How many pages for a CV

[lez]

Not sure if this is in the right place, but.....

Just been looking at my CV and its starting to get long.

I've worked on a lot of contracts and wondering what is the max number of pages that should be on a CV and do you start dropping off the older jobs.

[scooterscot]

6 page CV, never not won an interview I went for.

The CV an agent wants is not the same CV my clients want.

[SimonMac]

I still stick to two sides of A4

[lez]

6 page CV, never not won an interview I went for.

The CV an agent wants is not the same CV my clients want.

Thats good than, I'm on 5 so far and thats limiting to what I put in.

[northernladuk]

I still stick to two sides of A4

You mean front and back of a single page? You are in the dangerous situation that you have to assume the agent is clever enough to turn it over and notice there is print on the back!!!

[northernladuk]

6 page CV, never not won an interview I went for.

The CV an agent wants is not the same CV my clients want.

To be fair the length of your CV has absolutely no relation to you winning intervews. It affects how many you get.

I personally think 6 is far too much. The agent does not have time to digest all this and will look at the first, maybe if you are lucky second page to make sure all the keywords he wants are there and then make the decision to put you forward. He will not read all 6 pages.

If you are going direct to a client then yes a bit more would be useful but I would still argue 6 is too much.

In either case I don't really think it will work against you but I don't think anything past page 3 will add much value either.

I also stick to 2 pages and never had a problem.

[lje]

2 pages for me too - although I always have to fight myself not to go to 3! Make sure you summarise your skills at the front for the agent.

[quackhandle]

I've given up trying to make my font small enough for two pages so have gone to three.

Hasn't harmed me so far, and nice to expand on some of my older but very pertinent contracts.

qh

[Clippy]

There was a (good) similar thread a little while back which may prove helpful.

[DaveB]

Overall length doesnt really matter that much, agent and client generally aren't interested in anything you did more that 18 months ago anyway unless it's relevent to the gig. The key is to get the bits they are interested in at the top of the front page so they are the first thing they read.

Mine is generally :

Summary - 2 Paragraphs with introduction (who I am, what I do, summary of experience) plus all the soft skills ( communication, dealing with exec/director level, team management, blue chip/national/international experience etc) relevent to the contract.

Bullet list of specific tech/skills with the ones in the job spec listed first.

Current/last contract in detail with emphasis on the requirements for gig I'm applying for.
Previous contract as above if relevent.
Other contracts in brief (Client, job spec, dates)
Contact details.

Number of Jobs/contracts pushes mine into 4 pages now but it doesnt seem to be an issue.