A Two-Page CV

Why do some employers and agencies ask for a two page CV?

If you've created or revamped your CV recently, you will undoubtedly have come across employers who request a CV that is no longer than two pages.

Whilst we understand why employers request this - the sole purpose of saving time - our philosophy is slightly different.

Yes, a two page CV on the whole will allow you enough space to fit all the relevant information you need to put on your CV. But what if it isn't? Many of our candidates have long lists of relevant and interesting experience and qualifications.

For example, candidates that work in interim food jobs will work on short term contracts that last anything from a couple of days up to 12 months - after being an Interim for a number of years, it is quite common to have a CV bursting with positions at various companies.

When sending a CV to Focus Management or one of our other divisions, we recommend including all your relevant experience. If this results in your CV being longer than two pages - don't worry. We'd rather you put your relevant experience on than leave it off as you've run out of space.

When push comes to shove, it is your past experience that makes you attractive to an employer. By leaving certain experience off your CV due to space constraints, you risk not informing a potential employer of experience that could prove vital to your application.

This said, we are not asking candidates to go and purposely make their CVs longer that two-pages. If you condense down to the 'recommended' two pages, you will illustrate your ability to be precise and to get to the point. What we are saying is that if we were to choose between a candidate who displays this ability or one who has put all their relevant information onto their CV, who has perhaps gone over two pages, we'd almost always choose the latter.

If you are looking for more information on writing your CV, there are plenty of other articles in our Help & Advice section. Why not have a look at Include all your Experience, Writing a CV Covering Letter and our Food CV Template.