How long should a CV be?

Under 10 years' experience: one page. Over 10, or technical and senior profiles with projects: two at most. Three pages only in research and academia, where the academic CV has its own conventions.

The first sift lasts between 7 and 30 seconds. On one page the recruiter sees your headline and your two best achievements without scrolling; on two, half of what you wrote is never read.

Roles from more than 15 years ago, courses under 20 hours that don't serve this job, generic hobbies, the line “References available on request”, your full postal address, and any figure-free achievement that repeats another.

Margins at 1.2 cm, line spacing 1.15, type at 10-11 points, three achievements per role instead of five, and skills inline separated by dots rather than a vertical list.

Make page one self-sufficient: contact details, headline, summary and your current role in full. Repeat your name on page two and never split a single role across the page break.

It's the worst possible outcome — it reads as an unfinished document. Either condense to one page or fill the second to at least three quarters.

Length isn't a style question: it depends on how much valuable information you hold and how much the reader can process. Up to ten years' experience, one page; beyond that, two at most, and only if page two is full of content that earns its place. An academic or research CV is a different document, with publications and projects, governed by its field's conventions.

The usual miscalculation is confusing seniority with content. Twenty years of work isn't twenty years of useful material: roles from more than fifteen years ago usually compress to one line each, because nobody will assess you on what you did with different technology in a different market.

Cutting is a sequence, not random pruning. First goes anything that doesn't serve this application: short courses unrelated to the role, generic hobbies, “references available on request” and your full postal address. Then old roles compress to one line. Only at the end do you touch achievements, and then you delete the ones repeating a result already told.

Before deleting content, reclaim space with layout: margins at 1.2 cm, line spacing 1.15, type at 10 or 11 points, and skills inline separated by middots rather than a vertical list. That usually buys a full page of extra text without the document looking cramped.

Page one has to work alone: contact details, headline, statement and your current role in full with its strongest achievements. If the decision is made on a single screen, that screen already holds your whole application. Page two continues; it doesn't start again.

Repeat your name in the page-two header and never split one role across the break. And avoid the page and a half: a sheet with four lines reads as unfinished, so either condense to one page or fill the second to three quarters with content that adds something.