Companies receive hundreds of resumes/CVs though. No, you shouldn't turn in a dissertation, but to Bob's point - you need to adequately express that you have what it takes to do the job. If I read someone's resume and thought (Hmm ... might be qualified ... might not ... not really sure ... would have to bring them in ...) more than likely they wouldn't be brought in.

Exactly right OH sometimes bring CVs home if he has to review them for a job, (graduate white collar work) he always gives people this advice keep it - about one page long maybe one and a half. Keep it brief and concise to the point, he couldn't care less if you hand glide at the weekends or not (for his line of work).

He has over a 100 to go through (and thats it weeded out) per job. He is always surprised at the number of people that don't even attempt to tailor it for the job you are applying. If you can't be bothered spending half an hour on your CV to do so then he is not going to waste time on you.

I know other posters interviewing will have completely different ideas just giving you OP one insight

Agree. It makes me crazy when people list hobbies to be honest. Totally irrelevant.

As others have said, a lot depends on the type of work that you do and your level of experience.

I work for a large software company that receives literally millions of resumes per year, and I have read many hundreds of them over the past few years.

In software engineering a one page resume simply isn't going to cut it unless you are fresh out of college and have managed to accumulate absolutely no experience other than your course work (in which case we probably aren't that interested in you in the first place ...). More typically you will be looking at 2 or 3 pages to adequately cover education, skills and job experience.

While your resume should be neatly formatted, don't waste time on really elaborate layouts unless you are looking for a job in desktop publishing.Many companies and agencies will want to store your resume in a database and there is nothing more annoying than trying to make sense of a document that was mangled to the point of being unreadable at some stage during this process. Plain text usually survives best.

A few general hints:

Avoid buzz words and cliches.

Spell check the damn thing!!

Get someone else to read it before you submit it.

If you are sending your resume to a specific company consider tailoring it a little to emphasize the points that you think will be of most interest to them.

I'll be glad to leave that out when I convert my CV to a resume , it always sounds so 'forced' .

I read on Monster.com that a general guideline is less than 10 years experience (I think), keep it to a page.
I've been in the same job since graduating Uni 7.5 years ago, so my job history isn't too long. I'm not sure that GCSEs and A-Levels will mean much to the American market either

ROFL! This forum's full of weekend "hand gliders"!

At least it proves that they've got excellent one-handed typing skills!

I have been told that one or two aspects of your non-work life helps the employer to have a more balanced view of you.

I'm not sure if job interviewers would agree with this, but I think for jobs that are beyond average level, comparing a person who just watches TV in his underpants all weekend long (no, not talking about me, straight up! ) to someone who has a hobby or two may be important to the employer, as that employee's outlook/life balance/social intercourse etc., could contribute to or affect their working performance, one way or the other.

Just a thought.

Well - when someone doesn't mention their hobbies on their resume, I don't assume that they have none. I just prefer to read about their skills and how they are qualified for the job.