Examples of bulky and bloated resumes show up online, but do they work?

We see a lot of resumes from client contacts, and online sources that contain tonnes of detail in the top part of the document. Here’s an example of a section taken from a resume that a client sent to us.

They picked this up from a resume writing website, and she knew there was too much information, but just needed affirmation that her hunch was right. She also mentioned that this resume writer won awards for the style and content, which was surprising, but I suppose it’s hard to gauge the merits of who’s handing out awards these days

As you can see, there is a lot of text, and we all know that people are pressed for time, so how can one read this information, weed through the important parts, and make a decision whether to contact this applicant, or to pass.

*Resume writing tip* Make the resume easy to read, succinct, and in a format that can be reviewed in a short period of time (in relation to the important details).

You may be thinking, “Why wouldn’t this information go into the cover letter, instead of bulking up the resume?” Well you are correct, the resume is not a cover letter, and we conclude that it’s better to show succinct details in the resume, especially at the top (most valuable real estate). Using a chart would be a better idea.

In the example above, we can tell the resume writer may be good with wording, but probably doesn’t have direct experience in the recruiting process, nor an understanding of what happens in the HR department in a general sense.

Does this resume work? Well, it could, we are not stating that using this approach is wrong, but we feel there are better and more creative methods that could yield better results.

What do you think about this style, do you like it, hate it, or indifferent? Do you have a better approach that worked best for you?