Should my UK CV be one page or two, and what should I cut?
Use enough space to show relevant evidence without repeating yourself. A first CV may fit on one page; a more experienced applicant may need two. Specialist or academic applications can have different requirements. Cut repeated duties, generic claims and irrelevant detail before shrinking the text. Keep dates, role context and evidence the employer needs.
| Situation | What to prioritise |
|---|---|
| First job | Education, projects and genuine responsibilities may fit on one readable page. |
| Experienced, non-academic role | Give recent relevant evidence space; condense older unrelated roles before squeezing the font. |
| Academic or specialist role | Follow the employer's detailed format and evidence requirements rather than forcing a one- or two-page rule. |
Save a working copy so you can compare versions. List the vacancy's essential requirements and identify where your CV demonstrates each one. A sentence that proves a required skill deserves more space than a long list of routine duties unrelated to the job.
Keep employer names, actual job titles and dates legible. Compression should not conceal a career break or create a misleading timeline. A relevant qualification may need its full name even when an abbreviation would save a line.
Two pages is a useful aim for many standard applications. An early-career CV may need only one; academic or specialist applications may require more. An employer's detailed work-history instructions take precedence over an arbitrary page target.
Guidance: Prospects: CV length and formatting.
Six edits you can apply to your own draft
Alex is a fictional retail supervisor applying for office administration. The source facts include weekly rotas, Excel records, customer email replies and shift handovers. The edits retain those facts without inventing time savings or sales results.
Profile
Before: I am a hardworking, enthusiastic and highly motivated retail supervisor. I am looking for a new challenge where I can use the many different skills that I have gained during my career in retail to date.
After: Retail supervisor moving into office administration, with experience coordinating rotas, maintaining Excel stock records and responding to customer enquiries.
Replace general self-description with the target role and supported evidence.
Rota bullet
Before: One of my responsibilities was being responsible for the weekly rota for the team, which had 12 people in it. I would make a note of holiday that had been approved and speak to the manager about getting cover arranged.
After: Coordinated the weekly rota for a 12-person team, recording approved holiday and arranging cover with the manager.
Keep the scale, action and approval process; remove repeated responsibility wording.
Stock bullet
Before: On a regular basis I used the Excel spreadsheet that we had for deliveries. I entered the information and looked for things that did not match the delivery notes, then passed these to someone senior to look into.
After: Updated the Excel delivery tracker and checked discrepancies against delivery notes before escalating them.
Retain the named tool and checking process without claiming unmeasured improvements.
Email bullet
Before: I dealt with customers who sent emails about their orders. I replied by email and wrote down in the order log what had been agreed would happen next so that we had a record of the conversation.
After: Replied to customer order enquiries by email, recording the agreed next step in the order log.
Combine the communication and recording actions into one sentence.
Older role
Before: I was responsible for serving customers, taking payments, processing refunds, checking collection information, looking at orders, speaking with the supervisor when an order did not match and generally helping the team with a range of day-to-day shop activities.
After: Checked click-and-collect details and referred discrepancies to the supervisor. Processed payments and refunds using the store procedure.
Keep useful accuracy and procedure evidence; remove the vague closing list.
Skills
Before: Good communication skills. Good written communication skills. Email communication skills. Ability to communicate well with customers. Good organisational skills. Ability to organise my work. Skills in organising rotas. Good computer skills. Skills using Excel spreadsheets.
After: Rota coordination; Excel data entry and filtering; customer email replies; delivery records; written handovers.
Group overlapping claims into specific capabilities already supported by the CV.
Compare the complete drafts
The full teaching drafts below contain 374 words before and 189 words after. The count includes headings and contact information; standalone bullet symbols and separators are excluded. These are text-editing examples, not a claim that these particular drafts occupy three and two pages. Your font, spacing and actual content determine the rendered page count.
Read the complete original draft (374 words)
Alex Morgan: original draft
Fictional candidate and organisations · Illustrative example
Alex Morgan: edited draft
Fictional candidate and organisations · Illustrative example
The edited profile includes a short statement about handovers to establish the target role; it does not introduce new experience. Education and the two employment periods remain. The references sentence is removed to prioritise relevant content.
Find the remaining space without hiding information
| Keep | Shorten or remove |
|---|---|
| Evidence of essential requirements | Repeated lists of the same skill in the profile, skills and every job |
| Recent relevant responsibilities and achievements | Detailed descriptions of old unrelated duties |
| Clear dates and job titles | Long introductory phrases such as 'I was responsible for being in charge of' |
| Readable headings and body text | Decorative elements and excessive empty paragraphs |
| Relevant qualifications and professional credentials | Unused template prompts and generic interests with no connection to the role |
Preview again after every group of edits. Check whether a heading has been stranded at the bottom of a page, whether the final line wraps unnecessarily and whether a job is split awkwardly. Fix the wording or section spacing before shrinking the font.
Use readable body text and consistent margins. If the document still needs more room, reassess relevance rather than squeezing every line. See how long a UK CV should be for measured words per page. The word-count checker can measure the text, while the final PDF or Word preview reveals the actual layout.
Questions about cutting a CV
Can I remove older jobs? You can give older unrelated work less detail, but do not present an incomplete history as complete when the employer explicitly asks for every role. A brief dated entry may be sufficient.
Can I make the font smaller? Keep readability first. If someone needs to zoom substantially just to read normal body text, the layout needs attention. National Careers Service recommends a clear font at size 11 or larger.
What if the shorter version loses important evidence? Restore the evidence and remove something less relevant. Use the vacancy as the priority list, not a fixed word budget.
Guidance: National Careers Service: readable CV text and relevant content.