Between two and four pages of A4 is about the right CV length.  How can I possibly get all of my experience in that short space? It may be difficult, but any more and you are beginning to create a paper monster.  Remember, other people have to read your CV.  If it is too long they will not bother.  It is too much effort.  Ask yourself how you would feel?  I remember a situation where a Recruitment Consultant working for me sent a twenty six page CV to a client, this is what happened.

Curriculum Vitae

It was an Information Technology CV and back before email had really taken off in 1993/4. The CV had to be sent via HR.  Firstly personnel complained about it  taking up too much fax time.  They delayed sending it to the line manager.  The line manager thought it was a joke.  When the consultant rang, the line manager said he could not be bothered to read that sort of CV and had thrown it in the bin.  In fact, he had passed it around all the other line managers who had had a damn good laugh at it.  That consultant never lived it down and was always greeted with “Oh you were the consultant who sent the twenty six page CV down, weren’t you?”

Now, that particular applicant was a very highly skilled computer technician.  After a bit of effort we managed to trim his CV to four pages, and guess what?   He got a contract with that self same client.  In fact, he still contracted for my company for many years.

Fortunately he has a sense of humour and can now laugh at his own personal War and Peace.

So, keep it simple, relevant and concise. DO NOT WAFFLE…and keep your CV length reasonable!