Why OPM Moved to a 2-Page Federal Resume

For years, federal resumes ran 10, 12, sometimes 16 pages. I know because mine did. When I applied for my first federal position after separating from the Navy, I submitted a resume that could have doubled as a short novel. Every duty, every collateral assignment, every training course -- all crammed into a document that no hiring manager wanted to read.

OPM changed the rules in November 2025. Federal resumes are now capped at 2 pages. The reasoning was straightforward: hiring managers were drowning in bloated documents, and the best-qualified candidates were getting buried under walls of text that added volume but not value.

If you served 8, 15, or 20+ years, your first reaction is probably "How do I fit all of that into 2 pages?" That is exactly what this article covers. Not theory. Not vague advice. Actual formatting decisions, section-by-section breakdowns, and before-and-after examples you can use right now.

This article is specifically about the OPM 2-page format -- the structure, the spacing, and what goes where. If you need the broader context on why the length changed, read our federal resume length guide. If you are wondering about the USAJOBS-specific rules, we cover that in the USAJOBS resume length limit breakdown.

What the OPM 2-Page Format Actually Requires

The 2-page requirement is not just "make it shorter." Federal resumes still need specific information that civilian resumes do not. Hours worked per week. Supervisor name and phone number. Whether the supervisor can be contacted. Your GS grade or pay band. Start and end dates by month and year.

All of that still has to fit. The format did not get simpler -- it got tighter.

This is why you cannot simply shrink a civilian resume and call it federal. The OPM format demands more data points per position, which means your writing has to be sharper to fit inside 2 pages. Every sentence has to earn its space. For a deeper look at how these two formats differ, check our federal vs. civilian resume comparison.

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How to Set Up Your Page Layout for 2 Pages

Before you write a single word of content, get the physical layout right. The margins, font, and spacing determine how much real estate you have to work with. Get these wrong and you will either waste space or run out of room on page 2.

Margins and Spacing

Set your margins to 0.5 inches on all sides. This is tighter than the standard 1-inch default in Word or Google Docs, but it is completely acceptable for federal resumes. You are not submitting this to a college professor -- you are trying to get referred to a hiring panel.

Line spacing should be single. Not 1.15, not 1.5. Single. Add 2-4 points of space after each paragraph to keep sections visually separated without burning vertical space.

Font Selection

Stick with these: Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman. Font size should be 10-11pt for body text and 12-13pt for section headers. Do not go below 10pt. Hiring managers read hundreds of these -- small fonts create fatigue and your resume sinks to the bottom of the review pile.

For the full breakdown of fonts, margins, and layout rules, see our federal resume formatting guide.

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Section-by-Section Breakdown of the OPM 2-Page Format

Here is exactly how to structure your 2-page federal resume, section by section. This is the order that OPM-compliant resumes follow and the format that hiring managers and HR specialists expect to see.

Contact Information (2-4 Lines)

Full name, phone number, email address, city and state (full street address is optional). If you hold a security clearance, include it here. Veterans preference eligibility goes here too. Keep this section tight -- it should take up no more than 4 lines at the top of page 1.

Professional Summary (4-6 Lines)

This is the 6-second pitch. After reviewing thousands of federal applications, I can tell you that most hiring managers read the summary and the first position before deciding whether to keep going. Pack it with your total years of relevant experience, your highest GS equivalent, and the 2-3 capabilities that directly match the announcement. Do not waste this space on vague statements about "dedicated professionals with a passion for excellence."

Work Experience (60-70% of Total Space)

This is where most veterans either succeed or fail on the 2-page format. Your work experience should consume approximately 1.2-1.4 pages of your 2-page resume. Each position needs:

• Job title, employer name, city/state
• Month/year start -- month/year end (or "Present")
• GS grade or pay band (or military equivalent)
• Hours per week (typically 40 for military, but specify)
• Supervisor name, phone, and whether they can be contacted
• 4-8 bullet points describing duties and accomplishments

Your most recent and most relevant position gets the most bullets. Older positions or positions that do not directly relate to the announcement get compressed -- 2-4 bullets maximum. This is how you fit 20 years into 2 pages without losing the details that matter.

Education (4-8 Lines)

Degree, school name, graduation year. If you are within 5 years of graduation, include GPA if it is above 3.0. For military education, include the most relevant courses: SNCO Academy, Officer Development School, specialized training that maps to the position. Do not list every single military course you ever attended. Pick the ones that support the specific announcement.

Certifications and Clearances (2-4 Lines)

Active security clearances first (TS/SCI, Secret, etc.). Then professional certifications -- PMP, CompTIA Security+, Six Sigma, whatever applies. Only list certifications that are relevant to the job series you are applying for.

Before and After: What a 2-Page OPM Resume Looks Like

The difference between a resume that gets referred and one that does not often comes down to how you describe the same experience. Here is what the same military role looks like in both the old bloated format and the current OPM 2-page format.

Same person. Same experience. The version on the right is 40% shorter and communicates more because it leads with numbers, cuts the filler language, and includes the federal-specific data points (GS equivalent, hours per week, supervisor info) right in the header. That is the format that gets you referred.

For more examples like this, see our federal resume examples collection.

How to Fit 20 Years of Service Into 2 Pages

This is the question I get from every E-7 and above who walks through BMR. Twenty years of service, six duty stations, multiple MOS reassignments, collateral duties, deployments -- and now you have to fit it into 2 pages.

Here is how to do it without losing the experience that qualifies you.

Focus on the Last 10 Years

OPM cares most about your recent experience. Positions from the last 10 years should get the bulk of your space. Anything older than 10 years gets compressed into a single position block with 2-3 bullets covering the highlights. If it does not support the specific job announcement, it does not earn space on the resume.

