Short answer: one page if you have under about 10 years of relevant experience, two pages if you have more, and almost never three, unless it’s an academic CV or a US federal resume.
The real rule is simpler: every line should help you get this job. Length is the result of that, not a target.
When one page is right
- Students, graduates and early-career roles (under about 5 years).
- Career changers, whose older jobs aren’t relevant.
- Most roles with 5–10 years’ experience, if you cut older detail.
A one-page resume forces you to choose your best evidence, and recruiters find that easier to scan.
When two pages are better
- 10+ years of relevant experience, or several senior roles.
- Technical roles where projects, tools and certifications all matter.
- The UK, Ireland, Australia and much of Europe, where a two-page CV is standard.
The rule for page two: your strongest, most relevant material belongs on page one. Page two is for older roles, extra projects, publications or certifications.
Documents that are meant to be longer
- Academic CVs: publications, grants and teaching make them long, and that’s expected.
- US federal resumes: USAJOBS applications ask for detail (hours per week, salary, supervisors). They often run 3–5 pages. BrightResume has a dedicated US federal template.
What to cut first
When you’re over the page, cut in this order:
- Jobs older than about 10–15 years: keep title, employer and dates, and drop the bullets.
- Bullets that describe duties without a result. See how to write results-based bullets.
- “References available on request”. Everyone knows, so it adds nothing.
- An objective statement. Replace it with a 2–3 line summary or nothing.
- Generic skills like Microsoft Word, email or “hard worker”.
- Personal details not expected in the country you’re applying to, such as photo, age or marital status in the US and UK.
Don’t shrink it to fit
Squeezing to 8 pt text and tiny margins makes your resume harder to read, and it can confuse ATS parsing. Keep:
- Body text at 10–12 pt.
- Margins of at least about 1.5 cm (0.6 in).
- Clear space between sections.
If it doesn’t fit at a normal size, cut content instead.
Check length while you edit
BrightResume’s editor shows page breaks live as you type, and the checker flags resumes that are too long for your experience level. It also suggests which older lines to cut first.