Trying to put together a one page CV

Is it ok to leave off some jobs, or should you go back to when you started working life?

They are all relevant to some degree

5pt type, set solid.

Last 3 jobs with bullet point roles/responsibilities

2 lines + bullets on highlights of previous positions/ experience gained from them. Can be talked about as a job lot of experiences. phrases like “such as” and “including”

That would work for most jobs anyway, I know some specific jobs can have their peculiarities.

Just out of curiosity …

1 page… ?

Two pages is the norm, but no, you don’t need (and shouldn’t have) every role you’ve ever done. Most detail on most recent job, bit less on the previous one, bit less on the one before that etc. Too many people ‘update’ their CV by simply adding new content, you need to take stuff out too!

^^

What they said.

Although is this a requirement for an application as 2 pages is the norm.

A CV is as long as it needs to be. Mine was 4 last time I touched it, but that was ten years ago. A lot could probably be pruned now (my Windows 3.1 skills probably aren’t overly sought after).

I’ve seen plenty of CVs in my time where folk have tried to condense their life into some fictional holy grail of page length using flyspeck fonts and no margins or white space and they look bloody awful, went straight in the big round file.

The whole point of ‘n’ pages is to be concise and get to the point. Ie,

Too many people ‘update’ their CV by simply adding new content, you need to take stuff out too!

… this. The duties and responsibilities in your paper round will be highly relevant when you’re 16, when you’re 45 not so much.

As a contractor, I’ve had quite a few positions over the years so mine’s three pages but will get no longer. Older stuff will be pruned off. Education etc can also be summarised hugely as professional experience becomes more relevant.

A CV is as long as it needs to be

Yes and no. A lot of recruiters don’t have time/inclination to read long CVs, having an overly long way is a great way to get yours instantly excluded. I totally agree with you that stupid font sizes, no margins, terrible spacing etc purely to achieve an arbitrary length is just as bad.

But if you can’t convey your skills in a couple of pages then you should try harder IMO.

I’ve been a hiring manager & know lots if recruiters. One page in 10/11pt font is only appropriate if you are (nearly) new in job market. Otherwise upto 4 pg at absolute max is acceptable – but only if relevant & focussed. Anything >5yrs ago might deserve a few lines but ideally s/b summarised in upto 4 bullet points; >10yrs as employer/job title/employment dates.

Yes and no. A lot of recruiters don’t have time/inclination to read long CVs, having an overly long way is a great way to get yours instantly excluded. I totally agree with you that stupid font sizes, no margins, terrible spacing etc purely to achieve an arbitrary length is just as bad.

Well, yeah, and that’s why it’s recommended to be concise. Guessing what a given recruiter might look for though is, well, just that, a guessing game. I once worked with someone who routinely binned 50% of CVs at random because he didn’t want to employ unlucky people. There’s little you can do to counter that sort of mentality.

I’ve been a hiring manager & know lots if recruiters. One page in 10/11pt font is only appropriate if you are (nearly) new in job market. Otherwise upto 4 pg at absolute max is acceptable – but only if relevant & focussed. Anything >5yrs ago might deserve a few lines but ideally s/b summarised in upto 4 bullet points; >10yrs as employer/job title/employment dates.

I’d broadly concur with that, I think.

Depends on the role but you really ought to be able to get all the important stuff on 2 pages

If you cannot dont include communication skills in your CV

Possibly for a very senior role you might go over but then you should still be able to clearly articulate your role and responsibilities and achievements

I am less sure why you want to achieve 1 page as 2 pages is the “holy grail”

Possibly for a very senior role you might go over

Or any technical / otherwise skilled role.

Even technical or senior stuff, always 2 pages

If you can’t condense that down to 2 pages, there’s no way you’ll survive at senior level anyway!

Regarding the one page thing, my job’s quite technical and sector standard, the sector’s quite small and, generally, people know who you are. If I went for a similar job with a competitor, it’d be reputation that would get me the interview, and performance/personality in the interview that would get me the job.

So my current CV is more an aide memoire/ conversation starter/ HR requirement, rather than a persuasive document in order to get me into a short list, so 1 page should be plenty.

If I was going for something in a different field, I’d want include quite a bit more to detail the skills I’ve gained and how they’re transferable.

