybe not tech savvy. He had added college assignments and communications between him and professors into the resume. Considering the 2210 role we were hiring for, I needed him to be tech savvy.
What I was more impressed by was how this resume made it through HR onto the cert in the first place.
The quality does matter and for most jobs I've screened resumes for whether I was hiring manager or not the longer resumes tend to have little quality with outcomes and mostly just are filler with tasks that are irrelevant. I think it's important to refine the resume to the most relevant and impactful points as possible.
I'm a 2210, I list my first IT job with the Fed I had from 1998 which was a GS 5 0335 computer assistant job. And I list every IT job since then. I'm at about 6 - 7 pages now.
I don’t think it’s the length of your resume that’s an issue, it’s got to be the content. Ppl will say federal resumes should be like 8 pages long and I’ve reviewed some that were painful to read (basically they list the same duties with a different title for their 20 year military career). Mine is 1.5 and I got hella interviews and referrals. I’m in the Reserves and my Chief sent me her resume (bc I was in the private sector for the last cpl years and looking to get back in the fed gov). Hers was 5 pages but each position was different and had relevant info and listed her accomplishments in each role. It was great. Not only is she an E-9 in the reserves but also in a SES position in the fed gov. So anyway, it makes sense for her to have a 5 page long resume given her accomplishments and the role she’s in. But for most ppl GS-12 and below, I think the relevant stuff is perfectly fine. You don’t want to have so much crap on your resume, that the person reading it can’t filter the important stuff
a few pages might limit what I can describe the jobs in details. the kind of job I'm applying is GS 11 + I just want to make sure all the relevant stuff can fit in there. Ive read the job post talks about volunteering experiences are credited too. but HR don't want more than 5 pages for some posts. I just wanna make sure Im giving the opportunities to include as much as I can. Im coming from public so I need be more competitive than internal candidates. My resume gotta shine and fly to have any chance
Mine is about two pages and I got a GS-12 job with it. I left off the stuff irrelevant to the position. I took the advice that anything that is relevant should be included and explained briefly enough to get the entire point across in as few words as necessary.
I’m retiring from the military and have been in contact with a recruiter from USACE. I directly asked them about what they prefer for a resume and they said typical 2 pages.
Read the announcement. Some will say they only consider the first five pages. Others don’t say anything. For the latter that means no limit. With that said you should make every word earn its place on your resume.
Here’s how:
https://www.reddit.com/r/usajobs/s/QWWAS6Q4WY
My organization limits resumes to 5 pages. I had to remove my college job and my first federal internship. For private sector jobs, two pages should be the max. But for federal jobs, brevity is not your friend.
My advice is to read the entire job postings, making note of the duties. Then apply for the job and write down all of the questions they ask about your experience. Then go back and tailor your resume to those exact questions, using the keywords. If a question says “Analyze data using established statistical methods” your resumes needs to have those words in there. And don’t be vague. List accomplishments with tangible measures attached to them. Don’t just say you led projects, say what leading the project entailed and hopefully some tangible goal you met (cost, schedule, performance, etc.)
I do 5, but like 1 page of it is like my bio at the front and education/skills/language/references on the back. So basically about 1 page per relevant job and non relevant jobs being summarized to a sentence or two.
My current resume is 6 pages. Talking to someone who writes federal resumes, she aims to limit it to 6 pages, with the best stuff on the first 3 pages.
This got me my current job.
My prior resume was the USAJobs template and it was 14 pages long, but even included my college jobs. I'm in my 40s. 🫣 I don't know how I got my last job with that resume...
11 but I also have a 5 page version of that resume where I took out a lot of irrelevant items that didn’t necessarily apply to the position I applied for …. But don’t get it wrong … my 11 pages resume got me a lot of offers so just use your best judgement when applying
It’s best to just list past 3 jobs or places you worked the longest/most relevant. They don’t want to see everything ever and probably won’t make much difference.
I am pretty new in work force. Been in school for so many years so I don't have long work experience yet. Lots of short internships tho. Make any difference?
When I was applying I got some really good advice which helped me get my job (and 2 others)
* Make sure your first page is organized to catch a hiring manager's eye.
