A two page resume once you have more than 5-10 years of work experience is totally fine in most fields! It also doesn’t need to fit exactly on two pages. When I was hiring last year I saw many 1, 1.5, and 2-page resumes.
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Agreed! Two pages are pretty standard in my field (nonprofits) for anything beyond entry level positions.
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Good to know! It’s been about 6 years since I applied seriously
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Former academic, happy to help with translation of resumes to CVs.
CVs are kind of nice and easy to write because they’re everything. All the shit you take out for a resume because it’s ~too small? You keep it for the CV. Typical CVs have sections for the actual jobs, but also: fellowships/scholarships/awards, teaching, publications/presentations, important skills for your field (as a former academic linguist, that included a section for language familiarities), and so on and so forth. (I can find and send my old CV to you if it would be helpful – DM me if you want it.)
If they ask for a CV, I would err on the side of sending one. The bright side of creating the CV is that you then also create what’s essentially a huge master resume that you can always pull facts from.
ETA: Also happy to read both versions for help translating.
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I think what I’m worried about is, I don’t have any of this. So it’s going to basically have what my resume has on it and nothing else? Does that make it look like a resume and not a CV? I am confused!
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The only jobs not on there are my current clusterfuck role (I just have my last role listed as current, which is fine since this is supposed to be a temp position…) and like, my just-out-of-undergrad internships
If you don’t have those sections, you just don’t have those sections. And that’s okay. Like others have said – let them reject you, don’t do that for them.
(But things that should absolutely go on a librarian CV, and really your resume too, include your work as a journal editor.)
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I’m not sure but I think academia just leans toward the CV instead of the resume.
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I am interviewing people with 10 years of experience for a director role atm, and I want to write this somewhere, but obviously I can’t put it on linkedin because then the people will know I’m posting about them.
Perhaps this will be helpful for people currently interviewing as a different framing of what an interview is about.
For each candidate there is:
- a reason we are excited about them
- a reason we’re worried about their ability to be successful in the org
- something relevant in their background which we would love to find out about because it wasn’t in the resume
So my ask is that beyond just answering our questions, consider how the questions we’re asking reveal the three things above so that you can give more depth on the bits that excite us, acknowledge and address our fears instead of dismissing them, and bring up that funny little differentiated story so we’ll remember you.
(In fact, you might even consider the potential challenges ahead of time and know what part of your toolset will help you overcome them - ‘I’m used to big org but here is an example of being scrappy’, ‘I’m scrappy but I can do that because I have this type of structure and templates’. ‘I don’t know your tool, but I taught myself python during lockdown and I’ll watch all the videos before I start, so there is minimum downtime’)
Remember, you are allowed to ask clarifying questions before the standard ‘do you have any questions for us’ if the response will influence your answers. You can also answer things as two parts and throw in a question to get it to be more of a dialogue, ‘in general I X but sometimes if this other scenario is in play, I’ll do Y instead - which is the more common situation at org?’
And if I ask how you did something, functionally walk me through the steps of what you did. Not “I got stakeholder feedback” but “I did one-one sessions with stakeholders to understand their fears before bringing them all into a large group to talk about the future state”.
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Reluctantly popping in to say Hi!
I posted over on my journal, but it looks like I’m going to need to start job hunting - half of my department have been laid off and it’s fairly clear in the messaging that the rest of us are only here for long enough to wrap up loose threads to avoid screwing customers over. Given I’m in the latter group, there’s not a frantic hurry, but I think work is going to become increasingly unpleasant and it would be wise to start looking before I’m pushed.
I haven’t job hunted since I was a new grad, so this is going to be a new experience for me (not one I am greatly looking forward to!) - but at least I can take my time!
This week’s task is probably to a) set up a new email that I can use for job hunts (I’ve had a domain that I’ve been meaning to use for this for ages and haven’t gotten around to it - but it seems like enough of a positive signal for software roles that it’s worth doing now), then b) do a first draft of my CV and try to figure out what the heck I’ve been doing for the last 6 years.
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Posting to follow - I didn’t know this support group existed! I am not job hunting, but we are in the full throes of getting Husband’s brand-new LLC off the ground. Suddenly there are leads today, plus a contract that has meant we have to do a lot of insurance updating before he signs.
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I’m also happy to help with the resume-to-CV conversion. Just did the opposite with husband’s CV, converting back to resume since he’s going back into industry. I’m still in academia and would be happy to help/share a CV if you still need it.
One thing on mine that has impressed a few folks is a list of all the grants I’ve written (that got at least some funding). I also include a section on relevant editing; I agree with @diapasoun that should totally go on a librarian CV.
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I wish I had a list of grants I’ve won, but I don’t think I have access to that info anymore 
Haven’t written one in almost 7 years
thanks for all of the offers to help!
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Hmm. You might be able to reproduce from memory - mine is pretty basic bullet points like this:
- Grant from XXX for YYY group (funded in full for $XX/ funded in part for $XX/$XX requested)
The section of the resume I have those bullet points in is just called Funded Grants
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I really wish I had that good of memory!
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If you can remember some of them, no one will be mad at you if you don’t remember all of them.
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Hello out there! Have you quit a job without another lined up before? I know this is inadvisable but we’re not buying a house any time soon, or pregnant or anything that would require me to get a new one immediately (except for like, anxiety and not wanting to be a SAHM). Do you have any tips for me, in case this is the path I need to take?
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I have not, but I’d suggest checking out askamanager if you haven’t before–it’s definitely a question I’ve seen come up.
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I am a long-time AAM reader! Thanks 
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it will be helpful to create a story that you will use for reentry.
this doesn’t need to be done before you leave, but it can be helpful for answering people who ask what is next, or who might want to point new opportunities to you, what is your ask of them.
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