Consolidate Similar Roles

If you held the same MOS across multiple duty stations, you do not need a separate entry for each one. Combine them into a single block:

Supply Sergeant (92Y), U.S. Army
Fort Liberty, NC / Camp Humphreys, Korea / Fort Campbell, KY
06/2014 - 03/2024 | 40 hrs/wk

Then write your bullets covering the full span. This approach is OPM-compliant and saves 8-10 lines per consolidated position. It is the single most effective trick for long-career veterans.

Cut Collateral Duties That Do Not Match

You were the unit SHARP rep, the safety officer, the voting assistance officer, and the key control custodian. Unless the job announcement specifically calls for one of those responsibilities, they do not go on the resume. Every line on a 2-page federal resume has to connect to the job you are applying for.

How to Write Bullets That Pass the Specialized Experience Review

The HR specialist reviewing your resume is checking one thing above all else: do your experience descriptions prove you meet the specialized experience requirements in the job announcement?

On a 2-page resume, you cannot afford bullets that describe duties without demonstrating qualification. Every bullet should follow this structure:

Action verb + what you did + scope/scale + measurable result

Here are four examples across different federal job series:

GS-0343 Management Analyst:
Analyzed operational workflows across 4 departments (120 personnel), identifying 3 process redundancies that reduced report turnaround from 14 days to 6 days.

GS-2210 IT Specialist:
Administered Active Directory environment supporting 2,400 user accounts across 3 installations, maintaining 99.9% uptime through proactive patch management and STIG compliance.

GS-1102 Contract Specialist:
Managed acquisition portfolio of 28 active contracts valued at $4.7M, executing modifications, option exercises, and closeouts within FAR/DFAR regulatory timelines.

GS-0301 Administrative Specialist:
Coordinated travel authorizations and vouchers for 85-person directorate, processing $340K in annual travel expenditures with zero audit findings across 2 fiscal years.

Notice the pattern: specific numbers, specific scope, specific outcomes. This is what separates a resume that ranks at the top of the HR specialist review from one that sinks to the bottom. The keywords have to match the announcement, and the numbers have to prove you operated at the scope the position requires.

What to Remove From Your Old Federal Resume

If you have a federal resume from the old 4-6+ page era, here is what to cut first. These are the sections and habits that consumed space without adding qualifying value.

Once you strip those elements out, you will be surprised how close to 2 pages you already are. The remaining work is tightening your bullets and making sure every line maps back to the job announcement.

How Keywords Work in the 2-Page Format

A shorter resume means fewer opportunities to include the keywords that HR specialists and USA Staffing use to evaluate your qualifications. In the old format, you had 6 pages to organically hit every keyword in the announcement. Now you have 2.

This changes your approach. You cannot just sprinkle keywords -- you have to be strategic about placement.

Start with the job announcement. Pull every duty, every requirement, every "specialized experience" phrase. Then map those directly into your bullet points. If the announcement says "budget formulation and execution," your bullet should use those exact words -- not "financial planning" or "fiscal management." The HR specialist is often checking requirements against your resume line by line. Using different terminology, even if it means the same thing, can cause your resume to rank lower in the review.

Your professional summary should contain 4-6 of the highest-priority keywords from the announcement. Your most recent position should contain the rest. This front-loads the keywords where they get seen first -- both by the human reviewer doing the 6-second scan and by USA Staffing when it ranks your application. For a deeper keyword strategy, read our federal resume keywords guide.

Common Mistakes Veterans Make With the 2-Page Format

After helping 17,500+ veterans through BMR, these are the errors I see weekly from people trying to adapt to the new OPM format.

Shrinking the font to fit more text. Going below 10pt defeats the purpose. The 2-page limit exists because OPM wants concise, readable resumes. A 2-page resume in 8pt font is just a 4-page resume that is hard to read.

Leaving out supervisor information to save space. This is a disqualifying error. Supervisor info is required by OPM. Cut bullet points before you cut mandatory fields.

Using a civilian resume format and adding federal fields. Federal resumes are structured differently than civilian ones. The section order, the level of detail per position, and the way you describe duties all follow OPM qualification standards -- not private sector norms. Starting from a civilian template creates gaps that HR specialists will catch.

Writing identical bullets for similar positions. If you held the same MOS at two duty stations, the bullets should still be different. Different units have different missions, different scopes, and different outcomes. Copy-paste bullets tell the HR specialist you did not take the time to demonstrate growth.

Ignoring the announcement when choosing what to include. The 2-page format forces hard choices. Some veterans include experience that is impressive but irrelevant to the specific position. That combat deployment is significant -- but if you are applying for a GS-0343 Management Analyst position, the administrative and analytical work you did matters more than the tactical operations.

What to Do Next

The OPM 2-page federal resume format is not going away. If you are applying to federal positions through USAJOBS, this is the standard you need to meet.

Here is where to start:

1. Pull the job announcement for the position you want. Read it twice. Highlight every duty, every specialized experience requirement, and every KSA.
2. Open your current resume and ruthlessly cut anything that does not directly support those requirements. Use the consolidation and trimming techniques from this article.
3. Rewrite your bullets using the action-scope-result format. Add numbers to every bullet you can.
4. Check your page count. If you are over 2 pages, compress older positions first, then cut the least relevant bullets from recent positions.

If you want to skip the manual formatting and get a resume that is already built for the OPM 2-page format, BMR's Federal Resume Builder handles the layout, the keyword matching, and the federal-specific fields automatically. It was built specifically for this -- because I spent 1.5 years after separating from the Navy submitting resumes that went nowhere, and I built the tool I wish I had.

You can also explore our OPM-compliant federal resume template for a free starting point, or read the full federal resume writing guide if you want the complete picture from start to finish.