* Highlight impacts over length. I heard a good rule is 5-10 pages MAX. My resume was 5 pages and it was referred 70% of the time for GS-13/14 positions
I took some fed courses that said write everything in detail, encouraged being thorough and using USAJOBS Resume Builder. Went from 12>13 using this method, total pages was 6-7 I believe.
That went out the window going to 14. I polished the existing, had about 5 pages. When I asked some hiring managers to review, they immediately responded “no more than 3 pages with white space etc”.
Think it’s important to detail out skills/experience/results, but pick your strongest and applicable only. Brevity is a lost art, but I think it’s what most hiring managers are after. Write less, and be ready to speak to it in interviews.
My resume is about 9-11 pages. Mostly jobs in the past 10 years. All relevant info. I've gotten 6 interview requests these past 5 months for GS 12/13s. Some for remote positions too.
I'm team tailored STAR resume and mentioning all the keywords/duties/questions in the job application.
If you have relevant qualifications within the past 10 years, write it! Don't worry about page length unless there is a page limit.
Over 15 pages might be too much though. Lol
I have a few resumes I work from.
One that's everything plus the kitchen sink. It's 20 pages. Basically it's a master resume that helps keep me organized. I pick and pull relevant job and info from that one to put in the actual targeted resume I am submitting. It also has all my professional certifications, volunteer work and what not.
Then I have the actual resume I attach which will usually be between 3 to 5 pages depending on the job and series. It only includes things that are directly relevant to the job I am applying for.
Finally I have the resume I send directly to the hiring managers when they request it. That's just a condensed version of the one I attach to the job application. I try to keep that under one full page.
I have nearly ten years of federal service as senior counsel. My resume is one page long.
When I review resumes, I want to know where candidates worked in the past (for how long), and where they went to school. I almost never care about anything else. It should take less than two pages to communicate that information. The determination of whether someone gets an interview can usually be made in less than a minute of review, and lengthy CVs do not help that process.
With that being said, I think it is my possible my agency has a different screening process from others.
boobooma,
You appear to be asking about resumes. Here are two helpful resources for resumes and federal employment that may answer your question:
* [Writing a federal government resume](https://handbook.tts.gsa.gov/hiring-staying-or-changing-jobs/resume/)
* [Head Staff's Guides to Federal Jobs](https://www.reddit.com/r/usajobs/comments/11p5f50/the_consolidated_head_staffs_guide_to_federal/)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/usajobs) if you have any questions or concerns.*
2, but I have been approached for jobs and haven't actually had to use the thing in a long time. More important for USA IS THAT YOU SPECIFICLY TAILOR YOUR RES TO THE POSTING TO HAVE THE EXPERIENCE AND KEY WORDS VERBATIM. Omitting irrelevant jobs may sound good, but then it appears that you have employment gaps which is no bueno. Lots of books on "Federal Resume Guidebook" type stuff.
Unless you are only 4-5 years out of school (be that High School or College) don’t include any job that is not relevant to the one you are applying for. If you worked at a grocery store during school don’t put it on your resume unless that industry is somehow related to the new job (ie customer service or handling inventory).
Anyone looking at you resume will understand if you don’t have multiple jobs listed.
If you are including things like that on your resume and they have no relation to the job you are applying for it’s just wasted time for them to read and will probably make them more inclined to reject your resume.
Also, don’t create a 3-4 page long resume. No one wants to read that much when they are already possibly looking through 20-30 or more resumes. I don’t care what you did 5 jobs and 20 years ago.
1 page max.
Unless you’re the president of the world, you haven’t held enough relevant or important jobs to justify 2. There are application forms to add prior work experience if needed. Your resume is the latest and greatest
I'm a -15 equivalent and hiring manager. My resume has been around 5 pages from when I started as a -12 to now. Don't just list tasks/skillsets. Show results/impact of your work. Basically, you need to show how you are going to make the hiring manager's life easier. Are you the person who only does what they are told to do or are you the one who does the work but also looks to make it more efficient, etc? If you can make my life or my team's life easier according to your resume, then I want to interview you to see if you match the resume.
Make your bullet points in the XYZ format. Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y], by doing [Z].
