Debunking the one-page CV myth for experienced professionals
Updated: Oct 13
For most professionals, the one-page CV is a myth, as hiring managers and recruiters prioritize depth, specific technical skills, and project accomplishments over strict brevity. While one-page suits early-career[1], two pages are recommended for experienced professionals to showcase, not just list, expertise, making it easier for recruiters to find necessary details.
Key Takeaways on the "One-Page" Myth
Context Over Length: For tech, two pages (or even three for senior roles) are acceptable if the content is relevant, impactful, and detailed.
Quality Content Wins: A one-pager often forces the exclusion of crucial details, whereas a two-page CV allows for deeper, quantifiable results.
Focus on Impact: Rather than listing responsibilities, detail the "receipts" of your work (e.g., specific technologies used, project outcomes).
Tailoring is Crucial: Instead of one universal document, create a tailored, two-page resume for each application to highlight relevant skills.
When to Use One vs. Two Pages
One Page: Recommended for entry-level, recent graduates, or those with 1-3 years of experience.
Stephen's tip: Adapt to company requirements or when applying to entry-level posts in North America, where they have a bias against longer resumes.
Two Pages: Ideal for mid-to-senior level tech professionals with 5+ years of experience, or for specialized roles requiring detailed project lists, technical stacks, and methodologies.
Stephen's tip: An experienced recruiter for big pharma told our group of postdocs a few years ago that “up to six pages” was fine for their level of experience. Most can create a very strong impact, however, with three or four pages.
Consequences of the One-Page Constraint
Underselling Skills: Cramming information into one page can lead to skipping over, or not adequately describing, key achievements, leading to fewer interview invitations.
Hard to Read: Removing white space to fit content on one page makes the document difficult to scan.
Ultimately, the goal is to provide a clear, concise, and comprehensive overview of your professional value rather than adhering strictly to a single page.
Further thoughts and tips from Stephen
I have read more than 12,000 CVs and resumes for school-leavers, mid-career, returning to work and sector-changing professionals in Europe, North America, India, Asia, and elsewhere. There is a notable difference in impact by CVs which are comprehensive, inviting to read and well laid out versus those which are crowded, have little or no margin space, too small a font size, poor or no photo, or which go to the opposite extreme in terms of length; say five pages or more. Too short, and you hurt yourself; too long and you turn off your reader.
Remember that every application for a job requiring technical skills and specialized training or education is a two-step process: your CV and LinkedIn make up over 70% of the impact, and a good letter another 10-20%, leaving any additional documents or referrals to add the cherry on top: all of this designed to get you invited to the interview process.
Let each communication tool do its work: your CV, LinkedIn profile and motivation letters. More on the latter elsewhere. The CV is front and center and should show all positive elements of your experience and skill set in a clear, concise and relevant manner.
Some guidelines:
Even a fresh graduate usually has at least one if not two professional experiences, whether key projects, thesis work and/or an internship, so-called “student jobs” outside one’s discipline but still relevant, often for soft skills. A PhD thesis, even in astrophysics or mathematics, is still the result of four+ years of work and should be described accordingly.
All candidates but perhaps especially those with 5-10 years of experience or more will benefit from deciding which experiences/roles go into their “Core” and which into their “Additional” experience sections. I don’t recommend insisting on “Academic” or “Projects” as categories, as it makes them seem less important.
Until you have truly senior titles, listing the entity (school, then employer) first will give you more of a market impact, benefitting from their brand. Everyone knows EPFL, but do they know your lab out of 500+ or which of the 29 Master’s (or numerous minors/specializations) you earned? Similarly, “Rolex” or even “Evolusys” offers more impact than “Intern.”
All tech professionals have both hard and soft (“transversal”) skills but often ignore the latter on their CV and LinkedIn—a big mistake, as the final decision to hire or contract with someone often comes down to these.
Create a “Technical Expertise” section and select the most appropriate ones for the top of your first page as key skills or “Strengths.” These are generally the only things you need to change before applying to a new job, once your CV is strong and complete.
Avoid columns as they inhibit effective reading and frustrate the readers. Remember that human attention span is getting shorter all the time, and also that most HR focus on how to get rid of 85-90% of all applications, so don’t give them an excuse to delete yours.
You will generally send your CV in .pdf but check your settings so that the bookmark and editing tabs are closed. Best between 65-75%.
Use a non-seraph font (like this one, “Aptos Body” or “Calibri”) which uses space well and is environmentally friendly as it requires less ink to print, and HR will indeed use paper at some point in the interview cycle when interested in your profile. Do not go below 10-point; 11 or 12 are preferred, except for your name which should be around 24-28-point, in bold, and possibly in another color.
Consider using a different font and/or color for your “Strengths” section and for sub-headings. Don’t overdo graphics, though, and avoid scales with no meaning (like a self-rating of three out of five stars for Python, which does not exist).
Don’t use company or school logos on your CV, only on LinkedIn, due to copyright infringement.
Don’t send a Google (or ChatGPT) translated version if you are not fluent in the language. When applying to a company where you know you can do the job but do not master the necessary language, it’s better to apply in one they also speak and to express your willingness to learn or improve the target language.
Photos should be in jpeg (not .png or other heavy formats) and more formal than on student ID or a driver’s license; generally, head and shoulders dressed for an interview. Check out the impact of the one(s) you want to use for professional purposes: www.photofeeler.com
Purely personal details should go on the bottom of the second page. For those with lots of publications and conferences place on page three, or four, usually.
Contact info, on the other hand, should go at the very top of the first page, and you need to add links to your profile as well as to Github or any personal website you want to share with recruiters (most relevant for consultants and architects).
Contact info, on the other hand, should go at the very top of the first page, and you need to add links to your profile as well as to Github or any personal website you want to share with recruiters (most relevant for consultants and architects).
See also:
[1] For generalists, like the hospitality school grads I used to counsel, but not new STEM grads!
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