How Long Should a Resume Be? One Page or Two
The short answer: one page for most people with under about 10 years of experience, two pages when a longer career is relevant to the job. What matters more is that every line earns its place.
The short answer
- One page: students, recent graduates, career changers and most people with under about 10 years of experience
- Two pages: long careers where the older experience still matters, senior and management roles, and fields with many licenses, certifications or projects
- Longer: academic CVs and some government applications follow their own rules. Check the posting.
Recruiters often skim a resume quickly on the first pass. A tight page with your strongest points near the top does more than two loose pages.
How to fit one page
- Cut old roles. Jobs from more than 10 to 15 years ago can go, or shrink to one line each.
- Keep three to five bullets per job. Most important first. Older jobs get fewer.
- Merge short or similar roles. Two cashier jobs can share one set of bullets.
- Drop filler. Objective statements, "References available upon request", and a full street address all take space.
- Tighten the summary to two or three lines.
- Trim bullets that repeat. If three bullets say "helped customers", keep the one with a number.
What not to do
- Shrink the text below about 10 point: it becomes hard to read
- Push margins below about half an inch
- Switch to two columns just to squeeze more in: some applicant tracking systems read columns out of order
- Delete all white space: a page that looks crowded gets skimmed faster, not slower
If you do use two pages
- Put everything important on page one: summary, current role, key skills
- Fill at least half of page two, or cut back to one page
- Keep your name and contact details in the body of page one, not only in a header
A quick test
Give your resume to someone for 20 seconds, then take it away and ask what they remember. If it isn't your job title, your strongest skill and one result, move those higher and cut what's in the way.
Every Inksets design adjusts spacing and type size within a readable range so a typical resume fits on one page, and you see the result in every design before you download.
Put it into practiceOur builder has a tip and an example in every field, 18 ATS-tested designs and a keyword check against any job posting.
Start your resume