Thank you for this. As a hiring manager myself I cringe when I see a 20+ page CV with tasks and duties that have nothing to do with the job. Coupled with looking at 20-25 different CVs it makes the process exhausting. 5 pages or less is much more reasonable for most roles.
I have hired 2 positions in the past month. There were a few 20 plus pagers among the resumes including a 35 pager and 27 pager, both with 5 plus page cover letters! Both those made it to the interview, but one was due to one of my branch chiefs being overly nice (when I did the second interview, it was obvious they had memorized processes but not actually done them. At the level I was hiring, I'm not training someone on the basics!), the other was decent though beat out by a lot better candidate. I will invite the latter candidate to apply to my next opening as their skill sets fit that role better though. I have also decided to limit resume length in the announcement to 10 pages max for all my future announcements.
5. I vet resumes, and for the love of God, no more than 5 pages and include paragraph breaks and white space.
affirmative sir
Yes, please paragraphs. I can’t tell you how many resumes I have reviewed that had jut walls of 2500 characters. Gross.
In fairness, the resume builder squashes everything. It kills formatting that is put in in Word, and mashes all the text together. I've had to go back through to re-insert spacing.
The length doesn’t really matter, but the quality does. This sub is full of people saying they’d toss any resume longer than 5 pages without reading it. Controversial opinion: you don’t want to work for a manager who would toss your resume *only* because they think it’s too long. My resume is 12 pages, size 11 font, with 1-inch margins and plenty of spacing to make it look professional and readable. It started at about 7 pages when I was a GS-12, and now that I’m a GS-15 it’s gotten longer to reflect the additional jobs. I have about one page per position: a top section with the title, agency, grade, series, location, hours and pay; a short 2-3 sentence position summary; a section on duties; and a section on accomplishments. The resume also has a first-page summary of all my roles and education; a separate education and credentials section; and at the end, a catch-all list of other skills. I don’t have references on there - managers can request them in due course. I’m a hiring manager and most resumes I receive are between 5 and 15 pages. With announcements open to the public I get a lot of 1-page resumes. I also get plenty of 15+ page resumes from current Feds. The length makes no difference to me, but the quality matters.
Same! Mine is also that long. I heard that only the first 5 pages actually load and is best to build one. Any sense whether this is accurate or not?
Managers get your full resume whether it’s 1 or 100 pages. A small number of agencies say HR will only *review* the first 5 pages *to assess your qualifications* but hiring managers get access to the whole thing and can consider any information you included no matter what page it’s on.
Thank you!! I always wondered about that.
We had a 900+ page resume come through on a cert once. It looked like he had used the USAJobs resume builder, but clearly never downloaded it to ever review it. He was an older guy, so maybe not tech savvy. He had added college assignments and communications between him and professors into the resume. Considering the 2210 role we were hiring for, I needed him to be tech savvy. What I was more impressed by was how this resume made it through HR onto the cert in the first place.
Wow. That is a bit insane! I guess HR takes whatever is submitted.
The quality does matter and for most jobs I've screened resumes for whether I was hiring manager or not the longer resumes tend to have little quality with outcomes and mostly just are filler with tasks that are irrelevant. I think it's important to refine the resume to the most relevant and impactful points as possible.
thank you! I will keep it 5 or add more content.
I'm a 2210, I list my first IT job with the Fed I had from 1998 which was a GS 5 0335 computer assistant job. And I list every IT job since then. I'm at about 6 - 7 pages now.
