CV Writing In Kenya. How Many Pages Should Your CV Be.

Is two page too short? Are four pages too long?

CVs are subjects of great debate in the career world. What to include, what not to include; serif or sans serif font; what color paper; which jobs to highlight? And, more commonly in today's job market, how long should the CV be? Does it matter?

Many Kenyans feel that a longer CV makes them look more accomplished or important -- not so. Recent
college graduates and those who have only had one to two jobs don't need more than three pages. Avoid excessive spacing to fill up the page as well and instead flesh out your skill sets, even if you think you have none due to little experience.

Someone newer to the work force may have a two-page CV or three page one, with a more seasoned employee having more. Most experienced employees cannot fit their work history onto three pages, and that's fine.

What is critical is that the important information stands out: a very brief summary of whom you are, what you're looking for, your key accomplishments and strengths, which tells the employer why they should hire you. This should be captured at the beginning of your CV in the first page -- then the employer could quickly scan where you worked and when, along with more details listed under each position.

You want your CV to highlight your best attributes, and hiring authorities shouldn't have to search for them on your CV. For this reason, stick to the three page rule at most and carry over to another page only if your experience warrants it. This will force you to choose only the most important information for your CV

While I understand that most candidates want a three-page CV (or longer), I happen to know that employers put the most focus on a candidate's first page. Their attention starts to wane before they even flip the page. Therefore, appropriate and strategic editing is a smart move.

Most job seekers find it difficult to be so objective about their lengthy and accomplishment-based history, so here's a good tip to keep in mind: Job seekers have to think of themselves as a product and their CV their marketing campaign. Any good marketing director knows to focus on their target consumer while creating a marketing campaign, right? Same thing applies here. You aren't writing your CV for yourself, but rather, for your potential employers.

Less is always more when it comes to CV today, with three pages preferable, as overworked HR departments need to process information faster and are mostly using electronic solutions to identify candidates to start with anyway. On top of this, the more experience you put on there, the more money signs begin to flash in hiring managers' heads, and they worry about what it's going to cost to acquire such an experienced candidate.

It does matter, but primarily in relation to the quality of the content. Do not try to create a three-page CV if you really only have related experiences that fill up one page. Using bigger font and wider space margins do not help your cause. Similarly, if you have a long, impressive career of related professional achievements, there is no need to try to shrink it all down onto three pages. Having said all of that, do not go longer than four pages. You should be able to be able to present the best of the best in less than four pages.

The length of your CV will vary based on your experience.

No matter how many pages you choose to include, make sure to include all of your pertinent career information on the first page and in the top portion of the document.

Julie Karimi is a HR Officer Corporate Staffing Kenya. Talk to her for Recruitment and CV writing Services. www.staff-kenya.com