To think if you send me more than two pages on your CV, I’m not reading it?

Actually to add the CV layout I liked the most from the pack was 1 page. Clear, concise and told me what I needed to know without being illegibly small. Experience wasn’t in the right areas for me so didn’t make the cut but made it into the strong maybe pile.

I’ve been reviewing CVs this morning for a junior but not entry level, reasonably well paid professional job. The divergence in quality of layout and length is quite something.

Looking at the ones I’ve picked out from about 50 to have my team interview, they are all 2 or max 2.5-3 pages long. My Cv is 2 pages and if I can get my long and varied career into that, so can a 26 year old.

You'd love me then. I'd say I'd struggle to fill one page!

It just says in large font
'dogsbody- (junior level)- 1997-2018.'

I do have a level two food hygiene certificate as well though. 🤣

I agree. Plus, this is standard in business and industry. 10 years of detailed info. Earlier than that, dates, titles and 2 or 3 word summarisation of responsibilities.

Qualifications date, subject, level (e.g. MA, History, Merit).

2 referee contacts.

@Jane958 , well, yes, I guess. But I don’t need to know the details of what you were doing 30 years ago, when you were fresh out of university (I assume?) Or 20 years ago. Maybe not even 10 years ago. Just the company and your title would do.

I have 30 years experience in my job. The type of projects I’ve worked on is wide and varied. Distilling it to two pages isn’t difficult. They don’t need 5 pages to know if they want to interview you.

Im often involved in recruiting to very senior roles.

Generally those applying for director and above roles are the best at keeping their CVs short and to the point. They tailor according to the job role; they pull out key skills and achievements and they certainly do not include details of which GCSEs they got 20+ years ago.

The worst ones tend to be middle management/ head of service level who think they need to give full details of every job they ever had, every training course they've been on and every qualification they have.

The general rule of two pages - academics aside - very much still applies.

To be honest the 2 page thing is a very old fashioned view from when people used to print them out. Now if it’s 2 pages and 2 lines it’s fine because people don’t print.

also I’d personally prefer a longer cv but with more bullets. Ie more white space that used to be unheard of because of the 2 page rule.

I think a longer cv with a cover letter tailored to the job to highlight bits of the CV are great. The applicant isn’t a mind reader on what might pique your interest

I was going to say that! Academic CVs need to list publications, albeit a selection if there are many.

3 pages should be enough though.

I think the higher up you are the shorter your Cv should be, listing your O'level results from 40yrs ago isn't relevant.

For instance, Dick Whittington need only write 'Thrice Lord Mayor of London' to get a job as a city banker.

Agree. Having worked in recruitment for many years, my experience is if that a CV is longer than 2 pages then some things on there are unnecessary.

I am with you OP, I mainly deal with jobs with application forms with supporting statements. Often we can get up to 60 applications for one job and I have only a few hours to shortlist, so I appreciate information presented concisely, with extra points for linking statement clearly to person spec.

True.

Last time I submitted my CV for a job I already had more than 30 years relevant experience. My first job after graduating I spent more than 13 years there but managed to summarise in about two lines. Slightly more for more recent roles and then half a page for current role.

Front page always a summary of qualifications, skills etc.

Oh and one thing that used to perplex me was people putting experience in chronological order with earliest stuff first and most recent last. Surely the other way round is more logical, people are more interested in what you are doing now not what you did in your first job.

It's fine. Presumably, you are the one who chooses candidates.

I agree.

Being concise is a skill I struggle with but I understand it's a problem to not be able to learn and implement it.

I think it's part of the modern world where social media has made people think everyone has a story that everyone else should be interested in.

As long as you actually read them instead of punting them into an AI sifter for keywords, fine.

Otherwise, you're not going to get all the skills, experience and qualifications on there.

Almost 30 years ago, I received a CV that was 27 pages long. This was for a teaching post in a secondary school (I was the headteacher). CVs are not required in most teaching applications (we require that everyone completes the application form, which contains all the information we want), but he decided he'd send me his CV anyway.

The best part was that he included he was a blood and sperm donor...

I thought 2 sides was standard. Who lists their GCSE's once they have a degree? '10 GCSE's grade A-C including English and maths' is surely all you would put? I agree with not leaving gaps in your CV but you can very briefly summarise old/irrelevant experience in a couple of lines.

What’s your feelings on a headshot with an inspirational quote at the top OP? 😂

Hardly! I did a lot more recruitment in the earlier stages of my career. These days, I tend to leave it to others, unless it is a really important senior post. Lots of very junior managers will be involved in recruiting staff.

Sounds like a humble brag, shows us how senior & powerful you are 🤣

Obviously it’s industry dependent, but we screen out CVs that are longer than 3 pages. If you’ve interviewed enough people, you’ll notice the trend is: people with long CVs = don’t understand/respect the recruitment process, have an over-inflated ego, generally a bit of a nightmare to work with.

Can you tell us who you work for? So I know who to avoid in the future.

Not true, candidates are frequently asked about gaps in their CVs. Often the gap is a gap year

It really isn't necessary to list all of your qualifications. Honestly, I don't need to know that you got a B in Food Technology 20 years ago. Most people just list their highest and/or most relevant qualifications, and it doesn't need a lot of space.