If you want a recruiter’s point of view, as long as it’s not more than 4 pages I don’t care how long it is. I will say, I review CVs (well not any more, but when I did) for probably less than 10 seconds. That’s long enough to scan for industry/job title/main skills. If I see what I’m looking for then I read the rest, if not then it’s in the bin. So my advise is to put the important stuff front and centre, make it very easy to find. Ans just to be a bastard I prefer when people take the time to write a cover letter but I rarely read them unless I’m already interested based on the CV.

That’s just for screening, the CV gets properly read before interview.

Have you been reading an american book on cv’s ?

I once got mine down to one page but got asked for the 2 page version.

Even technical or senior stuff, always 2 pages

If you can’t condense that down to 2 pages, there’s no way you’ll survive at senior level anyway!

This is true – my former boss is now a director at a private BAnk and he has a 2 page CV spanning 30ish years in finance accross 3 Banks.

If you want a recruiter’s point of view, as long as it’s not more than 4 pages I don’t care how long it is. I will say, I review CVs (well not any more, but when I did) for probably less than 10 seconds. That’s long enough to scan for industry/job title/main skills. If I see what I’m looking for then I read the rest, if not then it’s in the bin. So my advise is to put the important stuff front and centre, make it very easy to find. Ans just to be a bastard I prefer when people take the time to write a cover letter but I rarely read them unless I’m already interested based on the CV.

That’s just for screening, the CV gets properly read before interview.

This is pretty much what i do when hiring – i scan for current job and education.

Mines 2 pages, size 10*. Job titles in 12 & bold. The last ~5 projects and responsibilities are detailed, after that it’s just a list of projects. Depending on the role I might go in and expand a few bullet points to show relevant experience.

Cutting to 1 page I’d cut out one of the introductory paragraphs leaving just an intro, roles/skills summary and career aims. Last couple of projects or the most relevant to the role, then just list the rest out. I’m quite lucky/unlucky that I pretty much started a new role every 3-6 months, so there’s a lot to talk about.

I believe recruiters only want one of two positive outcomes form your CV “they can do the job”, or “they’re ready for a promotion into this job”, so anything that isn’t what you’re doing right now is irrelevant unless the new job is something you did previously.

*it always causes arguments, but I think >10 makes it look like you’re trying to fill space or still in primary school, why companies insist on issuing documents in large fonts is beyond me.

Most of our tenders ask for 1 page CVs, some even less.
Really not unusual if you aren’t applying for jobs with another company.

Tailor heavily to the role and pick the jobs or roles that best demonstrate you have the required skills & experience.

I’m going through cvs right now. One I just rejected had 4 pages of cv and 4 pages of covering letter and still couldn’t get to the point.

I’m interested in:
– Can I see what relevant experience you have had and what, specifically, did you do in the role/ on the project?
– Can you demonstrate that you have experience in the things I’m after in the job description? Very few of the cvs seem to be tailored to what I want which leads me to suspect that individuals or recruiters are basically spamming potential employers (and this is after filtering by my HR team!)
– Can you communicate this clearly and concisely? (important as it’s also a requirement of the job description)

Edit: I’ve just had a 4-page cv which is brilliant. I’ve also got a 2-pager that gives me what I need. I’m not bothered by the length but the content is critical.

The PayPal/Tesla guy produced a one page cv. Quite good, I’m sure it’s on the net somewhere.

2 pages max – plus there’s a difference between a job-CV and professional-CV (for tenders). A complete CV might be 4 pages, but cut it down to 2 to contain the relevant bits for the specific role – even more important if it’s a senior role. Based on both my experience as senior HR plus having recently attended an exec recruitment consultant workshop.

Two is fine. No more than that. Front page contains all the relevant detail. Second is fluff to talk about with disinterest during the interview. “Oh, so I see you worked for XYZ”, “yeah, blah blah blah” while the interviewer’s eyes glaze over.

I’ve heard of some companies when dealing with huge amounts of applications, especially graduate stuff, they filter the pile by pages and anything over two goes in the reject bin without reading.

Possibly one is fine if it’s impressive enough and either you don’t have any other jobs to mention or it just suggests more info is available on request. Depends on the company though. Trendy start up media company may love just a single page and not really care about what you did or didn’t do a decade ago. Stuff old traditional big corporate company middle manager might be looking at all the potential negatives and wondering why all the jobs aren’t listed.