Many people find that their CV is slightly longer than they intend, which pushes several lines of content onto an additional page. This is frustrating, after spending hours writing your CV, as it spoils the appearance of your CV. This article contains tips to reduce the length of your CV, so it fits neatly onto fewer pages.

As we saw in an earlier post, most people should aim to write a CV which is two or three pages long, depending on your level of experience and the number of detailed role descriptions which you need to include on your CV.

Ensure all the information on your CV is relevant to your chosen roles

One of the first ways to reduce the length of your CV is to focus on making your CV as relevant as possible. Review two or three job descriptions of roles you’d like to apply for. Ensure your CV contains the required skills and experience. Delete or summarise any information which is irrelevant. You can find out more about what to include in this article on how to write a great CV.

Delete or summarise any experience which is more than 10–15 years old

One of the quickest ways of reducing the length of your CV is by deleting or summarising your earliest roles. Your recent experience is usually more relevant than your earlier experience. Write a detailed description of your recent roles, and shorten your role descriptions for your earlier roles. Your CV should include the last 10-15 years experience, however you do not need to list every role you have held.

Decide whether to delete your earliest roles, include a list of job titles, company names and employment dates with no description, or summarise your earlier roles to 1-3 bullet points. Summarising or deleting your earliest roles focuses the recruiter’s attention on your most relevant skills and experience.

Summarise your CV content

Write a short personal statement which summarises your skills, experience and accomplishments related to your chosen role, four lines is an ideal length. If you have a key skills section, delete any skills which are not mentioned in your target job descriptions.

Highlight your most relevant qualifications such as your degree, and omit your A-Levels, GCSEs, and additional training courses, unless they are highly relevant to the role.

During your first few roles after graduation, you may wish to include detailed information about your dissertation, key modules and key projects, however once you have held several roles, you can usually remove these. Likewise, an experienced professional doesn’t need to list their presentations, conferences and speaking engagements etc, unless they are applying for an academic role.

Delete any unnecessary information, such as a list of references, a photo or personal information such as age, gender or religion.

Improve the formatting of your CV

One of the easiest ways to ensure your CV fits neatly onto your desired number of pages is by changing the formatting slightly. You may want to try one or more of these suggestions.

• Format the company name, job title and employment dates onto one line. This is especially beneficial if you have held several roles.
• Reduce the spaces between your section headings, ensuring these are consistent throughout your CV.
• Experiment with decreasing font size to 10pt or 11 pt, however do not go below this, or your CV may be difficult to read.
• Decrease the margins, but don’t go lower than 1cm. Ensure you keep enough white space for your CV to be easily readable.
  

Ensuring your CV stands out

Sometimes it can be difficult to objectively assess which information you can delete or summarise on your CV to ensure this fits neatly on your desired number of pages.

As a professional CV Writer, I offer CV writing help including a comprehensive CV review with detailed feedback on how to improve your CV, or a full CV writing service. For more information, please visit the CV Writing page of my website, call me for a friendly chat on 07917 137210 or email me via becky@interviewsuccess.co.uk