Looongggggg CV - help!

[GrandPrismatic]

Ok…I should know this and am slightly mortified to be looking for advice…but here goes. I have been working for 25 years in financial services…in that time I have worked for 6 organisations and 16 roles…all promotional moves except 2 which would be considered lateral moves. My last move was to a new organisation in an exec role around 18 months ago. My company is now being bought over and given the choice between working in the new organisation at a more junior level or taking a payoff I’m opting for the payoff. All good…am happy with that decision. But I need to keep working…and my CV is now REALLY long. I maxed out 3 pages for my last application for my current role which I even knew then was way too long.
I know I need to be succinct and pull out the key achievements and give more focus on my most recent roles but I am finding it really hard to do that. Even just listing the historic roles with no content takes up half a page.
Can anyone share tips on how to do this effectively? Any good format/ templates?
yes…I know…I should know better.

Last 2 roles with some information about them - if there are previous ones which are relevant to what you are applying for then put the name and dates of the role and put - can discuss at potential interview.

Relevant qualifications and experience in relation to what you are applying for, leave anything non relevant. Personal statement within the CV which explains what you can bring to the role

Hi there! Me and my friend (who is much further and higher in her career than me) actually discussed this topic today. She was horrified when I sent her my pared down, revised CV. Previously mine was four pages long. I made it into two.

She said that some of the career training sessions she's done etc, that she's been advised that more detail is actually better. Now most hiring processes use A.I. to similarity match the job description to your CV. It looks for key words and phrases etc. So the more you put on the higher the chance you have of matching with jobs.

Obviously the content has to be good too. If you're incredibly stuck and mind boggled by what to cut (it sticks in my gullet to say this as I morally disagree with it... But not everyone can afford to pay someone to edit their CV) Chat GBT can be good for providing a rough edit. It is however rough, and may cut out information you actually think is important. So while it's good for a first try, always look over it again and edit again.

Another point my friend made was that unless a hirer has worked in the exact same roles or industries as me - they actually don't know the ins and outs of the role. I typed out a brief CV version of a role I held, and unwittingly left out so much key information I thought would be obvious to anyone with a brain given my job title. But unless they have worked it - they have no idea maybe what you actually achieved in said role or did day to day!

I don't think it's necessary to name all roles within all the organisations. Just your key roles within each organisation relevant to what you're applying to. No CV should be more than 2 pages. Always tailor the cover letter to the role profile and here you can list the skills and achievements relevant to the role applying for.

I wouldn't bother about anything more than about 5 years ago.
Describe your current role, and maybe the one before that, but anything earlier will be irrelevant.
Just list all your employment with dates to show no gaps.

Ask chat gpt to make it the ideal length for your sector

I don't include any job from over ten years ago. I'm 55 so the 'education' bit is two lines with 'more information on request'. How does it look if you start with that?

You can use LinkedIn for the laundry list and only put the most current and hopefully relevant roles for the current job ad in your CV.

Start with a bio, a few lines/short paragraph that sums up who you are and what highlights you as a candidate. Then include a key skills section that demonstrate your extensive amount of experience.
Then just list most recent career history - you don't need to include 25 years of jobs, just the last decade or the most relevant roles to what you are applying for.
2 pages max for a CV. No one is going to read more than that.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. I think I am going to go down the CV writer service after all (which feels a bit like cheating but I have spent way too long pondering on this as it is!)

I think we’re told 2 sides max when at school but after 20 years in an industry I’d expect a much longer cv.