A master CV grows with you. A tailored copy shouldn't. When the version for one job spills onto a third page, the answer isn't smaller type. It's deciding what this reader doesn't need.
Two pages is a common ceiling for experienced candidates, and one is often expected early in a career. Whatever your field expects, the principle is the same: the tailored copy is for one posting, so everything on it should earn its place for that posting.
Cut in this order
Work down this list and stop as soon as it fits. Each step costs less than the one after it.
- What the posting doesn’t ask for
A side project in another field, a skill group this role never uses, a certificate that doesn’t apply. It may be good work. It’s just not evidence for this job.
- Detail in older roles
Keep the title, the employer and the dates, and cut the bullets to the one that still matters. Ten-year-old work rarely needs more than a line.
- Repeats
The same skill proven in three roles only needs its best proof. The same tool listed under skills and in every bullet only needs one of them.
- The long summary
Two to four sentences that name the role and your strongest match. A summary that retells the CV is the easiest half page to win back.
What not to cut
Some things look like padding and aren't. Keep these, even when space is tight:
- Dates. A role without dates makes the reader guess, and gaps are easier to explain than to hide.
- The evidence for each must-have. If the posting asks for three things, the first page should still prove all three.
- Results you can back up. A measured outcome is the most valuable line in a bullet. Shorten the words around it, not the number.
- Your current or most recent role. It's what the reader looks at first. Trim it last.
Hidden isn’t deleted. The tailored copy is for this job; your master CV keeps everything.
Hide, don't delete
The mistake that costs you later is cutting from the only copy you have. The side project you removed for this application might be the first thing the next posting wants. Keep one full record of everything you've done, and make each application's copy a selection from it.
That's the split Rolebranch is built on. Your master CV keeps every role, project and bullet. A tailored copy starts from it and leaves out what doesn't fit, and the master CV doesn't change when you edit the copy.
- It fits the length your field expects, often one or two pages.
- Every must-have from the posting is still proven on page one.
- Dates are on every role.
- Older roles are one line each, not removed.
- What you cut is still in your master CV.
Let Romy make the first cut
Tailor from your master CV and Romy keeps the copy to about two A4 pages: she leads with what the posting values and leaves out what doesn’t fit. Every change is a proposal you accept or reject, and your master CV stays as it is.
- Left out the 2016 side project for this copyHide
- Cut the Brightline internship to one lineShorten
- Moved the accessibility work to the top of ExperienceReorder
- Summary down to three sentences that name the roleRephrase
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