How Long Should Your Executive CV Be in 2024?

Navigating CV Length When You’re Aiming High

You’ve climbed the ladder, led teams, driven strategy, and made significant impacts. Now you’re eyeing your next executive or C-suite role. But when it comes to your CV, you might wonder: does the old ‘one-page rule’ still apply? For senior leaders like you, the answer is usually no.

Standard CV advice often emphasizes brevity, sometimes strictly limiting it to one page, or two at most. While that’s great advice for early to mid-career professionals, executive roles require a different approach. Recruiters and boards expect to see a substantial track record of leadership, strategic thinking, and measurable achievements. Trying to cram decades of high-level experience onto a single page just won’t cut it – and can actually work against you.

So, how long should your executive CV be in 2024? Let’s break it down.

The Executive CV Length Guideline: Quality Over Quantity

For most executive and C-suite positions, a two-to-three-page CV is generally considered appropriate and often expected.

Here’s why:

• Depth of Experience: You need space to detail significant leadership roles, strategic initiatives, major projects, and quantifiable results spanning potentially 15-20+ years.
• Scope of Responsibility: Executive roles involve broad oversight (P&L, multiple departments, global operations). Your CV needs to reflect this complexity.
• Highlighting Impact: Demonstrating board interactions, major transformations, significant financial achievements, or industry influence requires more detail than entry-level roles.

Could it be longer?

In some specific cases, a four-page CV might be acceptable, particularly for:

• Very long and distinguished careers (25+ years) at top levels.
• Academics or professionals with extensive publications, patents, or speaking engagements directly relevant to the role.
• Certain board-level applications requiring exhaustive detail.

However, tread carefully. Every single point on every page must add significant value and directly support your candidacy for the specific role you’re targeting. Brevity and impact are still crucial.

What to Prioritize on Your Executive CV

Regardless of length, focus is key. Prioritize content that showcases:

• Strategic Leadership: How did you set vision, drive change, and lead organisations?
• Quantifiable Achievements: Use numbers to demonstrate impact – revenue growth, cost savings, market share increase, successful M&As, efficiency improvements.
• Financial Acumen: Highlight P&L responsibility, budget management, fundraising, etc.
• Board Experience & Governance: Detail your interactions and contributions at the board level.
• Industry Influence: Mention key speaking roles, publications, or advisory positions.
• Relevant Keywords: Ensure your CV includes terms specific to the industry and the executive functions mentioned in the job description.

What Can Be Trimmed?

Even with more space, be ruthless in cutting:

• Very Early Career Roles: Unless foundational, summarise or omit roles from 15-20+ years ago.
• Operational Details: Focus on strategic oversight rather than day-to-day tasks, unless illustrating a specific, high-impact achievement.
• Generic Skills: Omit basic skills assumed at your level (e.g., Microsoft Office proficiency).
• Irrelevant Information: Tailor ruthlessly. Remove experiences or achievements not relevant to the target role.

Structure is Key for Longer CVs

A longer CV must be easy to navigate.

• Compelling Executive Summary: Start with a powerful 3-5 line summary highlighting your core value proposition, key expertise, and career level.
• Clear Sections: Use distinct headings for Experience, Education, Board Roles, Publications, etc.
• Bullet Points: Use concise, achievement-oriented bullet points starting with strong action verbs.
• White Space: Don’t cram text. Ensure there’s enough white space for readability.

Using a professional, clean template can make a huge difference in presenting extensive experience clearly. ThePerfectCV offers executive-level templates designed to structure detailed career histories effectively, ensuring readability even across multiple pages.

The Bottom Line

For executive and C-suite roles in 2024, aim for a two-to-three-page CV. Focus relentlessly on strategic impact, leadership, and quantifiable achievements relevant to the position you’re targeting. While you have more room to elaborate than junior candidates, every word must earn its place.

Ready to craft an executive CV that reflects your true value? Explore our resources and templates at ThePerfectCV to build a compelling document for your next leadership role.