How Long Should a CV Be The Ideal CV Page Length

How Long Should a CV Be The Ideal CV Page Length If you want the answer right now then here it is:A CV for a job should be between one and three pages long, depending on your relevant professional experience, career level, and skills. One page CVs are most common internationally.But dont run off just yet. Theres a science to the perfect CV length. Imagine this.You send out your 1-page CV, the hiring manager takes one look, hmm, too short, probably lacks experience. Your CV gets deleted.You send out your 2-page CV, the hiring manager takes one look, hmm, too long, wont waste my time. Your CV gets deleted.So how long should your CV be to have the hiring manager say yes, this is it!?This guide will show you:How long your CV should be not to get passed up by recruiters.How to make your CV the ideal length by adding exactly the right things to catch the recruiters attention.How to shorten your overly long CV without losing your key skills and accomplishments.Want to save time and have your CV ready in 5 minutes? Try our CV builder. Its fast and easy to use. Plus, youll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ CV templates and create your CV here.Sample CV made with our builderSee more templates and create your CV here.One of our users, Nikos, had this to say:[I used] a nice template I found on Zety. My CV is now one page long, not three. With the same stuff.Create your CV nowLet me just clarify this real quick, this article is about a CV for a job, otherwise known as a resume (especially in the United States).Were you looking for what the right length of a resume should be? Look no more: How Many Pages Do You Need For a Resume?1How Many Pages Should a CV Be?To be frank, your CV should be as short as it can be while still demonstrating your value. Its not the word count thats getting you that interview, its the quality content.The length of a CV conveys the level of your career experience and skills, but also how tailored it is to the given job opening. 3-page-long CVs for entry-level positions are obv iously going to be overly fluffy while a 1-page CV for a senior management position looks oddly empty.So how long should a CV be?Lets take a closer look at the two types of CVs and see in which situations theyre ideal for you.CV for a JobThe page length here will vary depending on the jobs youre applying for and your own experience.For the most part, one page is enough to fit in all your work experience, skills, and other necessary information, but two pages is also acceptable.If youre straight out of grad school or simply new to the job market, one page is more than enough for your CV. Any more and the recruiter will be suspicious youre making stuff up.For employees with up to around 5-7 years experience, a one page CV should still suffice.For employees with a lot of work experience (7+ years) or candidates applying for specialist or managerial roles, a two page CV is acceptable. If youre running into three pages, take a good look at your CV and see if it could do with a little edi ting to make it shorter.Simply put, if your CV goes on for more than three pages, you stand the real risk of having your CV trashed or deleted without even reading through it. Theyre just way too long.The reality is that recruiters take about 8 seconds to determine whether youre worth a call. Now think about ithow much of your 4-5 page CV do you think theyll cover in 8 seconds?That said, there is one case in which a long CV could work.Academic CVThe only type of CV that isnt restricted by any limit is the academic CV.This CV is specifically for those pursuing a career in academia. This CV has all the parts of a work CV, but also requires additional information about publications, grants, teaching positions, research, conferences, etc.Theres no way to shorten that list since everything is relevant and hence several page academic CVs dont surprise anyone in the slightest.Want to learn more about academic CVs? This great guide will help: How to Write an Academic CV2How Far Back Should Your CV Go?This is probably the most common question job seekers ask.Thats not entirely the right question though. Its not about quantity, but quality when it comes to anything in your CV. A better question isdoes this part bring value to my CV?Lets take this exampleyoure applying for a retail sales position that requires at least two years of experience in in-store sales. The hiring manager is going to be very interested in the two years you spent working at Macys, but probably not so much in the 6 months you worked bagging groceries at Safeway half a decade ago.In short, you shouldnt go back further than 15 years in your professional experience on your CV.However, like with most things, there are exceptions. This is especially true for those who are changing careers or returning to a previous career path after a long absence.Lets say, for example, that you worked as a travel agent for a couple of years before switching to a career in marketing. After several years of different mar keting jobs, youve decided to go back to being a travel agent. It would be beneficial for you to cover that experience on your CV even though it might go back rather far in your career history.Read more: How Far Back Should a CV Go?3How Many Bullets Should You Add Per Position?Youre going to have to resist the urge to list every responsibility you ever had in order to prove how much you can do at work. Here, less is definitely more.List up to 6 bullet points on your CV for your most recent job. Lower the number of bullets the further you go back in time.Your oldest positions shouldnt have more than a maximum of 3 bullet points (honestly, not many people are going to be interested in what you were doing back when planes actually had enough leg room and served hot meals for free).This way your current responsibilities, which interests the recruiter most, will stand out more.Read more: Work Experience on a CV: Bullet Points with Examples4How to Shorten Your CVHave you implemented all t his advice and still find your CV is too long?Here are some of the most common mistakes that increase your CV page count and some tips on how to fix them:Check Your Font SizeCheck your font size. The best size font is 10 or 12 for the main body of your text. Make your headers to be bold and a little larger (1416 font) to help them stand out more.Remember that making your font size smaller just to cram all your text onto one page isnt a great idea. If a hiring manager needs a magnifying glass to read it, theyll just toss it instead.Also, use simple, sleek CV fonts (e.g. Calibri, Helvetica). Some fonts can take up tons of space.Measure Your MarginsCheck to see the size of your CV margins. If they meet halfway on the page or you cant find them at all, youve gone overboard.One inch margins all around should do the trick.Take a Look at Your CV TemplateIf your CV template looks like the aftermath of a five-year-olds birthday party, youve gone a little too far.Unless youre trying for a cre ative role, consider changing your CV template to something simpler to clear up some space on the page.Go From Hazzy to Crystal ClearYour CV is a marketing tool designed to sell your candidacy to the hiring manager, not be your autobiographical chance at winning the Nobel Prize in Literature.If you have everything including the kitchen sink mentioned in your CV, youre going to need to edit it. Ruthlessly.Turn long, run on sentences into bullet points to stick to the important information. An added benefit is that it makes the CV much easier to read.Job seekers often have a natural tendency to go particularly overboard on their CV profile. It might be the first thing the recruiter sees, but if its a half a page long, no one is even going to try to finish it.Keep your CV profileshort and snappy, urging the recruiter to read on.If you still feel an itch to elaborate on key points in your job experience, do that in your cover letter. Thats exactly what its for!Reduce RedundancyMake sure that the points mentioned in your CV are all individual points that demonstrate your value to the employer. Recycling the same experience or skills over and over will get your CV thrown out faster than flat Pepsi.Read more: How to Format a CV (Examples and Tips)Key TakeawayThere are no absolute rules that govern how long a CV should be. But now you have the necessary advice and information to judge how long your CV needs to be.Keep in mind these key points:Tailor how long your CV is to the amount of experience the job requires and your own (i.e. no four-page CVs for an entry-level job).Dont go back further than 15 years work experience.More recent positions in your career history should have more bullet points (around six), later ones fewer (around two to three).Keep your CV relevant, legible, and clear.Have any questions? Let me know in the comments section down below!