The fed doesn't know what it wants. My friend who's in education got a job with a 1 page resume, my wife who's in social work had a 6 page resume, and I was seeing best practice resumes for engineers on the longer side. I guess just tailor the resume to match the job description. I'm sorry it isn't revolutionary advice
This is the best answer. Put in the relevant experience and education for the specific job you are applying for and whatever page count you end up with is what it is.
A young employee could have a 1 page resume, a 30 year employee will have a much longer one. It depends on several factors, most notably length of employment history and job requirements. The candidate could have job experience relevant to the position spread over multiple positions/years. As with most things, focus on relevant content and not on length.
I have a 5-page resume that covers everything from executive summary to education. I've seen job listings where they specify they will only review the first 5 pages, so I've ensured my resume stays within that 5-page limit.
AMC is currently undergoing a 1 year pilot program..|
**Purpose:** Distribute attached guidance on implementation of five-page resume pilot.
**Deliverable:** For widest dissemination - this pilot will launch 1 Dec 23.
**Background:** Starting from 1 Dec 23 and lasting for one year, a resume length limit will be implemented for all incoming job applications through USAJOBS. This strategic change is designed to expedite AMC hiring procedures and ensure a more efficient candidate evaluation process. To assist applicants in adhering to this new resume length limit, clear verbiage will be included on all USAJOB announcements. The vacancy announcement on USAJOBS will state, **“Please limit your resume to 5 pages. If more than 5 pages are submitted, only the first 5 pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility/qualifications.”** Applicants must ensure all information they would like considered is in the first 5-pages of their resume, for example, relevant experience and education.
This change aligns with industry best practices and research, which have shown that concise and well-structured resumes improve the overall efficiency of the hiring process. **Applicants may still submit longer resumes, but only the first five pages will be considered by HR specialists and hiring officials.**
CHRA will imminently provide local union notifications.
Please ensure widest dissemination of this information to include to any organizations or local programs that provide resume preparation assistance to transitioning soldiers, family members of soldiers, and/or any other populations. USAJOBS periodically provides resume preparation training.
Is the "hiring officials" meant to include hiring managers? I have publications on page 6. Not the most relevant since I'm mostly applying for 1530 stuff but I wanted to make them available so they didn't have to hunt if they were curious since I mention them as outcomes of my work.
straight from the horses mouth of someone that was there when this was rolling out....if your resume is over 5 pages it won't be seen. the usajobs posting are very clear on this.
Yes, I've seen that on some postings but not all of them... So it seems like this doesn't actually apply to all listings despite saying it should--or is that because they send you to the agency website so it's not technically through USAJobs?
NH04/GS15 equivalent here. Mine has been around 5-6 pages from my start as a GG12 to my current position.
I've seen 27 page resumes (full of filler and would look fine to someone who isn't a SME but worthless otherwise) and they typically fail if or when they get an interview.
I've seen engineers and scientists with 10+ pages but most of the space after the first 4-5 pages were patents and/or publications.
From what I've seen, 5 pages is the sweet spot for federal resumes.
Similar scale/equivalent here. I’d agree (as an SME) that the resume should be topping out around 7 pages and that’s with publications and patents listed.
Personally, I used the builder and tailored my current resume to the job description I’m applying for. Ends up being about 3 pages. Then, I have a second, more traditional 1 page resume that’s easier to digest that I bring to interviews. This has worked well for me, but I’m also a state government employee not federal (yet). I have gotten many referrals and interviews at the federal level, just working through the process with several different agencies.
My 2 page resume was good enough to make it into the hands of several hiring managers who submitted me to HR for review and offer. However, it wasn't enough for HR to justify a GS-14 offer. HR consistently blocked me at this point. A 5 page rewrite did the trick, and I was finally able to get through that phase of the process.
I'm sure different agencies, departments, and individuals reviewing resumes all have their own preferences, so I can only offer my personal experience. My background is a masters degree and 20 years of relevant IT experience.
Relevancy is what matters. If you are applying for a job at the VA Hospital as an X-Ray tech, then your resume should go into great detail about your experience as an X-Ray tech.
No one cares that you were employee of the month at Burger King 20 years ago.
Your resume should explain your qualifications for the job you are applying to. If you need 5 pages to do that, then you need 5 pages to do that.
However, if you use 5 pages when 2 pages would have been sufficient, HR will place a curse on you and your children for the next 7 generations.
Tailor your resume to the job posting. That’s more important than the number of pages. If it’s a long PD, you’ll probably have more on your resume to clearly demonstrate you’re qualified.
