One Page or Two? The Definitive Answer

The short answer

Less than 10 years of experience: one page. 10+ years of directly relevant experience: two pages maximum.

That's it. Everything else is noise.

Why one page matters for most people

Recruiters spend an average of 7 seconds on initial CV screening. A one-page CV forces you to prioritize ruthlessly — which is exactly what hiring managers want you to do. If you can't summarize your value in one page, the assumption is that you can't prioritize in your work either.

When two pages are genuinely warranted

• Senior or executive roles (10+ years experience)
• Academic or research CVs (publications, grants, teaching history)
• Technical roles with extensive project histories
• Roles where the application specifically requests a detailed CV

Even in these cases, every line on page two should earn its place. If page two is mostly older jobs from 15 years ago, cut it.

The real question to ask

Instead of asking "one page or two?" ask: "Does every line on this CV help me get this specific job?"

If the answer is no, delete it — regardless of page count.

Common padding that should go

• "References available upon request" — assumed, wastes a line
• Objective statements — replace with a targeted summary
• Jobs older than 15 years (unless directly relevant)
• GPA (unless you're a recent graduate with a strong one)
• Hobbies (unless genuinely relevant to the role)
• "Proficient in Microsoft Office" — expected baseline, not a skill

Formatting tricks that don't work

Reducing margins to 0.3cm and using 9pt font to squeeze everything onto one page defeats the purpose. A well-formatted two-page CV is better than an unreadable one-page CV.