Hello

I am currently working for a major automotive company, but the position is only a contract position and it ends in about a month. My manager would like to make it a full-time permanent position and is working on selling it to his managers who ultimately will be making the decision.

In the event that he can't convince management that security is important I will be out of work so I have started searching for a new job. I am mostly happy with my resume, however, I have a couple of questions.

The first is that I can easily make it 3 or even 4 pages long and still relevant, but I assume this is too long for someone still just getting into the field and usually longer resumes are used only when applying for executive level positions (and even then 4 pages may be considered a little too long). So how long should it be? Is 3 pages too long? Or am I just worrying for nothing. I can work it down to 2 pages, I'm just wondering if that's necessary.

The second question is about including personal interests on a resume. Do you do it? If you're an employer does it affect your decision at all? Most people who include it say that it shows employers that you're well rounded but I get the feeling that employers don't care if people can play the guitar or speak Japanese or whatever unless the position requires that. My personal interest section is a little bit more practical:

INTERESTS

•   IT Security (IT Security mailing list)
•   Security Focus (Security Focus mailing list)
•   Security Now! (Security Now! podcast)
•   SANS NewsBites (SANS mailing list)
•   Schneier On Security (Crypto-Gram mailing list)
•   AEON Security Blog

Clearly this doesn't show that I'm well rounded but it shows that I keep current in the field. Is this something I should just abandon completely?

Let me know what you think

This is how your approach should work... Sell yourself dang it. Forget about conventional ways (should it be 2 pages or 3). One, you've got your managers backing which means you've got a foot in the door. What you'd want to do is make a resume that makes BUSINESS sense to them. To do so, you need to highlight HOW security and a security based business role makes sense.

E.g.: "Configured, deployed and maintained a security system that protected mission critical information." or "Discovered and validated vulnerabilities in the customer database application which led to an immediate business impact and risk assessment analysis to minimize costs"

You DON'T want to bore them with stuff they will already (usually) know, but you WANT to emphasize why it makes business sense to them. Think as a manager now, not as an employee. Because you stated the manager is backing you, the likelihood of you being able to play Bach on a Violin while eating Doritos would be pointless.

Let's look at it on a different note here and I'm borrowing from someone but can't remember who, might have been Joe McCray... Think of it as a summary report. It should contain enough information for an executive to read while he's on the toilet. Short, sweet and to the point.

Thank you both for your advice I appreciate it.

sil, I suppose I wasn't very clear in my first post so I will try to clarify it a little bit.

My position didn't exist before I started in May. My manager has been trying to convince his managers that security is absolutely necessary in a corporate environment and after a few months of discussion finally they approved a contract position so my boss could try to sell the position further.

So basically it's the position, rather than me, that needs to be sold. I have very little involvement in this process aside from doing my job as best as I can. Aside from my manager and the IT manager (who both definitely want to keep me) I don't actually know who is involved, I only know there are another 2-3 people involved in the decision. I give my manager as I can to support the sale, but that is the extent of my involvement in this process (aside from just doing a good job each day).

Anyway, hopefully that makes things a little more clear. The resume isn't for my position here since as long as my manager can sell the position the job is mine. The resume is to submit to other companies so hopefully I can find something else very quickly in the event that my position is scrapped. I'm trying to avoid being unemployed for 2-3+ months.

That being said, your advice in general is much appreciated and selling myself is certainly the approach I try to use when writing my resume for any job. Thank you for the response. Also, I like the idea of a resume being a "summary report" I'd never really thought of it that way but it's definitely a good way to look at it!


dynamik, I agree that it should be short, but I don't think two pages is unreasonable. The way I see it, if they like my first page after quickly skimming it they will likely take a quick look at the second page too. Maybe I'm wrong here though. I know you don't have a lot of time to make an impression but lets say it takes 10 seconds to skim each page, I don't think 20 seconds is too much time if it's a candidate they like.

I will certainly leave the personal information out. I am starting to think you're right about that, it's not that important and it will help to reduce the length a little bit. I always write a cover letter but I don't usually write them too personal beyond what is relevant for the job I'm applying for.

Thanks for your response, I appreciate it. And no worries about not posting in my other thread lol Thanks for the welcome!

I read an article about this not too long ago.  Had to dig through my email a bit but I found it.

http://www.cio.com/article/598404/IT_Resumes_Think_Twice_About_the_Advice_You_ve_Been_Given

Thanks for the advice sil, I think your approach is definitely better than what most people seem to suggest. It makes much more sense (especially after reading the very good article yatz posted).

I really like the idea too of creating a more technical resume for the IT manager as well, I think that is something I will definitely be doing from this point forward.

Going to be spending the entire day on my resume/applying for jobs tomorrow so I will definitely be working all the good advice into my resume

Thank  you Equix3n-, I will give that a listen when I have some time

I've submitted a bunch of resumes the past couple of days and will be submitting many more over the next few days.

Thanks for all the advice Hopefully it pays off and I find another job (or my current employer decides to extend my contract to a full-time position).

Thanks for the advice everyone, I have an interview scheduled for tomorrow, hopefully it goes well

Wow, 17 pages!!! That's huge lol

Thanks for the advice and for the good luck Interview is in less than an hour, will let everyone know how it goes