Can I Have a Two-Page Resume or Not?

There are times when adding a second page to your resume can be highly beneficial. Here are some cases when adding a second resume page would be appropriate:

• A job posting asks for more than 10 years of experience.
• The job description is high-level or very specialist.
• A job seeker has a large number of relevant achievements, awards and professional certifications.
• The job seeker works freelance and has to list a large number of individual projects to meet the work experience requirements of a job.

The type of job application that will require a second page is one that requires a very long work history section or a robust set of professional certifications and qualifications. Some very senior or complex roles in law, medicine or academia may even allow for three-page resumes, but this is rare. Examples of the kind of jobs that will commonly require a second page in a resume (or even a full curriculum vitae) include:

• CEO
• CFO
• University professor/researcher
• Medical consultant
• Senior aerospace engineer

When is a Single-page Resume Best?

Most job seekers will not require a two-page resume and some should actively avoid them. For example, if you are a recent graduate of college or high school and you are seeking entry-level work, a two-page resume could harm your job search. Unless you have a huge amount of relevant work experience, you should limit your resume to one page to ensure readability. Here are the main situations in which a single-page resume is best:

• A job seeker has less than 10 years of professional history to add to their work experience section.
• The role in question is entry-level or below middle management level.
• To facilitate a career change; a one-page resume will allow job seekers to drop a lot of non-relevant information
• When a single-page resume is specifically requested by the job posting

Whether you’re adhering to a single page or your two-page resume for the first time, the ResumeNerd resume builder offers a range of free templates and can make the process easier.