ResumeHow to fit your resume on one page
One page is not a rule for its own sake. It is a way of forcing you to choose your best material, which is exactly what the reader wants.
Why one page
A recruiter going through a pile of applications gives each a short first look. If your strongest facts are spread over two pages among weaker ones, some will be missed. One page puts everything in view at once. For freshers and for most people with under ten years of experience, it is also simply enough.
Cut in this order
- Things that should not be there at all: declaration, "references available on request", father's name, date of birth, marital status, religion, hobbies that say nothing. See personal details.
- Repetition: a skill named in the summary, again in skills, again in every job. Keep it where it has evidence.
- Old and unrelated items: school prizes, jobs from long ago, courses unrelated to the role.
- Weak points: in each job, drop the points that only describe duties.
- Words: tighten every line that remains.
Tightening lines
I was responsible for the preparation of monthly sales reports which were sent to the management.
Prepared monthly sales reports for management.
Successfully managed to achieve a reduction in the customer waiting time.
Cut customer waiting time from 15 minutes to 6.
- Start with the verb. Remove "I", "my", "successfully", "various", "in order to".
- Use digits and symbols: 15%, 3 years, 40 a day.
- If a point runs over to a second line by one or two words, rewrite it to fit one line. That saves a whole line.
- Merge related points: two short ones about reports become one.
Layout that saves space without hurting the eye
- Contact details on one line under the name, separated by a bar.
- Dates on the same line as the job title, at the right.
- Skills in grouped lines, not one skill per line.
- Education as one line per qualification.
- Font size 10 to 11 point for text. Below about 9.5 point it becomes hard to read, especially on a phone.
- Margins about 12 to 20 mm. Narrower looks cramped and may be cut by a printer.
- One font. Bold for headings and job titles only.
The builder on this site does all of this. It shows a live A4 page, tells you by how many millimetres you are over, and has a "Fit to one page" button that reduces the font size step by step, stopping at a size that is still readable. If it still does not fit at that size, the answer is to cut words, not to shrink further.
What not to do to save space
- Do not use two or three columns with text boxes. They read poorly on phones and confuse resume-reading software. See ATS-friendly resume.
- Do not remove all white space. A page with no breathing room is tiring and looks desperate.
- Do not drop your best numbers to save a few words.
- Do not abbreviate until it becomes a puzzle. "Mgmt of A/R for 3 SBUs" saves space and loses the reader.
If you are a fresher with too little
The opposite problem is common. Do not fill the page with large type and wide spacing. Add true substance: describe your project in three points instead of one, add a part-time job or family business work, list the tools you used. If the page is still two-thirds full, leave it so. A neat, honest two-thirds page is better than a padded full one.
When two pages are right
Senior people with long careers, academics, and anyone asked for a detailed CV will need more. That document is a CV, with its own conventions; our neighbour site cv.shareyourgroup.com covers longer CVs and biodata. If you do go to two pages, fill at least a third of the second, put your name on it, and keep the most important material on the first.
A five minute test
Print the page or view it at full size. Look away, look back for ten seconds, and look away again. What do you remember? If it is your role, your best result and your main skills, the page works. If it is a blur of text, cut again.
Questions people ask
Is a one page resume enough for five years of experience?
In most cases, yes. Choose the strongest points from each job and remove repetition.
What is the smallest font size I can use?
About 9.5 to 10 point for body text. Below that the page becomes hard to read on a phone or in print.
Should I use two columns to save space?
It is safer to use a single column. Multi-column layouts can be misread by resume-screening software and are awkward on small screens.
More guides
Sample resumes
General guidance. This page gives general suggestions on writing a resume, reviewed in November 2026. Employers differ: if an advertisement or application form asks for a particular format or detail, follow it. Every name, employer and college in our examples is invented. Nothing here promises an interview or a job.