How To Write A One Page CV

By Joan Igamba

Do you think fitting 5 years of remarkable experience into a one page CV is impossible?

I understand how you would. Because traditional CVs are so long, creating a one-page CV is a challenge, but not impossible.

Limit any extra information for a one-page CV and stick to information that is useful for your qualifications.

Although a one page CV is not commonly asked for by employers, it does not hurt to learn a few tips on how to write this CV.

1. Create a header with your name and contact information.

Omit your PO BOX mailing address to save space and list only your phone number and email address. Make the best use of space by including only what the employer will need.

2. Write a brief introduction that contains facts about your professional background

Use this section to highlight who you are as a professional. Your achievements from where you worked as well as the type of institution where you’d like to work.

3. Insert your academic qualifications.

Include the college or university you attended, beginning with the institution from your highest degree, listed in reverse chronological order. That is from the recent to the oldest.

4. Remove any information that is repetitive

If you’ve had similar roles at different companies, you probably had some similar tasks. That’s great! It means you have lots of experience in those areas.

However repeating the role two to three times is a waste of space. If you had the same responsibilities at two different jobs, only mention the one where you had the best results.

5. Leave out “references available upon request.”

Many people will use an entire line (and probably a blank space above it) to write this phrase. If you’re struggling to fit your CV to a page, those two lines are valuable.

If an employer wants references, they’ll request them.

6. Put information about each position on one line.

You might like the way your CV looks when the company, duration of your position, location, and your title each have their own line. However, if it’s pushing your CV over a page, it’s time to move things around.

Play around with ways to fit this information on one or two lines. Doing this for each of your positions will save you a lot of space.

7. Leave off irrelevant experience

Seriously. This one is so important. If you are being considered for an editorial internship, the employer does not need to know anything that is not going to be related to your new role. Unless you can clearly show in bullet form how the experience applies to the role, don’t include it.

8. Use a smaller font.

Play around with 11 or 11.5 point font instead of a 12. You’ll find that it’s readable and gives you more room to play with.

In Conclusion,

From what we have just seen above, creating a single-page CV is indeed possible by following some simple guidelines. Struggling to keep it to one page? You can contact a professional CV writer by emailing brenda@corporatestaffing.co.ke and she will be of further assistance.