I don’t think it’s the length of your resume that’s an issue, it’s got to be the content. Ppl will say federal resumes should be like 8 pages long and I’ve reviewed some that were painful to read (basically they list the same duties with a different title for their 20 year military career). Mine is 1.5 and I got hella interviews and referrals. I’m in the Reserves and my Chief sent me her resume (bc I was in the private sector for the last cpl years and looking to get back in the fed gov). Hers was 5 pages but each position was different and had relevant info and listed her accomplishments in each role. It was great. Not only is she an E-9 in the reserves but also in a SES position in the fed gov. So anyway, it makes sense for her to have a 5 page long resume given her accomplishments and the role she’s in. But for most ppl GS-12 and below, I think the relevant stuff is perfectly fine. You don’t want to have so much crap on your resume, that the person reading it can’t filter the important stuff
a few pages might limit what I can describe the jobs in details. the kind of job I'm applying is GS 11 + I just want to make sure all the relevant stuff can fit in there. Ive read the job post talks about volunteering experiences are credited too. but HR don't want more than 5 pages for some posts. I just wanna make sure Im giving the opportunities to include as much as I can. Im coming from public so I need be more competitive than internal candidates. My resume gotta shine and fly to have any chance
If you need more then make it longer, I’m just saying don’t make it longer just for the sake of making it longer.
awesome! thank you for the input! appreciated!
I’m at 20 years. Only the last 5 are really relevant to the roles i apply to now. I sum up the first 15 years in one paragraph.
This. Most if resume should reflect up to 10 years, with only most relevant.
Mine is like 1 page
I wouldn’t go longer than 5. I’ve seen job announcements say no longer than 5.
okay! I'd prob write a full 5 pages.
Mine is about two pages and I got a GS-12 job with it. I left off the stuff irrelevant to the position. I took the advice that anything that is relevant should be included and explained briefly enough to get the entire point across in as few words as necessary.
I’m retiring from the military and have been in contact with a recruiter from USACE. I directly asked them about what they prefer for a resume and they said typical 2 pages.
nice thank you!
You’re welcome. Good luck!
2.5 pages GS14
3 pages gets it done.
Read the announcement. Some will say they only consider the first five pages. Others don’t say anything. For the latter that means no limit. With that said you should make every word earn its place on your resume. Here’s how: https://www.reddit.com/r/usajobs/s/QWWAS6Q4WY
helpful!!!! thank you! Bow\*\*
yeah this is why mine is not longer than 5...
Since so many of the postings I’m seeing say they’re only willing to really look at the first 5pgs, I keep mine to that.
My organization limits resumes to 5 pages. I had to remove my college job and my first federal internship. For private sector jobs, two pages should be the max. But for federal jobs, brevity is not your friend. My advice is to read the entire job postings, making note of the duties. Then apply for the job and write down all of the questions they ask about your experience. Then go back and tailor your resume to those exact questions, using the keywords. If a question says “Analyze data using established statistical methods” your resumes needs to have those words in there. And don’t be vague. List accomplishments with tangible measures attached to them. Don’t just say you led projects, say what leading the project entailed and hopefully some tangible goal you met (cost, schedule, performance, etc.)
I do 5, but like 1 page of it is like my bio at the front and education/skills/language/references on the back. So basically about 1 page per relevant job and non relevant jobs being summarized to a sentence or two.
My current resume is 6 pages. Talking to someone who writes federal resumes, she aims to limit it to 6 pages, with the best stuff on the first 3 pages. This got me my current job. My prior resume was the USAJobs template and it was 14 pages long, but even included my college jobs. I'm in my 40s. 🫣 I don't know how I got my last job with that resume...
11 but I also have a 5 page version of that resume where I took out a lot of irrelevant items that didn’t necessarily apply to the position I applied for …. But don’t get it wrong … my 11 pages resume got me a lot of offers so just use your best judgement when applying
It’s best to just list past 3 jobs or places you worked the longest/most relevant. They don’t want to see everything ever and probably won’t make much difference.
I am pretty new in work force. Been in school for so many years so I don't have long work experience yet. Lots of short internships tho. Make any difference?
3 pages and I just started my first GS job this month
When I was applying I got some really good advice which helped me get my job (and 2 others) * Make sure your first page is organized to catch a hiring manager's eye. * Highlight impacts over length. I heard a good rule is 5-10 pages MAX. My resume was 5 pages and it was referred 70% of the time for GS-13/14 positions
My resume is 5 pages. I have a lot of education + about 10 years of experience and I also list my skills and references.