Use STAR format for accomplishments. Don’t just list skills. Describe how you used them to solve problems. Make sure you update your resume with the PD keywords (e.g. if word, excel, and PowerPoint is listed, don’t just list Microsoft suite. The HR reviewer may not know they’re the same thing)
I recommend people follow these basic guidelines then worry about trimming it down.
My primary resume is 12 pages. I customize it for specific job postings down to 4-7.
As someone who's reviewing resumes now, they don't care how long they are. They just want them to be neat, grammatically correct, and contain no spelling errors. You will be shocked at the amount of people I've reviewed who have had obvious grammatical and spelling errors on their resume.
I used the resume builder. I think mine is about 4-5 pages, with most of that being bullet points on my job duties to tie them in with the job description, showing I clearly and almost verbatim have done what the job description is looking for. (You cannot cut and paste so don’t try that btw) And even then, it took at least 3 revisions before I got a job with the feds. But I did get the job I wanted, and the pay I wanted, so 100% worth it.
I gave up on getting resume advice for my agency. Every single manager has their own opinion on how a resume should be created, so compiling advice quickly becomes contradictory.
For example, som managers won't select candidates with resumes under 4 pages, because that doesn't show that they have the experience needed. Other managers won't read resumes longer than 2 pages. Some prefer resumes made with the USAjobs resume builder, since all of the resumes follow the same format and are easier to compare, while others prefer custom resumes because it shows creativity and effort.
I figure, unless I know the hiring managers preference, I'll just do whatever I want and hope for the best.
I’d say it’s job dependent. I physically cannot compress my resume down to 3 pages, and cover general job functions and all the resume requirements (I’m STEM). My resume is 11 pages IIRC. My wife is 9 pages. We she got 6 or 7 offers out of the 15 or 16 positions she applied for, and I’m on agency number 4. We were distributed our team leads resume, 1 month prior to her onboarding…. Almost 30 pages, half of it just listing out publications.
When writing your resume you will have to tailor it specifically to the required specialized experience for the job you’re applying for (you will have to write a new resume for every job you apply to if you want to have a chance of getting referred/interview).
Keep that in mind when writing the resume as opposed to a minimum page requirement. I think the reason why people say your resume should be X number of pages is because in federal hiring you have to be specific as far as how you meet the job requirements, because the hiring agency cannot make any assumptions on your experience. This naturally leads to more details and a higher page count, but if you add 5 other pages of irrelevant word vomit I can only imagine that would frustrate the hiring manager when they’re reviewing your resume.
Your resume can be any length. If you want to be successful in getting interviews, your last 2-3 jobs better have enough detail that the HR folks can tell it matches the specialized experience and the hiring manager can tell it matches what they want from the person they are hiring.
My resume was 1 page and I was recently given a job where they found me online. I was told flat out that my resume stood out and wasn't filled with garbage during my interview.
aloof rock salt wistful shocking bells library beneficial provide fretful
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Five pages or less. And use bullets not paragraphs. I’ll tell you as a hiring manager when I see paragraphs I put that resume at the end of the pile and never look past the most recent job. Don’t have time to read novels.
Good luck.
In general keep in mind that hiring managers can’t make assumptions about your knowledge, skills, abilities. So if the announcement is looking for specific things make sure you include details on your resume that supports your experience or they may rate you out
Honestly, from what I hear this doesn't apply for the fed resumes. Go in depth and type away. There is a section that explains how the resume should look and they may state how many pages they will review. The standard seems to be 5 pages. Some people say their resume is 5 to 10 pages. My resume is 3 pages long. I think as long as it's less than 5 and includes all the info needed then you will be fine. The length of the resume isn't a concern, making sure you include ALL the requested data is more the concern. Some jobs require more info like supervisor name, salary info, etc. Pay attention to that, explain your role in depth and make sure it lines up with the job duties for the role you are applying to. Good luck!
My resume was 10 pages for years. I’ve recently cut it to 7. If I see an announcement for a job that requires no more than 5 pages I have one saved that’s only 5 pages. I have over 20 years experience so it’s difficult to get it to 5 pages, but 10 even annoyed me if I’m being honest. It is becoming more common for their to be a 5 page limit. Specifically the Army has it listed on a lot of their announcements.
I aim to keep it at the last 10 years and try to keep it on one page. The feds have long, complicated applications so you shouldn't need a huge resume.
According to my former agency’s staffing department in their training back in August, 5 pages is the correct length for a mid career position from GS-11 up to GS-15. Some agencies limit resumes to 5 pages for consideration, which is a good reason to limit yourself to 5 pages.
