- Unless you are the president of the United States or a Communist bloc of countries your resume shouldn't be more than one page long. I know many of you will disagree with that. Maybe 3 or 4 pages long is okay for certain professions and positions. But, I doubt it. My eyes are about to glaze over because I am reviewing job apps right now and I've seen multiple 15 page resumes/CV's in some cases listing information that is irrelevant such as the guy who listed a training seminar he went to in 1986. I am impressed. Thanks for listing that. Thanks also for making me search through all 18 pages to see if you were qualified for the job.
- Another waste of space is executive summaries and then a few pages later a list of special skills and a few pages later another bulleted list of accomplishments, etc., etc. Redundancy is not cool. No one is impressed. I read one app like that and I wasn't really sure if that person was currently employed or not. It was basically a bunch of high falluting language that said essentially absolutely nothing.
- When I was coming out of school they told us that our resume might get looked at for 10 seconds on the initial review. They might look at it longer later but the initial review is usually quick which means if you want to tell your life story, day by day, keep a diary but don't write a resume.
- The number of people with PhD degrees from places I've never heard of are many.
- The number of people who teach at fly by night, for profit schools who are trying to get out are many.
- The number of people who have had 55 jobs for about six months or less than two years each are quite a few. Yes, that sends up some red flags in my mind but I am only one of a few on the committee so we will see.
- I don't want to tick anyone off but there are a few majors that are worthless IMHO.
Why would you even look at the college/major of someone who has 20+ years of experience in a cutting edge industry? 
One example. I know one biotech scientist… with a B.A. in English Lit. You would have never guessed the major by looking at the list of responsibilities and accomplishments. 
Sounds like the OP is hiring in academia, so the major is of interest. Is that true @GoNoles85 ?
Yes @suzyQ7
If I were giving advice to job applicants it would be don’t reply to 5,000 jobs with the same application materials and expect your phone to ring. It probably won’t. There is a reason why some folks get stuck in a series of part-time jobs despite, in some cases, having really good skills and/or an abundance of education.
They are like gamblers on a losing streak so they keep adding degrees hoping that will change their luck.
It probably won’t. Very, very few of the apps I’ve seen so far bother to match their skills to the job description in any way, shape or form. They just throw 25 pages of amazing at me and think I’ll be so impressed I’ll beg them to sign on. They are just spit balling, throwing everything at me in the hopes something will stick.
It would be smarter to tailor the message to the audience.
I’ve never used a resume more than one page long. When I wrote cover letters, it was clear that I knew how my skills and experiences matched up to the job I was applying for. I didn’t make you have to work as a detective to find that. I eliminated irrelevant information for you and I was concise. I wasn’t trying to bluster you or blow smoke up your keister by saying I was an environmental engineer when all I did was empty the trash can. I lose respect for you quick when you do that because I know I can divide by ten anything you’ve done to counter balance the BS you just served me.
Speaking of basic skills, a lot of people do not communicate very well in writing. They know how to use jargon and fancy terms but they don’t have much of a message beyond that. It is almost like they are just repeating lines they heard in a movie but they don’t really understand.
I recently had someone be a half hour late for an interview, did not call to say they were running late and didn’t even apologize for it when the interview started.
I’m not sure if it is funny or sad but what happens is Al the Applicant is applying for so many jobs at once that he mails in the same documents to anyone and everyone. Al thinks he is doing a great job of applying for all these jobs. Al is angry that he can’t seem to find a good job. What Al should do is reevaluate what he is doing instead of getting angry. Don’t apply for 500 jobs a month with generic cover letters using generic language apply for 30 jobs a month and laser focus your message to that job.
You would think, a person who was taught how to think critically in college, could figure this out without a special needs government program or any other help. You would think common sense would be one’s guide. The problem is people are NOT actually taught how to think critically in college they are taught how to get a degree and pushed out the door. That is why we have countless offices to help people with degrees apply for jobs. Wasn’t that important enough to learn in school at some point???
I’m just talking to myself.
Oh, academia. I feel your pain. Industry here. An academic resume was easy to spot among the resumes of folks from the industry: thicker and full of garbagy stuff like that training seminar you mentioned.
BTW, a one-pager will not do for a senior-level position in my industry; 3 pages seems to be the optimal size (not including the list of publications).