When I was promoted from Field Service to manger of Sales, I had to find a replacement for my previous position. I placed ads locally and in the trade magazines for the position. I received a great number of applications. As I was reading through them, one of them intrigued me. First, it was way too many pages mostly of uninteresting stuff that had little to do with the job. Secondly, the writer had an interesting sequence of life quite similar to mine. The only difference being I was in the Marines, and he was in the navy.
I called him in for an interview, and it went quite well. He seemed to have all the qualifications we were looking for, and a very outgoing personality. So, to learn more I took him to lunch. during lunch I was able to find out a lot of his personal life, and was sure I would make him an offer.
I did point out to him that for a resume, all those extra pages did little for him, and could detract from it. Usually, the first page is all that is read. He replied that maybe I was right, but it got him the interview.
I guess he was really right. I hired him and he was a great Service manager for us. What do i know.