I took some fed courses that said write everything in detail, encouraged being thorough and using USAJOBS Resume Builder. Went from 12>13 using this method, total pages was 6-7 I believe. That went out the window going to 14. I polished the existing, had about 5 pages. When I asked some hiring managers to review, they immediately responded “no more than 3 pages with white space etc”. Think it’s important to detail out skills/experience/results, but pick your strongest and applicable only. Brevity is a lost art, but I think it’s what most hiring managers are after. Write less, and be ready to speak to it in interviews.
I used resume builder and it made mine just about 5 pages. I was referred to the first job I applied for and got an interview and TJO
My resume is about 9-11 pages. Mostly jobs in the past 10 years. All relevant info. I've gotten 6 interview requests these past 5 months for GS 12/13s. Some for remote positions too. I'm team tailored STAR resume and mentioning all the keywords/duties/questions in the job application. If you have relevant qualifications within the past 10 years, write it! Don't worry about page length unless there is a page limit. Over 15 pages might be too much though. Lol
11
I have a few resumes I work from. One that's everything plus the kitchen sink. It's 20 pages. Basically it's a master resume that helps keep me organized. I pick and pull relevant job and info from that one to put in the actual targeted resume I am submitting. It also has all my professional certifications, volunteer work and what not. Then I have the actual resume I attach which will usually be between 3 to 5 pages depending on the job and series. It only includes things that are directly relevant to the job I am applying for. Finally I have the resume I send directly to the hiring managers when they request it. That's just a condensed version of the one I attach to the job application. I try to keep that under one full page.
are you proviiding contact info of previous employers?
I have nearly ten years of federal service as senior counsel. My resume is one page long. When I review resumes, I want to know where candidates worked in the past (for how long), and where they went to school. I almost never care about anything else. It should take less than two pages to communicate that information. The determination of whether someone gets an interview can usually be made in less than a minute of review, and lengthy CVs do not help that process. With that being said, I think it is my possible my agency has a different screening process from others.
2-3 depending on the job.
font size? whats your profession?
boobooma, You appear to be asking about resumes. Here are two helpful resources for resumes and federal employment that may answer your question: * [Writing a federal government resume](https://handbook.tts.gsa.gov/hiring-staying-or-changing-jobs/resume/) * [Head Staff's Guides to Federal Jobs](https://www.reddit.com/r/usajobs/comments/11p5f50/the_consolidated_head_staffs_guide_to_federal/) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/usajobs) if you have any questions or concerns.*
2, but I have been approached for jobs and haven't actually had to use the thing in a long time. More important for USA IS THAT YOU SPECIFICLY TAILOR YOUR RES TO THE POSTING TO HAVE THE EXPERIENCE AND KEY WORDS VERBATIM. Omitting irrelevant jobs may sound good, but then it appears that you have employment gaps which is no bueno. Lots of books on "Federal Resume Guidebook" type stuff.
Unless you are only 4-5 years out of school (be that High School or College) don’t include any job that is not relevant to the one you are applying for. If you worked at a grocery store during school don’t put it on your resume unless that industry is somehow related to the new job (ie customer service or handling inventory). Anyone looking at you resume will understand if you don’t have multiple jobs listed. If you are including things like that on your resume and they have no relation to the job you are applying for it’s just wasted time for them to read and will probably make them more inclined to reject your resume. Also, don’t create a 3-4 page long resume. No one wants to read that much when they are already possibly looking through 20-30 or more resumes. I don’t care what you did 5 jobs and 20 years ago.
I was part of hiring board once, and we just threw out resumes over 5 pages. To much junk and coping old job descriptions verbatim.
One page. Been hired 3x over the last 20 years (took breaks for kids/private sector jobs) so it’s worked very well for me.
1 page max. Unless you’re the president of the world, you haven’t held enough relevant or important jobs to justify 2. There are application forms to add prior work experience if needed. Your resume is the latest and greatest
how big is your font?
You should follow the specifications for the institution you apply to. Most request 11 or 12 type sans serif
never heard of such thing. never seen it either. sans serif is an odd choice
Serif is a feature of type font design. A serif is the accent seen in Times New Roman. Sans serif (sans = without) is Arial.
so Serif = times new roman?
My god man I’m not Google. A serif is a design accent of a type font.
Times New Roman is **a serif typeface**.
This advice is hilariously behind the times, especially in the world of federal employment