How Long Should a CV Be in the UK? One Page, Two or More

Rootlet

Wed, 04 Nov 2026

In the UK, the usual guide is that a CV should be no more than two sides of A4. That's what UK careers services and public bodies tend to say, but it's a guide rather than a rule, and there are sensible exceptions. A CV at the start of your career can work well on one page, an academic CV is often longer, and some employers and countries expect something different. This guide sets out what UK careers services actually say, when one page or more than two makes sense, and how to cut a long CV down without losing what matters.

The short answer

• Two sides of A4 is the usual UK guide for a CV once you have some work experience.
• One page can be enough at the start of your career, and some employers, such as investment banks, expect one page.
• Academic CVs are the main exception. They often run past two pages, but the important information still goes first.
• Two pages is a limit, not a target. A tight page and a half beats two pages padded with filler.
• Check the advert first. If an employer asks for a set length or format, follow that.

What UK careers services say

There's no official UK standard for CV length, but the advice from public bodies and university careers services lines up closely. Here's what a few of them say, in their own words where it's short enough to quote:

The National Careers Service guide on how to write a CV doesn't set a page count. Instead it asks you to be clear and to the point, remove outdated information and tailor your CV to the job, which in practice is what keeps a CV short.

One page or two?

LSE Careers puts it well in its blog post One page or two? How long does my CV need to be?: there isn't a single right answer, and the key question is whether every line adds value. Your stage of career and the kind of job you're applying for decide the rest.

When one page is enough

• You're at the start of your career. LSE Careers says one page may be enough to sell yourself to an employer at this stage. Our CV course takes the same view for school and college leavers: one strong page is perfectly fine.
• The employer or sector expects it. Oxford gives investment banks as an example of employers that expect one page, and LSE says finance CVs are typically one page. Check before you apply.
• Everything relevant fits. LSE's advice is that if you can get your relevant experience on one page, do so.

When two pages makes sense

Once you have several years of experience, LSE Careers says two pages is more likely to be what you need. Two pages gives you room for a short profile, your recent roles with real achievements, your qualifications and anything else the job asks for. If your CV runs to a page and a half, that's fine. There's no need to stretch it.

Exceptions to the two-page guide

Academic CVs

If you're applying for an academic job, such as a research or lecturing post, the rules change. Oxford's careers service says an academic CV has no page limit, although it should still be concise and relevant. The University of Manchester's careers service says an academic CV will usually be more than two pages long. Edinburgh adds that the important information should still come at the start.

Don't confuse this with a CV for applying to a Master's or PhD course. Manchester says that kind of CV will normally be two pages.

Jobs outside the UK

Other countries have their own habits. For North America, Oxford says you might need a résumé rather than a CV, set up on Letter paper instead of A4, with US or Canadian spelling. LSE notes that a US résumé is traditionally one page. If you're applying abroad, look up that country's norms before you send anything.

When the employer tells you

Any instruction in the job advert or application pack beats general advice. If an employer asks for a one-page CV, a CV of no more than two pages, or an application form instead of a CV, do exactly that.

How to fit your CV on two pages

If your CV has crept onto a third page, cutting it is usually easier than it looks. These steps come from the National Careers Service guidance and from the CV lessons in our course.

1. Tailor it to the job. Read the advert and keep the experience and skills that match what the employer asks for. Anything that doesn't help with this job is a candidate for cutting.
2. Remove outdated information. The National Careers Service suggests this directly. Old training, out-of-date software and long-finished roles that have nothing to do with the job can go.
3. Shorten older roles. Give your recent, relevant jobs the space. An older job can shrink to a title, employer, dates and one or two lines. The National Careers Service suggests describing each role in about 2 to 3 lines.
4. Turn duties into achievements. One line that shows what you did and the difference it made does more work than three lines listing tasks.
5. Leave out personal details. The National Careers Service says not to include your age, date of birth, whether you're married or your nationality, and nidirect adds that you don't need to put your salary on your CV.
6. Keep references to one line. The National Careers Service says not to put someone else's contact details on your CV, and suggests saying that references are available on request.
7. Drop the heading "Curriculum Vitae". nidirect says to put your name at the top, not "curriculum vitae" or "CV".

What you shouldn't do is shrink everything to squeeze it in. The National Careers Service recommends a clear font such as Arial, Times New Roman or Calibri in size 11 or bigger, with headings and bullet points to make it easy to read. Tiny text and narrow margins make a CV harder to read, not better.

A worked example: from three pages to two

This example is made up. Priya has twelve years of experience in office administration and is applying for an office manager role. Her CV has grown to just over three pages, because she has added to it with every job and never taken anything out. Here's how she cuts it:

She didn't remove a single achievement that matters for the office manager job. She removed repetition, personal details and old material, and the CV now fits comfortably on two pages at size 11.

Common mistakes with CV length

• Padding to fill two pages. Extra white space is fine. Filler makes the good parts harder to find.
• Cramming to fit two pages. Small fonts and squashed margins hide the problem rather than fix it.
• A third page with one or two lines on it. If it only just spills over, trim an older role or a long profile.
• Sending one long CV for every job. A version tailored to each advert is usually shorter and more relevant.
• Using a one-page US résumé template for a UK job, or a long academic CV for a job outside academia.

A quick check before you send it

• Does the advert ask for a particular length or format? If so, have you followed it?
• Is it no more than two sides of A4, unless it's an academic CV or the employer has asked for something else?
• Is the important information, such as your profile and recent experience, on the first page?
• Is the text a clear font at size 11 or bigger, with headings and bullet points?
• Does every line help with this particular job?
• Have you left out your age, date of birth, marital status, nationality and referees' contact details?

If you've done an online course recently and aren't sure whether it earns a place on those two pages, our guide on how to show online courses on your CV explains where to put them and how to word them in a single line.

If you'd like help writing the two pages themselves, our CV writing and interviews course covers UK CV format and length, writing a personal profile, turning duties into achievements, tailoring your CV to each job and getting past applicant tracking systems, then goes on to cover letters, application forms and interviews. It's 54 written lessons across 10 sections, written for the UK job market, with a practice pack of worksheets and templates in every section, and no experience is needed to start.