CV's these days, one page or two?

[Silverlog]

I'm SO out of touch but considering going back to work. What's the accepted presentation for a CV these days? (I think I heard all on one page is better?)

I work In recruitment and if presented with a two page CV, I won't even bother with it although I'd say it very much depends on industry and which section of your CV is the longest

How are you supposed to fit everything on one page?

My industry, 2 pages is fine BUT … we are all contract and can move jobs every 3 to 6 months.

I also recruit. The only people who submit 3 page CV’s are the very junior who think it’ll impress. Bless their cottons.

Yes, this! Can anyone link to a good example CV? I'm also considering finding some work. I've not been in the workforce for 12 years.

I don't know how you can even meaningfully put enough information on 2 pages!

If you contract its easy to summarise the role in a sentence ... not so much if you're a senior specialist with many different roles in different industries. Its really so HR/ Recruitung agents don't have to read much and most of them don't understand anything anyway

I am a senior specialist. 25 years in the industry and a senior manager.

Ditto, but many different industries. 2 pages would be a struggle

For junior roles I page would be fine but for any other jobs I would expect two pages so you can provide proper evidence of experience etc. Start with current role as that’s the most relevant.

I would expect 2 pages (I.e 2 sides of 1 piece of A4). But key points e.g. most recent experience on the first side.

If I had more than this I would think they lacked the skills to identify and concisely articulate the key points to highlight.

1 side of A4 would probably be too light.

Mine is 1 page, designed graphically in Canva, which has free templates. Easy to update. And it's headlines rather than descriptive.

Seconding canva templates, you can get a lot more on one page than you can with an old fashioned word template. Just ignore all the photos which I think is more of a US thing? Canva is a free ( for the basic version)graphic design package which is fairly easy to use.

I hate canva and overly designed cvs

Just use Word and keep it simple

two pages is fine but understand the first page needs to capture the essential info

Some of this is so wrong. A recruiter needs a word document no longer than two pages. Don't graphic it. The key to a cv is good grammar. Simple and to the point. No photos. Don't over use anything - fonts blah blah. Let your experience speak- by all means embellish a fairly mundane role, but don't think some graphics or italics will get you anywhere.
If you are fairly senior but a non exec role- again two pages- only go back 10 yrs. if you are an exec and need help from Mumsnet- sigh.
Yes- I know what I am talking about and have helped women on 2nd job get 6 figures. I helped many get at least a 5k pay rise from moving jobs. Listen to the experts.

At 52 years old I have experience in several different industries and a very transferable skillset. I've also had some strange job titles that don't reflect the actual role.
I cannot represent my skillset on a one page Canva template. I can hone a good overview onto 2 pages if I really tailor it to fit a specific role.

I think 2 sides is plenty. I have not had a career as such just jobs at middle management level. Recruiters know what you have done by the job title. I have a headhunter who is helping me and she says most recruiters are 23 and have no clue about most industries, they are given keywords to look for same as the ATS if you have enough keywords your CV will get passed to someone who does know what they are doing and they will call you for more details and to talk about the role. You can have that one for free! It seems to be true from my limited experience. I have also worked in internal recruitment and agree you don't need to put much detail. Bar work. Retail, architect, engineer we know what them mean and what you did. I'm work in accountancy sales everyone know what an accountant does, it's the fit to the culture that counts. And that goes both ways

I'm 60. I've been working since I was 17, with only a 2-year break for dc. Condensing all that career experience in a variety of industries and numerous different roles onto one page would be impossible.

I agree with this. I struggle to condense to two pages, due to the nature of my experience. I think mine is three, but I have a cover letter which is basically my 'one pager' so they only need to read that, then can read more of breadth and examples of achievements further on. Plain word is best, anything else is just faff. Succinct and good formatting, in terms of headers and bullet points so it's clear what's what. Keep it simple.

I work In recruitment and if presented with a two page CV, I won't even bother with it

How utterly bizarre. Are you not in the UK maybe?

I've been involved with recruitment in various forms for a number of years, as has DH.

The odd circumstance/job/individual will be an exception but in general:

• Two pages is absolutely standard.
• One page is for the un-bothered, those with barely any experience or education and for school leavers.
• Three pages is for the over-zealous and embelishers and should be treated with caution/not given much time.
• Four or more pages is straight in the bin without a glance.