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I agree that what recruiters want isn't ultimately that important. But I think the question still stands on what most firms want. When I was last applying to jobs it was still presumed that a one-page resume was a no-brainer. But now I'm not so sure. Would love to hear some recruiter responses though because I'm about to start applying after being with the same firm for a long time.
My opinion is never leave out information that's helpful and if it goes longer than 1 page make sure the most important stuff is in page 1
Perfect response.
I will give you the lawyerly answer: it depends. With a greater dependence on AI and word recognition and a varying degree of maturity of those automated systems to pick out relevant descriptions or synonyms, the first key to getting your resume looked at is getting your resume to score high on relevance by the AI gatekeeper so that a recruiter will review it and contact you. That may mean it will be longer that it would be otherwise to state key words multiple times or alternate combinations in case the tool doesn't recognize synonyms as well. Additionally, you need to tell your story relative to the job you are seeking. Larger firms are often looking for someone with more years of experience in a single area while smaller firms or in house counsel position may be looking for someone with skills that demonstrate greater breadth of experienced because there are fewer attorneys to cover the array of needs that may arise. The depth is easier to do in one page while the breadth may take two. Lastly, if you can differentiate what makes you the right candidate in a one page resume with a cover letter targeted to the opportunity definitely do that. The targeted cover letter, which some firms don't look at, is a mini writing sample and demonstrates your ability to make a cogent argument. If it takes two pages to make you stand out as the preferred candidate then use two pages. I can't speak for others and I am not a dedicated recruiter, but I look for relevancy ranking, key words relative to minimum quals and skim over the stuff inbetween unless you give give me a reason to stop and read more. If I stop, then I look for potential "fit" characteristics such as: clarity and quality of writing, spelling and formatting (your resume shows your ability to organize and present information), average duration at jobs, reasons for leaving, quality of school, distance of address to office, areas of experience in addition to core quals, and intangibles that might show character traits such as leadership experience, memberships, pro bono/volunteer activities, etc.
Why do you care what recruiters prefer? The firms decide whether or not to interview you.
Who gets the resumes to the firm or the hiring managers? Recruiters do. In the Technology space companies run your resume through a system to scan it for keywords and it gives your resume a ranking. Based on that ranking you're either contacted about an interivew (with a recruiter) or you're sent a "Thanks but no thanks" email. Not even a human making the decision.
I have always heard one page is the standard. I have had recruiters say they don't want more than a page or they don't even look at it.
That's probably an exageration, but their point is valid. The first page of your resume is the "hook" and the most important.
One page resume, a separate one page selected deal transactions. Standard for transactional biglaw.
Mine is two pages, but the second page is of exemplary publications/work/etc. IME your work/education experience/contact info at a minimum should all be on the first page