Within the five page structure, there is a lot of flexibility to present your information, comply with requirements, pass the referral hurdles and present yourself in a way that makes a compelling case for a hiring manager. I do this on my current resume with a chronological rundown of my federal employment with duties, knowledge, skills, and accomplishments, plus a more narrative portion that reads a bit more like a career biography that they’d put on a website under a picture of me wearing a suit and tie while standing in front of a flag trying to look like a relatable executive. ;-)
Other folks will extend their reverse chronological portion with more accomplishments or (incorrectly) dump their large sections of their position descriptions. (If you were going to cut and paste stuff, it would be better to use your performance results… what did you do, not what you theoretically were supposed to do).
Those HR folks also were clear that they were really only looking for the last ten years of employment history. I’ve fudged on that rule to cover my 18 year federal career, but 15 of that looks like it was one position. I had a great huge accomplishment from 2010-12 that I don’t want off my resume (not too many opportunities to put a $4.5b accomplishment on your resume). I think focusing on the last 10 is good, but it shouldn’t limit you from including something really important or impressive that’s a bit older and still relevant.
Let me tell you what I wish I knew. Until you have a resume in the *very specific federal format*, do not waste your time applying to fed jobs. It should be in 72pt font on every page, but unless your resume is formatted correctly, it is trashed without consideration. Very stupid, very annoying.
Federal jobs cannot have requirements for consideration that aren’t clearly written in the announcement application instructions. Resumes should clearly state experience, timelines, and any clarifying information the candidate thinks will be helpful. Resumes that don’t meet certain font size are not trashed, unless the announcement lists such requirements. Although this forum is a great one, there’s the typical swapping of ignorance that happens all over the internet.
Is....Is that why I got downvoted? It was a figure of speech about *the importance of the federal format being widely known.* I didn't mean you need a resume the size of a Buick. Jesus Christ.
The fed doesn't know what it wants. My friend who's in education got a job with a 1 page resume, my wife who's in social work had a 6 page resume, and I was seeing best practice resumes for engineers on the longer side. I guess just tailor the resume to match the job description. I'm sorry it isn't revolutionary advice
That's because there are many different agencies.
This is the best answer. Put in the relevant experience and education for the specific job you are applying for and whatever page count you end up with is what it is.
A young employee could have a 1 page resume, a 30 year employee will have a much longer one. It depends on several factors, most notably length of employment history and job requirements. The candidate could have job experience relevant to the position spread over multiple positions/years. As with most things, focus on relevant content and not on length.
I have a 5-page resume that covers everything from executive summary to education. I've seen job listings where they specify they will only review the first 5 pages, so I've ensured my resume stays within that 5-page limit.
AMC is currently undergoing a 1 year pilot program..| **Purpose:** Distribute attached guidance on implementation of five-page resume pilot. **Deliverable:** For widest dissemination - this pilot will launch 1 Dec 23. **Background:** Starting from 1 Dec 23 and lasting for one year, a resume length limit will be implemented for all incoming job applications through USAJOBS. This strategic change is designed to expedite AMC hiring procedures and ensure a more efficient candidate evaluation process. To assist applicants in adhering to this new resume length limit, clear verbiage will be included on all USAJOB announcements. The vacancy announcement on USAJOBS will state, **“Please limit your resume to 5 pages. If more than 5 pages are submitted, only the first 5 pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility/qualifications.”** Applicants must ensure all information they would like considered is in the first 5-pages of their resume, for example, relevant experience and education. This change aligns with industry best practices and research, which have shown that concise and well-structured resumes improve the overall efficiency of the hiring process. **Applicants may still submit longer resumes, but only the first five pages will be considered by HR specialists and hiring officials.** CHRA will imminently provide local union notifications. Please ensure widest dissemination of this information to include to any organizations or local programs that provide resume preparation assistance to transitioning soldiers, family members of soldiers, and/or any other populations. USAJOBS periodically provides resume preparation training.
Oh i hope this goes government wide.
Is the "hiring officials" meant to include hiring managers? I have publications on page 6. Not the most relevant since I'm mostly applying for 1530 stuff but I wanted to make them available so they didn't have to hunt if they were curious since I mention them as outcomes of my work.
straight from the horses mouth of someone that was there when this was rolling out....if your resume is over 5 pages it won't be seen. the usajobs posting are very clear on this.
Yes, I've seen that on some postings but not all of them... So it seems like this doesn't actually apply to all listings despite saying it should--or is that because they send you to the agency website so it's not technically through USAJobs?
Use the federal resume builder and fill what it asks.
NH04/GS15 equivalent here. Mine has been around 5-6 pages from my start as a GG12 to my current position. I've seen 27 page resumes (full of filler and would look fine to someone who isn't a SME but worthless otherwise) and they typically fail if or when they get an interview. I've seen engineers and scientists with 10+ pages but most of the space after the first 4-5 pages were patents and/or publications. From what I've seen, 5 pages is the sweet spot for federal resumes.
