Best CV length for IT contractors be like…
I love a good debate about CV length, writes Matt Craven of The CV & Interview Advisors.
'Are you a three-pager, Dave?'
If it weren’t such a dry subject to other people, it would surely be standard fare in pubs and bars across the land, alongside what formation England should line up for their next footy match!
While I acknowledge that even die-hard contractors might view CV length as a little mundane for their next dinner party conversation, the question of how long a CV should be has cropped up on LinkedIn.
Today's free webinar shows how agencies view contractors on LinkedIn
Speaking of LinkedIn, I’m just a few hours away from sharing with ContractorUK readers that their LinkedIn profile in the eyes of a recruiter doesn’t look like they think it looks! If there’s any space, jump on this free webinar at midday today while you still can, as I’m going to pull back the curtain on LinkedIn Recruiter, which is what most agencies use to scan your LinkedIn profile.
But I digress. In my LinkedIn feed, the recruiter who places IT contractors for a living observed that the average CV length he sees in 2025/26 is about four pages.
CV consensus: The two-page crowd
He then somewhat second-guessed himself, saying many CV experts now recommend two pages. Which I agree, they tend to -- even if I’ve pointed out that two pages for their CV is unlikely to suit most freelance IT contractors.
So what is the best length for a CV, if you’re a freelance or contract professional?
Before I give you my take, if you want a quick answer -- about 70% of respondents to the recruiter’s poll voted for “two pages.” Read on, though, if you like to play devil’s advocate!
28 pages? The ‘War and Peace’ of CVs
During my six years in the recruitment industry (and my 19 years running a careers business), my experience mirrored that of the recruiter in question, whereby CV length varied wildly from the sublime to the ridiculous.
I have seen a monster CV – of some 28 pages!
By contrast to too-long CVs, I’ve debated job-seekers who were hellbent on trying to convince me that their university career adviser knew better, and that all CVs should be a single page.
The 2-4 page (CV) safety zone
Perhaps a mean average over my career as a professional CV rewriter is somewhere between two and four pages. If you’re a contractor, you’ll likely be towards the top end of that length, due to the high volume of short-term roles you’ll have under your belt.
But here’s some reassurance if you just submitted a four-page CV -- a recruiter in the professional contracting space isn't going to worry too much if it’s between these parameters (of two and four pages).
Three-quarters of recruiters think 8 in 10 CVs aren’t long enough, kind of
I read a bit of interesting research a while back. It was featured in one of the more respected newspapers, and it claimed to have surveyed 200 recruiters and 2,000 job seekers. I still remember the statistics to this day for some reason.
The findings:
- 83% of job seekers thought their CV should be no longer than 2 pages.
- 76% of recruiters disagreed, saying a job candidate’s CV could be longer than two pages.
Now, that still leaves 24% of recruiters tied to two pages!
But the overwhelming majority didn’t seem too bothered.
The decent yardstick? Ok, yes, it’s two pages…
I accept that two pages is a decent yardstick, albeit perhaps more in line with early to mid-career candidates. Perhaps even aim for two pages if you’re starting from scratch with creating a CV right now, and are in a rush to meet an application deadline.
But I do wonder where the 2-page ‘rule’ came from. Like I say, it’s not a bad yardstick, but the majority of recruiters are quite happy with a bit more detail.
Natural length (aka your sweet spot)
One way to answer the $64million dollar question of how long your professional CV should be is to accept that your CV needs to be as long as your CV needs to be.
Within reason, of course.
What I mean here is stand back, and look objectively at where you are in your career, and where you’ve been, and then ‘gut-feel’ what your natural length is.
That’s your ‘sweet spot’ that you want to aim for.
For example, a junior business analyst is likely to have a shorter CV than a heavyweight interim manager.
2-page CVs: The dangers
With CV length, there has to be some disparity based on experience. So to say that ‘everyone should have a 2-page CV’ is a bit disingenuous. It’s actually ‘horses for courses,’ which I’ll come to.
It’s also a bit dangerous to blindly set out to adhere to the 2-page rule because it forces senior folks with lots of experience to start doing crazy things like reducing the margins to their bare minimum and taking out spacing.
Or worse (which I’ve seen), using size 8 font.
For the avoidance of doubt, font size 8 for the wording on your CV is too small.
Remember, your CV's length does not trump, as a factor, presenting your information in a way that is easy and engaging to read.
Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
Now, no self-respecting article about CVs could pass without mention of the good old ATS (Applicant Tracking System)!
Interestingly, at the time of writing, there’s some evidence to suggest that more content is better optimised for ATS than less content. It’s a bit like search engine optimisation; if a 3,000-word article is better optimised for SEO than a 500-word one, it’s simply going to have more ticks in the right places to please the algorithm.
So, algorithms tend to favour more content rather than less.
From a common-sense perspective, the more keywords and matching content your CV and job description/contract brief share, the better.
Less isn’t always more
It is sometimes tempting to think that less is more. And let’s be honest, writing a CV is, for the average job seeker, a chore; so, if the consensus happened to be two pages rather than three pages, then happy days.
But the reality is that less isn’t always more with a CV.
Faced with the important task of selecting experienced contractors to do a mission-critical piece of work, the stakes for agencies (and end-clients) are high.
What sort of tech jobs are you hoping to land offers for?
Therefore, recruitment decisions shouldn’t be made off the back of a cigarette packet. Moreover, agents who know their onions tend to know that serious ‘due diligence’ should be done before selecting who will be offered for a serious role.
For most non-entry tech contracts, this rings true.
Applicants are checked out on LinkedIn; they are interviewed, references are taken, their social media might be interrogated, and so on. Very often, then, clients don’t want less information; they want enough to feel confident in the person that they ultimately select.
Why your CV feels long but its length isn't the issue
Sometimes, poor composition of a CV is why candidates find themselves fretting about length, because they’ve read about themselves and fallen asleep (N.B. Good thing, then, that we’re offering ContractorUK readers a free CV review).
Here’s the thing. If your CV reads like a mind-numbing collection of job descriptions/contract briefs, it’s not only unlikely to be effective, but it’s going to very quickly become boring to read.
Such a list-like CV will feel long, even if it isn’t.
A good contractor CV = outcomes, performance and ability, plus 3 more elements…
Conversely, if your CV focuses more on outcomes, performance, and ability (as well as your tasks, as they also need to be included), then that’s more like it.
I would further recommend these three elements:
- Incorporate a value proposition statement,
- Introduce storytelling in the shape of case studies, and
- Social proof through recommendations.
Weave these three around the standard CV details, e.g. skills, list of contracts/jobs, qualifications, etc. Adding these three to the standard aspects might make the CV a little longer, but it will give your CV the edge that a mere list of tasks doesn’t.
Recommended CV lengths depending on experience; 2, 3 or 4 pages?
I should caveat my implied defence of a CV longer than two pages with the fact that we are living in a world of ever-decreasing attention spans.
So the trend of CV length is definitely downwards, not upwards.
That said, right now for professional contractors, I would suggest it’s a case of ‘horses for courses,’ meaning:
- 2 pages is best for a junior-level techie, seeking entry or post-entry roles;
- 3 pages is best for an intermediate to experienced contractor,
- 4 pages (or up to 4 pages) is best for veteran contractors or those in IT who operate at the upper echelons of the interim market.
Here’s my best CV tip if you’re a veteran IT contractor or interim leader…
If you’re a 4-pager like many ContractorUK readers will be, do focus largely on only the last six years, however. As much as you’re proud of it, what you did in 1985 isn’t relevant, and nor is the Y2K project you delivered 25 years ago!
But again, based on the mountain of CVs across our desk this year requesting ‘refresh me,’ most IT contractors’ CV issues don’t lie in the length; it’s more in the quality of what’s in the document. Ultimately, have you provided a strong value proposition, irrefutable evidence of your abilities, and a clear business case on how the client can achieve ROI from your astonishing but still somehow competitive day rate?!
Further CV help (including a free, professional review of your existing CV)
If it's length that’s making you blush, or quality, try a 1-2-1 and confidential review of your CV by one of my friendly and highly experienced team. If you're interested, visit: https://cvandinterviewadvisors.co.uk/partners/contractor-uk.
Today’s webinar will answer some interesting questions about where this CV length debate started in the first place – LinkedIn. In particular, we’re going to take you through how what recruiters see on LinkedIn is completely different from what you and I see. And if you don’t know how to write your LinkedIn profile in a way that stands out inside the LinkedIn Recruiter license, it definitely doesn’t matter how long your CV is!
Join us today -- Wed, Aug 20th at noon, or to find out more please visit: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/9193770332569822038
-
