How to Produce a 2-Page Resume (With Step-by-Step Guide)

Candidates with extensive experience from numerous jobs and a well-established skill set may find a two-page resume useful. You can use your resume to showcase your highest achievements and competence for the role. Understanding how to produce a long resume and where it may be the most relevant might increase your chances of success in an application process. In this article, we discuss how to produce a two-page resume, explore its benefits and answer some frequently asked questions.

What is a 2-page resume?

A two-page resume comprises two pages that contain information about your work experience and valuable employment skills. Typically, resumes consist of one page and provide a recruiter with easy access to all the relevant information. Candidates ensure that their skills, experience and qualifications can fit onto one page so recruiters can quickly look their resumes over during a short-listing process.

Candidates with many years of experience and acquired skills may require more than one page to provide a complete account of their professional profile. These longer resumes allow candidates with extensive experience relevant to the job advert to go into greater depth in the earlier stages of their application.

Related: Q&A: How Long Should a Resume Be?

The benefits of a 2-page CV or resume

There are many advantages to using a two-page CV or resume. Below are some of the most prominent benefits:

Suitable for candidates with decades of experience

Candidates with extensive job experience benefit from a two-page resume, as it allows them to go into more detail about the skills they gained and the responsibilities they had. This gives a recruiter more information for an interview process and increases their chances of success. Including all job experience on a resume is critical, as previous roles may directly correlate with a recruiter's criteria for a successful candidate. Two-page resumes also allow candidates to include any history of promotion or pay rises because of exceptional work. This is an important feature, as it may help in salary negotiation during the later stages of the application process.

Senior-level jobs

Senior-level jobs such as company directors or managing partners require many years of experience, particularly in other managerial positions. Those applying for senior-level employment may benefit from a two-page resume. They can include relevant information, including examples and successes from their previous roles and more in-depth explanations about the skills that make them a good candidate. Recruiters may expect those applying for senior-level positions to include more intensive history and even prove accomplishments such as statistics or project management explanation.

Multiple certifications and qualifications

Candidates with extra certifications that qualify them for certain jobs may benefit from a resume that goes onto a second page. These resumes allow candidates to explain how their certificates have better prepared them for a role, potentially fulfilling recruiter criteria. This is also beneficial for candidates with an extensive education history relevant to their career. Those applying for positions requiring multiple qualifications, such as diplomas, bachelor's, master's or doctorates, may further detail how their education has helped their career progression.

Including project evidence

For roles that require experience in a certain project or environment, those with a resume that uses two pages may explain explicitly how they individually contributed to that project. They may explain the situation, task, action and result of a project, providing the recruiter with more tangible material for an interview. This may be beneficial for those seeking roles in project management, sales or business development.

Related: How to Show Work Experience on Your Resume (With Example and Tips)

How to produce a 2-page resume

Producing a professional two-page resume may impress recruiters and provide them with a tangible foundation for your interview. Below is a step guide for writing a resume on two pages:

1. Prioritise good formatting

Good formatting is essential for an effective resume. Ensure that all borders are consistent and an inch wide. Consider using a font such as Arial, Times New Roman, Helvetica or Calibri in sizes 11 to 12 as these tend to be the professional industry standard across many businesses. Try to use the same font throughout to maintain consistency. You can also use bullet points when constructing a skills list to improve readability.

2. Include contact information in the headers

A recruiter is likely to favour resumes that feature necessary information in easy-to-see areas. Placing your phone number or email address in the headers of your resume pages allows them to pick out the ways to contact you easily. This is particularly important for longer resumes as information may get lost more easily than in a single-page resume.

3. Appropriately format skills and responsibilities

Consider placing your most immediately applicable skills and experience in an easy-to-see part of your resume. You may wish to isolate this section from the rest of your resume in a separate box. This allows recruiters to notice the most critical information immediately and decreases the chances of your resume blending in with other candidates.

4. Keep the second page to a minimum

Although longer resumes are useful for more business or technology-oriented careers that require extensive experience, you may consider keeping the second page short. This is important, as recruiters may have less time to look through the second page of your resume. Consider only adding less useful skills or experience on the second page and foregrounding all necessary information in the first few sections of your resume.

Related:

• Resume Format Guide (With Examples)

• How to Write a One-Page Resume (With Steps and Tips)

Tips for writing a 2-page resume

You can use these useful tips to create an effective resume:

Condense information that is less than 1.5 pages

If you find that your two-page document is less than a page and a half, consider condensing your resume into one page. This ensures that you are not repeating information unnecessarily. Creating dedicated sections for each topic may be useful to ensure that you use space effectively.

Mention skills only once

When creating your skills section, use this space to mention your skills to free up space elsewhere. This helps to avoid repetition and provides a recruiter with the necessary information in one area. Keeping your resume concise with new information may interest a recruiter more than a repetitive resume.

Focus on the last 5 to 10 years

Using this time frame helps to include only relevant information in your resume. It is likely that your experience and skill from the last five to ten years is the most relevant to your next role, so doing this ensures that the recruiter can pick out all the information they need. It also helps to keep your experience section concise, without the risk of sounding either repetitive or creating a resume that is too long.

2-page resume template

The following template shows the difference between the first and second-page headers. You can use this template to construct your resume:

(Page one)

[Full-name]
[Email address]
[Phone number]

Work experience
[Previous job title]
[Add company, location and duration of employment]
Key responsibilities:
[Add a few bullet points outlining your primary duties]

Education
[Highest or most recent qualification]
[Educational institution and years of study]

(Page two)

[Name] Page 2
[Email address]
[Phone number]

Key skills gained through previous experience

[Add bullet points outlining your strongest and most relevant technical and soft skills]

2-page resume example

Here's a two-page resume example to help you construct your own resume:

(Page one)

Rebecca Hansen
rhansen@email.com
+61 3 1111 1111

Work experience
Quality assurance manager
SHCinc. Newport, Melbourne September 2010–2018
Key responsibilities:

• Supervising the manufacturing process to assure compliance with stringent industry standards

• Organising meetings with senior leadership to advise new legal regulation

• Managing the QA team, including regular mentoring.

Education
Master of Engineering
University of Melbourne, 2008–2009

(Page two)

Rebecca Hansen Page 2
rhansen@email.com
+61 3 1111 1111

Key skills gained through previous experience

• Critical-thinking skills

• Leadership skills

• Mentoring skills

• Problem-solving

• In-depth industry knowledge of quality assurance.

Frequently asked questions about 2-page resumes

Below are some of the most frequently asked questions concerning resumes that use two pages:

How can I prioritise my resume?

You may organise and prioritise your resume in order of relevance to the specific job advert. This ensures that the recruiter gains all the relevant information they require from a quick glance. You may place any skills, former responsibilities or jobs that don't directly influence or target the job application lower down on your resume. Despite this, it is still advisable to include small amounts of useful experience from different careers that do not directly correlate, as they may have provided you with integral skills for your career.

Although a longer resume is useful, you can keep the second page of your resume short and to the point, including only relevant experience or skills. This ensures that you don't include any unnecessary information that the recruiter does not read or find irrelevant.

Can I include all job experience and skills?

It is advisable you only include relevant material on your resume. This gives you more room to explain vital responsibilities that qualify you for the job. Consolidating information is a crucial skill for your career, so practising this on your resume is a good idea. Consider matching the skills and any experience to the specific job advert as this may separate you from other candidates. Customising your resume entirely may provide you with a competitive advantage and impress a recruiter with in-depth industry knowledge.