How long should a CV be for jobs in the UK?

Two sides of A4 is the usual length for a UK CV. School leavers and graduates often fit everything onto one page, and senior candidates may stretch to two full pages, but going beyond two is uncommon outside academic, medical and research roles.

How to keep it to two pages:

• Give recent and relevant roles the most detail.
• Keep older jobs to a line each or group them.
• Remove personal details that UK employers do not need.
• Keep each role to a few lines or bullets; the National Careers Service suggests around two or three lines per role.

If you are moving from a country where longer CVs are normal, cutting to two pages is often the biggest change you will make.