If you are just beginning your job search, this question must have crossed your mind in one way or another. But the truth is you basically want your CV to be as concise as possible but still capture your relevant experiences. Whether it is one or two pages will depend a lot on how many jobs/roles you’ve worked on before and how much of that work is relevant to this position.
In a Survey conducted by CareerBuilder in 2013 for employees, 66% said an entry-level resume should be one page. While, 77% said experienced workers should have at least a 2-page CV, or longer. However, 39% of experienced workers say their resumes are only one page long.
Should a CV Be One Page or 2 Page?
While there’s no clear answer for how long a CV should be, make yours long and concise enough to show you fit the job like spray-on shoes. While also making sure you use the keywords as it relates to the particular Job throughout your CV. Keywords are words or short phrases that relate to particular requirements for a job. They are the skills, abilities, credentials, and qualities that a hiring manager looks for in a candidate. Keywords are important in helping you get your CV noticed by employers.
A career counselor once said:
“One page, keywords and skills. Experience, no more than 10 years and don’t try to be flash and use a fancy font/colors. Educational Background, if more than ten years, leave off the year. Leave off the gpa if you’ve been out of School for two years. Too much experience, or changing jobs every does not look good on paper”.
From the above, it is safe to say it does not really matter whether it is one page or two so long as you make it as concise as possible. And you have to put into consideration whether you have a lot of experience or you are entry level. Put it this way; if you are Entry level and you are being as concise as possible you shouldn’t go past a one page CV while someone with more experience should be fine with at-least a two page CV.
Also consider the kind of jobs you are applying for, what is required and what is not. In some cases big companies put CV’s through ATS. An ATS system is an applicant tracking system, which is a software application that enables the electronic handling of recruitment and hiring needs. ATS doesn’t care about pages, it just cares about the words on the page. In this case you should always endeavor to implement the Keywords for the job thorough your CV whether it is One page or two page. This should apply to all your CV, while you also try to keep it as concise as possible.
While it doesn’t really matter whether it’s a one page or two page CV so long as its concise, you should consider a 2-page CV if you’re applying for any of the positions below:
- Project Manager
- Marketing/Digital Marketing
- Data Analyst
- Engineer
- Business Analyst
- Financial Analyst
- Accountant
- Executive
- Software Developer
- Business development and Sales
In conclusion, Whether a One page or Two page CV depends on how much relevant experience you have and what the Job requires. If you are Entry-Level, and Applying for Entry Level Jobs, Always make your CV one page. If you have a lot more experience, Make a Two page CV while still keeping it concise with the relevant keywords still visible at a glance. You can always trim it back to one page for “need a job to survive” types of jobs.
Source: Hotjobsng