For contractor CV length, is 2 pages perfect?

Contractor’s Question: 

A recruiter told me that at six pages, my CV is too long and I need to reduce it to two pages.

A few questions come to mind. Do I really reduce my CV length and miss out what I have achieved? Secondly, doesn’t a potential employer or end-client want to know what I’m capable of, even if it was further back than yesterday?

‘Not my fault I’ve got more than two pages of achievements’

It’s not my fault I've done a lot and learnt a lot - but apparently two pages for my CV is more important.

I really don't want to agree with the agent. But for the short attention spans of people nowadays, I’ve obliged. But it’s still niggling me, especially for future roles if this one doesn’t work out. Who’s right; the recruiter or me?

Expert’s Answer: 

I will answer this as part of the festival of CVs that my team and I are putting on, where there is bound to be a webinar in the line-up suited to you.

CV length, it’s a daily debate here at CVIA Towers

But the main thing for now is that you’re not alone.

The ‘length of CV’ debate is almost a daily occurrence among my CV rewriting team – in terms of what we hear from IT contractors and other tech job candidates.

CV length is also enquired about at the end of nearly every webinar we do. Contractors using our free one-to-one CV review ask about it more often than not, too.

My natural instinct is to ask this question:

Why does CV length matter that much?

Do we critique the length of books we read?

Do we decide if we are going to read a news article based on word count?

And in a corporate setting, do we judge someone’s capability by the number of slides in their presentation?!

Forget a CV with six pages

That said, I’m with the recruiter on the first point – six pages is probably too much for a CV.

But then again, why just two pages?

Who made the 2-page rule up? Where’s the science behind it? I know two pages get bandied about a lot. And in fairness, a two-page CV may be ideal for early-stage career folks.

But for seasoned IT contractors?!

I'm calling your tech recruiter out...

Next, I’m going to call your recruiter out because I firmly feel they’re pretty new to the contract IT recruitment game.

Why? Well, I would hazard a guess that not many experienced IT contractors are going to have a 2-page CV they’re insisting on.

Your recruiter therefore has a helluva of a job on their hands, if they want to convince everyone who approaches them for work that it’s two pages or the highway!

Your tech recruiter is the minority of tech recruiters

Unlike you as a candidate, this recruiter is pretty alone among their own kind.

A few years back, there was some research commissioned in one of the red-top newspapers that surveyed a few thousand job-seekers and a few hundred recruiters. Both parties were asked your exact question, “Should a CV be 2 pages long?”

Job-seekers, recruiters, and me the parrot

Interestingly, 83% of JOB-SEEKERS said ‘YES’ and 74% of RECRUITERS said ‘NO.’

It’s what I do so I remember the stats on this CV query, parrot-fashion.

Now, that means there are a lot of misinformed job-seekers. And arguably worse, it still leaves 26% of recruiters thinking two pages is the right number for a CV!

Your recruitment agent is in that camp. But it’s a minority and bear in mind, the vote of confidence in two pages (by candidates) was quite a while ago.

In 2025 it’s all about the 3-page CV, and here's why

Right now, in 2025, the consensus is that three pages are a totally acceptable CV length, albeit for most professional and independent IT consultants.

At a push, if you’re a very experienced tech contractor with lots (and lots) of assignments, four pages might be ok. If you want to err on the side of caution, three pages is more appropriate in the current era of declining attention spans -- which I think you’re correct about.

The CV big picture: it’s page 1 that counts

The key with CV length is to set it slightly aside and just make sure that page one does all the heavy-lifting.

Page one of your CV must have a strong ‘Profile’ that offers a compelling value proposition –immediately backed up with some tangible evidence that you’re good at your job and can do the things you claim you can do.

If you get page one of your CV right, the latter stages of your CV are less crucial. That’s not to detract from their secondary importance, but this truism should help you prioritise your attention.

In an agency or end-client office somewhere…

Imagine this scenario. Hiring manager reads the first page of your CV. Likes it. Sees that you are a HIGHLY APPROPRIATE candidate. Loves your positioning. Sees everything backed up by evidence. Reads your prior assignments or career history and sees a great match with the job spec or brief. And then (drum roll please --) gets to the bottom of page two, and realises that a third page exists. So rejects you. Really?! I don’t think so.

CV wrap-up: six pages is too much; two is too little -- three is just right…

So to summarise, six pages is definitely on the ‘War & Peace’ side of CVs. Two pages is equally unrealistic, and the sweet spot is three pages for a CV. After all, 3 is the magic number.

The expert was Matt Craven, founder of The CV & Interview Advisors.