Application systems are unforgiving about file size and say nothing useful when they refuse. Getting under the cap is usually easy once you know why your file is large.
A CV may be read by automated hiring software. Removing searchable text can interfere with that workflow. First re-export from the CV editor with smaller photos; use raster compression only if the recipient accepts an image-based CV.
All three presets turn pages into images, removing selectable text and interactive form behaviour. Existing certificate-based signatures are not preserved.
Output size is not guaranteed. There is no exact-KB control or result preview; download and inspect the saved PDF.
A CV made from a word processor is usually only tens of kilobytes already. If yours is large, the cause is almost always a big photograph or a logo inside it. The cleanest fix is to shrink that picture in the original document and export the PDF again.
This tool redraws the pages as pictures, which makes the text unselectable. That matters for a CV, because many employers use software that reads the text of an application. Keep the original text version for applications and use a compressed copy only when you must get under a size limit.
Keep the original or re-export from its authoring app with smaller embedded images. Gentle also rasterises text; Brodidit has no text-preserving PDF compression mode.
A file that needs a password to open must be unlocked first with Protect PDF. If a very large merge runs out of memory, join the files in two stages and then join the two results.
It may not. Compressing turns the text into pictures, which software that reads text cannot use. Send the original text version wherever you can.