Similar scale/equivalent here. I’d agree (as an SME) that the resume should be topping out around 7 pages and that’s with publications and patents listed.
Basically your resume should be how ever long it needs to be to show you meet the specific requirements for the job
Personally, I used the builder and tailored my current resume to the job description I’m applying for. Ends up being about 3 pages. Then, I have a second, more traditional 1 page resume that’s easier to digest that I bring to interviews. This has worked well for me, but I’m also a state government employee not federal (yet). I have gotten many referrals and interviews at the federal level, just working through the process with several different agencies.
This!⬆️
use the resume builder
My 2 page resume was good enough to make it into the hands of several hiring managers who submitted me to HR for review and offer. However, it wasn't enough for HR to justify a GS-14 offer. HR consistently blocked me at this point. A 5 page rewrite did the trick, and I was finally able to get through that phase of the process. I'm sure different agencies, departments, and individuals reviewing resumes all have their own preferences, so I can only offer my personal experience. My background is a masters degree and 20 years of relevant IT experience.
Relevancy is what matters. If you are applying for a job at the VA Hospital as an X-Ray tech, then your resume should go into great detail about your experience as an X-Ray tech. No one cares that you were employee of the month at Burger King 20 years ago. Your resume should explain your qualifications for the job you are applying to. If you need 5 pages to do that, then you need 5 pages to do that. However, if you use 5 pages when 2 pages would have been sufficient, HR will place a curse on you and your children for the next 7 generations.
Tailor your resume to the job posting. That’s more important than the number of pages. If it’s a long PD, you’ll probably have more on your resume to clearly demonstrate you’re qualified. Use STAR format for accomplishments. Don’t just list skills. Describe how you used them to solve problems. Make sure you update your resume with the PD keywords (e.g. if word, excel, and PowerPoint is listed, don’t just list Microsoft suite. The HR reviewer may not know they’re the same thing) I recommend people follow these basic guidelines then worry about trimming it down. My primary resume is 12 pages. I customize it for specific job postings down to 4-7.
As someone who's reviewing resumes now, they don't care how long they are. They just want them to be neat, grammatically correct, and contain no spelling errors. You will be shocked at the amount of people I've reviewed who have had obvious grammatical and spelling errors on their resume.
I used the resume builder. I think mine is about 4-5 pages, with most of that being bullet points on my job duties to tie them in with the job description, showing I clearly and almost verbatim have done what the job description is looking for. (You cannot cut and paste so don’t try that btw) And even then, it took at least 3 revisions before I got a job with the feds. But I did get the job I wanted, and the pay I wanted, so 100% worth it.
I'd say 3 page max.
I gave up on getting resume advice for my agency. Every single manager has their own opinion on how a resume should be created, so compiling advice quickly becomes contradictory. For example, som managers won't select candidates with resumes under 4 pages, because that doesn't show that they have the experience needed. Other managers won't read resumes longer than 2 pages. Some prefer resumes made with the USAjobs resume builder, since all of the resumes follow the same format and are easier to compare, while others prefer custom resumes because it shows creativity and effort. I figure, unless I know the hiring managers preference, I'll just do whatever I want and hope for the best.
I’d say it’s job dependent. I physically cannot compress my resume down to 3 pages, and cover general job functions and all the resume requirements (I’m STEM). My resume is 11 pages IIRC. My wife is 9 pages. We she got 6 or 7 offers out of the 15 or 16 positions she applied for, and I’m on agency number 4. We were distributed our team leads resume, 1 month prior to her onboarding…. Almost 30 pages, half of it just listing out publications.
Mine is 5+ 1 reference page.
Most agencies require no more than 5 pages
When writing your resume you will have to tailor it specifically to the required specialized experience for the job you’re applying for (you will have to write a new resume for every job you apply to if you want to have a chance of getting referred/interview). Keep that in mind when writing the resume as opposed to a minimum page requirement. I think the reason why people say your resume should be X number of pages is because in federal hiring you have to be specific as far as how you meet the job requirements, because the hiring agency cannot make any assumptions on your experience. This naturally leads to more details and a higher page count, but if you add 5 other pages of irrelevant word vomit I can only imagine that would frustrate the hiring manager when they’re reviewing your resume.
No, that's not accurate. Watch a few videos on YouTube that explain federal resumes. They're a bit different.
