Writing A CV !! How Long Does A CV Have To Be?

Writing A CV !! How Long Does A CV Have To Be?

By Florence Mukunya

How long is your CV? Is it too short to a point where you feel that it might not be giving enough information to employers or is it too long to a point where it takes more than 5 minutes to down load when you apply for a job?

Carolyne Kariuki, a Recruitment Manager at Corporate Staffing Services says that, a recruiter receives more than 500 CVs for each job advertised; if they have to go through all those CVs in a day its very likely that they might lose concentration, therefore if you want your CV seen by the recruiter it should then be able to easily and quickly grab their attention.

“The length of your CV should be determined by the years of experience you have and CVs are graded using different levels which range from 0-15 years of experience and then those who have more than 15 years.” Quips Melody Mwendwa a CV Writing Professional at Corporate Staffing Services .She adds that most Kenyan employers prefer short and precise CV which would mean 2-3 pages excluding the referrers page.

At this point it’s also good to note that there are certain jobs applications that will ask for a certain length of a CV which means then you have to come up with a CV that long no matter what.

Now that we have already established that the Size of your CV matters, find out how to keep your CV short and precise.

Highly Recommended: The Perfect Length for Your CV

1. Include only relevant information when writing a CV

You may have a thousand things you want the employer to know about you but you have to narrow that down to what is relevant to the job you are applying for. You do not need to indicate that you were a head boy in your primary school and neither is adding that you were also in boys scout going to add value to your application.

When it comes to experience, those with more than five years can stop capitalizing in internships, Says Ms Mwendwa. The internship experience can therefore be summarized in a category of “other related work experience”

See Also: Should You Include All Work Experience In a CV?

2. Summarize your roles

Remember, your work experience is the most important part in your CV but this does not mean you copy paste the whole of your job description to your CV. Summarize your roles and also use major responsibilities that are most relevant to the job you are applying for.

This also applies to your profile summary; you only need three to four sentences to briefly introduce yourself to the employer. Remember to focus on you key skills and expertise.

3. When writing a CV, avoid repetition

If you have one of those CVs where you have put a summary of the jobs you have held e.g. Accountant -2010-2015, Assistant Accountant-2008-2010, Accounts Intern 2007-2008 then below that you have created a section where you now repeat all these including your duties and responsibilities; you may need to revise your CV. Note that you are only making your CV complicated and lengthy at the same time.

In conclusion, Ms Mwendwa advise jobseekers that when determining the length of their CVs they should remember that a recruiter only has three minutes to go through a CV , thus keeping it short and precise should be the key thing in their mind.

What is the length of your CV? Do you think it needs to be reviewed? Click here for an expert review.

The writer is a Communications Officer at Corporate Staffing Services, a leading Recruitment firm that offers CV Writing, Job Placement & Career Advice. Email florence@corporatestaffing.co.ke

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