How Long Should a CV Be?
Many job applicants ask this question because they don’t want to overburden the interview. The main purpose of a curriculum vitae (CV) is to showcase your soft and hard skills in a manner that shows that you can handle the role you are applying for. Your CV needs to demonstrate suitability for the position.
Most people will suggest that your CV should not be more than two pages. What are your soft and hard skills that will exceed two pages? However, your formatting is the major determinant of the length of your CV. Follow the tips below to learn how to format your CV to a reasonable length.
The Perfect Length For a CV
If you are not applying for an entry-level position, two pages are the best for a Curriculum Vitae. Usually, when a CV exceeds two pages, the interviewer may find it boring to read. They may only scan through by reading it. Meanwhile, the aim of a CV is not essentially the length but the content. Therefore, your focus should not be on the length of the CV but focus on inserting relevant facts.
In other words, if you can insert all the major information in a single page, then so be it. A single-page Curriculum Vitae is not a bad idea. Your concern should be whether the CV has the relevant facts to help you get the job. In addition, a single-page CV may signal to the interviewer that you lack the necessary skills to do the job. If you can extend it to two pages with relevant facts, that will be better. You should be concerned about the typos and grammatical aspects of your CV. According to Statista, recruiters pay more attention to CVs with few or no typos or grammatical errors.
What if You Have Decades of Experience, But it Won’t Fit Into a Two-Page CV?
The key is inputting what will make you fit into the job position. Top recruiters always recommend you keep certain skills salient and project those that will help you get the job. During the physical interview, you could point out other skills you have if the opportunity is available.
Nevertheless, the only exception to a lengthy Curriculum Vitae is when you apply for an academic position. As an academic, the longer your CV, the likelihood of getting the job is more. Nonetheless, inserting relevant facts into your CV remains the key, whether it’s an academic CV or not.
Disadvantages of a Long CV
Remember, your CV often goes with a cover letter. Your CV is mainly a document that advertises your brilliance and ability to do the job well. Therefore, you need to consider the factors that will make an advert interesting. Check out the disadvantages of a lengthy CV below.
Loss of Interest
We have mentioned that a CV is like a television advert above. Typically an advert lasts for an average of 1 minute. Sometimes radio and television ads can be as short as 30 seconds. The purpose of reducing the timeframe for ads is that people tend to lose interest when they are lengthy. The same thing goes for a lengthy CV.
Difficulty Wading Through Your Qualifications
When the CV is lengthy, recruiters may have issues wading through your qualifications. Some recruiters are impatient and interested in looking at the major qualifications and nothing more. Recruiters want to access the most pertinent professional autobiographies quickly.
It Makes You Seem Overzealous
Recruiters easily get annoyed, especially when you overwhelm them with information. You don’t want them to feel you are overzealous. A long CV easily looks overwhelming to read, even if it is intended to create the impression that you have more skills or qualifications.
Too Much May Become Harmful
Obviously, those who draft a lengthy CV want to impress the job recruiters. However, if you dish out too much information, some may become harmful to your job application. For instance, including a personal experience may hurt your application if the job recruiters don’t have any moral lesson to draw from it. Keep your personal experiences away from your CV. This kind of information may hurt you more than you can imagine.
Tips to Help you Draft a Concise CV
If you find yourself almost writing an eight-page CV, then their ways to reduce it. Read these tips to write the best CV to help you get jobs. The vital information you need for a good CV will be highlighted herein.
Write a Brief Personal Profile
People who have several life experiences are often tempted to insert all in their CVs. A beautiful Curriculum Vitae should have a short and sharp personal profile that communicates the key skills to get the job. Telling your professional life story would make the CV lengthy and reduce your chances of getting the job. If you add too much of your life experiences, most recruiters will ignore it, or it may dissuade a hiring manager from reading your Curriculum Vitae.
Reduce Duplication
Avoid any form of duplication when you are drafting your Curriculum Vitae. Duplication is an enemy when it comes to writing a concise Curriculum Vitae. Instead, make your point and quickly move to the next thing. Trying to convince the recruiters through duplication will hurt your chances of getting the job. Stick to important and relevant facts only.
Reduce Your Experience to a Decade.
It is tempting to start inputting your experience from more than a decade ago. There is no benefit to including specific details of your 20 years of work experience. The reason to reduce your experiences to a decade is that there are chances that the skills you applied in carrying out a job then most have become outdated. Let your focus be on the last ten years. You can summarize your previous experiences. Highlight them to show the recruiters you have been around for a long time.
Exceptions to a Long CV
Even though the general rule is that a long CV should be avoided, there are exceptions. Some of the exceptions to a long CV are:
When the Recruiters Insist on the Length of the Page
Sometimes, recruiters may ask job applicants to write a CV with a certain number of pages. In this case, if you write one that is shorter than the number of pages stipulated by the job recruiters, then your application may be denied. However, this often happens in rare cases.
When the Recruiter’s Demand Makes Specific Demands
These days, recruiters often request job applicants to insert certain headings on their CVs. Some even request a detailed personal profile. The aim sometimes is to know if you can have a good work and family life balance. In such cases, reducing it to just two pages may be difficult.
Academic Job Applications
If you are applying for an academic position, you may want to outline all your qualifications in your Curriculum Vitae. Academic CV are often longer because the recruiters would want to ensure that you are thoroughly bred to teach their students. Moreover, all your qualifications must be backed up with certificates. In other words, academic CVs don’t often require a detailed personal profile section. Their interest is in the impact you have made in the academic sector.
Conclusion
There is no standard or accepted format for writing a Curriculum Vitae. The general rule is that your Curriculum Vitae should have the relevant facts to help you get the job. Focus on getting a job rather than writing a long Curriculum Vitae. Meanwhile, you can contact professional CV writers to help you prepare a dazzling Curriculum Vitae to get a job. Finally, you can also download a Curriculum Vitae template online for a guide on how to draft yours. CVMaker is a good company to partner and get the right Curriculum Vitae for that job application.
