Resume Word Counter — Is Your CV the Right Length?

Paste a resume to see its word count and length. Nothing is uploaded, which matters here: a resume carries your address, phone number and employment history, and this one stays in the browser tab.

How long a resume should be

Most resumes land between 400 and 800 words, which is one to two pages. One page is the expectation for early-career applicants and for the United States generally; two is normal in the UK and across most of Europe, and expected anywhere with more than about a decade of history to cover.

Academic CVs are a different document entirely and have no upper limit — publications, funding and teaching are listed exhaustively and ten pages is unremarkable. If you are applying for a research post, none of the advice about brevity applies.

The number to watch is not the total so much as the distribution. If your most recent role has four bullet points and a job from 2014 has nine, the resume is the wrong shape regardless of its length.

  • Early career — one page, roughly 400 words
  • Mid career — one to two pages, 500 to 800 words
  • Senior or 10+ years — two pages, up to about 1,000
  • Academic CV — no limit, listed in full

Applicant tracking systems and what they do to length

Most large employers run applications through an ATS before a person sees them. The systems parse text, so anything that is not text is invisible to them: skills shown as a graphic, contact details inside a header or footer, and text inside tables or columns are all common ways information disappears.

This has a length implication. Padding a resume with keyword lists to satisfy an ATS tends to produce a document a human then dislikes, and a person reads it at the next stage. Write for the reader and make sure the file is plain enough to parse.

Cutting a resume down

The savings are usually in three places. Roles more than fifteen years old can normally be reduced to a job title, employer and dates. Responsibilities that any holder of that job would have had can go, because they describe the job rather than you. And the objective statement at the top, if it says you are a hard-working professional seeking a challenging role, is costing you thirty words and telling the reader nothing.

What should survive the cut is anything with a number attached to it, because that is the part that distinguishes you from the other applicants with the same job title.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many words should a resume be?

Between 400 and 800 for most people, which is one to two pages. One page for early career, two once you have a decade or more to cover. Academic CVs are exempt — they list everything and run to many pages.

Is a two-page resume acceptable?

In the UK and most of Europe it is the norm. In the United States one page is expected for early-career applicants, with two accepted for senior roles. Either way, page two should contain something worth turning to.

Does an ATS care about length?

Less than it cares about format. Text inside images, headers, footers, tables and multi-column layouts is frequently not parsed at all, so information can vanish regardless of how long the document is.

Should I include an objective statement?

Only if it says something specific. A line stating you are a motivated professional seeking a challenging opportunity uses about thirty words to convey nothing, and those words are better spent on your most recent role.

Is my resume uploaded when I count it?

No. The text is counted inside this browser tab and never sent anywhere, which matters given a resume contains your address, phone number and full employment history.

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