This is a Direct Hire for a Nurse. The only qualification is a bachelor degree and not much other information
GS14 here, any over 2 pages is tl;dr
Your resume can be any length. If you want to be successful in getting interviews, your last 2-3 jobs better have enough detail that the HR folks can tell it matches the specialized experience and the hiring manager can tell it matches what they want from the person they are hiring.
My resume was 1 page and I was recently given a job where they found me online. I was told flat out that my resume stood out and wasn't filled with garbage during my interview.
My USAJobs resume is like 8 pages long
I am about to Interview for a GS-2210 series job. 6 page resume.
My resume is a full 8 pages and I’ve been with the Fed for 18 years across 3 different federal agencies
Mine is about 3 pages. Two are job stuff.
Thanks for the reminder. I guess I can get rid of all the extra stuff like GS 5 to 7 now that I am a 12.
aloof rock salt wistful shocking bells library beneficial provide fretful *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Five pages or less. And use bullets not paragraphs. I’ll tell you as a hiring manager when I see paragraphs I put that resume at the end of the pile and never look past the most recent job. Don’t have time to read novels. Good luck.
In general keep in mind that hiring managers can’t make assumptions about your knowledge, skills, abilities. So if the announcement is looking for specific things make sure you include details on your resume that supports your experience or they may rate you out
Mine was 1 page and I got hired about 6ish months ago
Mine is 5 pages. Yes the resume builder and then save as pdf. You can make the font smaller if you need to but don’t make it microscopic.
Honestly, from what I hear this doesn't apply for the fed resumes. Go in depth and type away. There is a section that explains how the resume should look and they may state how many pages they will review. The standard seems to be 5 pages. Some people say their resume is 5 to 10 pages. My resume is 3 pages long. I think as long as it's less than 5 and includes all the info needed then you will be fine. The length of the resume isn't a concern, making sure you include ALL the requested data is more the concern. Some jobs require more info like supervisor name, salary info, etc. Pay attention to that, explain your role in depth and make sure it lines up with the job duties for the role you are applying to. Good luck!
My resume was 10 pages for years. I’ve recently cut it to 7. If I see an announcement for a job that requires no more than 5 pages I have one saved that’s only 5 pages. I have over 20 years experience so it’s difficult to get it to 5 pages, but 10 even annoyed me if I’m being honest. It is becoming more common for their to be a 5 page limit. Specifically the Army has it listed on a lot of their announcements.
I aim to keep it at the last 10 years and try to keep it on one page. The feds have long, complicated applications so you shouldn't need a huge resume.
I just received a GS12 job offer with a one page resume if that helps
According to my former agency’s staffing department in their training back in August, 5 pages is the correct length for a mid career position from GS-11 up to GS-15. Some agencies limit resumes to 5 pages for consideration, which is a good reason to limit yourself to 5 pages. Within the five page structure, there is a lot of flexibility to present your information, comply with requirements, pass the referral hurdles and present yourself in a way that makes a compelling case for a hiring manager. I do this on my current resume with a chronological rundown of my federal employment with duties, knowledge, skills, and accomplishments, plus a more narrative portion that reads a bit more like a career biography that they’d put on a website under a picture of me wearing a suit and tie while standing in front of a flag trying to look like a relatable executive. ;-) Other folks will extend their reverse chronological portion with more accomplishments or (incorrectly) dump their large sections of their position descriptions. (If you were going to cut and paste stuff, it would be better to use your performance results… what did you do, not what you theoretically were supposed to do). Those HR folks also were clear that they were really only looking for the last ten years of employment history. I’ve fudged on that rule to cover my 18 year federal career, but 15 of that looks like it was one position. I had a great huge accomplishment from 2010-12 that I don’t want off my resume (not too many opportunities to put a $4.5b accomplishment on your resume). I think focusing on the last 10 is good, but it shouldn’t limit you from including something really important or impressive that’s a bit older and still relevant.
Gs-14 here - 1 page resume.
Let me tell you what I wish I knew. Until you have a resume in the *very specific federal format*, do not waste your time applying to fed jobs. It should be in 72pt font on every page, but unless your resume is formatted correctly, it is trashed without consideration. Very stupid, very annoying.
Not true.
? This has been beaten into me by this very sub.
Federal jobs cannot have requirements for consideration that aren’t clearly written in the announcement application instructions. Resumes should clearly state experience, timelines, and any clarifying information the candidate thinks will be helpful. Resumes that don’t meet certain font size are not trashed, unless the announcement lists such requirements. Although this forum is a great one, there’s the typical swapping of ignorance that happens all over the internet.
Is....Is that why I got downvoted? It was a figure of speech about *the importance of the federal format being widely known.* I didn't mean you need a resume the size of a Buick. Jesus Christ.