The IT Ninja

Hello Ninja's,

I read up a lot on the subject of how many pages should a cv be. However I can't seem to find a concrete number. What I wanted to ask, is that in your opinion within the IT industry. What should the average page number be?

Hello Black Beard,

This is a tough question, because there are no exact answers!

Of course as a rule of thumb you don't want to have too many pages. You have to remember, that the person reading your CV will likely have to read a pile of them. If you have a very long CV, this could actually work against you. Not many people will have the energy or will to read through pages and pages of detail.

On the other hand if its too short, then it may come off as not having enough detail. Getting this balance it difficult.

My suggestive would be to try and aim for around 2-3 pages. 3 pages would be the maximum upper limit. Try to keep it under 3 if possible.

Anyway that is just my advice, so please do consider other views before you commit!

I agree with the poster above. 3 would be an ideal number of pages. Mention only the qualifications that are significant to the position you are applying for. I know you want to impress your future employer by presenting yourself as an achiever but in my opinion, including awards you received in high school, junior high or elementary is not a good thing to do. Those will no longer reflect your present skills so it will just take up space in your CV.

Unless you are really experienced in your field than you only really want one page. Things you can leave off are that burger job you had while in college. I used to read resumes, and more than 2 pages got dumped, because it was unnecessary. Even 2 page resumes were bloated with stuff that was not important. You need to think about the skills you have that apply to THAT job and cut the rest. Try to get it all one page.

Kina wrote:Unless you are really experienced in your field than you only really want one page. Things you can leave off are that burger job you had while in college. I used to read resumes, and more than 2 pages got dumped, because it was unnecessary. Even 2 page resumes were bloated with stuff that was not important. You need to think about the skills you have that apply to THAT job and cut the rest. Try to get it all one page.

I agree with Kina on this one. I think two pages should be the upper limit. That's both sided of course, and that can be a lot to read. Unless you have a lot of information that is specific to the job at hand. It would be best to try and fit as much as you can within the 2 page limit.

Make sure your skills are highlighted. Don't worry too much about giving lot of details, that's what interviews are for!

Someone hiring IT isn't going to have a lot of time to look through two or even three pages of a CV; there are a LOT of applicants out there and your first impression shouldn't be long-winded.

Show that you value your employer's time and keep it short.

I would say the only thing that would fill up most of a pages in your CV is your experiences and affiliates. It would be totally a plus factor when you talk about experiences, semianrs attended and factors that would really help your application go all the way. Regarding information, it's better to be brief and detailed. Thus, I agree with the other poster saying there's no exact number of pages.

There is no set in stone answer to this. I know for me I have a couple that I use. One is a single page flash to get their attention. Then if they want more I have an indepth one which totals out at twenty five pages.