Australian CV format 2026, with free template

How is an Australian resume different from a UK CV?

The bones are the same: reverse chronological experience, a short profile, qualifications and skills. The differences sit in what an Australian recruiter needs to know before they will phone you. Can you legally work? When do you land? Who will vouch for you? Your UK CV answers none of those, so it gets parked.

Study Australia, the Australian Government's guide for international students, treats resume and CV as the same document and tells applicants to state their visa type, its expiry and any work restrictions. The table below sets out every line we change when we rebuild a British CV for Australia.

What goes at the top of an Australian resume?

Four lines, in this order. Your name. The job title you are applying for, worded the way the advert words it. A location and contact line. Then a work rights line. A recruiter working through a pile of applications reads these four lines and decides whether to keep going.

For the location, never leave a bare UK address. Write the city you are moving to and the month you arrive, for example Relocating to Perth, February 2027. If you are already in Australia, give the suburb and city.

For work rights, be exact. Study Australia advises stating the type of visa, when it expires and any restrictions on your work. Use the official visa name and subclass so nobody has to guess.

• Holding a visa: Work rights: Working Holiday visa (subclass 417), granted, valid to 14 March 2028.
• Applying for sponsorship: Work rights: seeking employer sponsorship, Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482).
• Permanent or citizen: Work rights: Australian permanent resident, full work rights.

How should you lay out each section?

Career summary. Two to four lines: your profession, years of experience, sector and one result with a number. Study Australia suggests keeping the opening overview to two or three sentences or three or four bullet points. Finish with your target city and visa so the summary works on its own.

Key skills. Six to nine skills lifted from the advert's own words. Recruiters search their databases by these terms, so a skill described in your words rather than theirs can be missed.

Experience. Most recent first, each role with job title, employer, city and month and year dates. Under the employer name add one line saying what the company does and how big it is. Then two to five bullets, each starting with a verb and ending with an outcome. Explain gaps; the APSC tells public sector applicants to do the same.

Education and qualifications. Highest first, named exactly as awarded, with the institution and year. Professional qualifications sit here too.

Registration and skills assessment. If your job needs Australian registration or a migration skills assessment, give it its own heading so it cannot be missed.

Referees. The APSC expects names and contact details of referees and suggests noting any you would rather were not contacted until you are in contention. For private sector roles, naming two or offering them is normal.

Do you need a photo on an Australian resume?

No. Leave it off, along with your date of birth, age, marital status and children. Under the Fair Work Act an employer cannot take adverse action against a prospective employee because of protected attributes, and that list includes age, race, sex, marital status, family or carer's responsibilities, religion, national extraction and pregnancy. Not hiring someone counts as adverse action.

None of that information helps a recruiter judge your work, and some of it invites the bias the law is trying to stop. A photo also adds file size and can trip up the software that reads resumes.

How do you present UK qualifications and employers?

Assume nobody in Sydney has heard of your employer. A line such as Regional NHS trust, 9,000 staff, five hospitals, or Mid-sized UK housebuilder, 400 homes a year, turns an unknown name into a scale the reader can judge. Do the same for UK-only terms: explain NHS bands, Ofsted grades or UK regulators in a few words.

Name qualifications exactly as awarded, for example BSc (Hons) Civil Engineering, and add the university and year. Do not invent an Australian equivalent.

For skilled visas, many occupations need a skills assessment from a body named in Australian law. The instrument for the Employer Nomination Scheme lists, for example, VETASSESS for many management roles, Engineers Australia for civil engineers, the Australian Computer Society for software engineers, ANMAC for registered nurses, AITSL for secondary school teachers and Trades Recognition Australia for electricians. If you hold an outcome, put it on the resume with the date.

Health professionals sit in a separate system. The National Registration and Accreditation Scheme covers 16 professions, each with a national board that registers practitioners, and Ahpra runs the scheme. Show your registration status, or the date you applied.

Do Australian employers expect a cover letter?

Usually, yes. Keep it to one page. Say which role you are applying for, why that employer, the two or three results that prove you can do the job, and the practical facts: your visa, when you arrive and that you can interview by video. Study Australia advises researching the company's values and showing how your goals and experience fit them.

Public sector roles work differently. The Australian Public Service Commission says your CV alone will rarely be enough. Expect to send a pitch of one or two pages, or a response to each selection criterion. The APSC recommends the STAR model: situation, task, action, result. Use your one or two strongest examples and stick to the word limit. The same guide notes most CVs it sees run between two and six pages, so length matters less there than evidence.

Will an applicant tracking system read your resume?

Most large employers and agencies in Australia take applications through online systems, so write for software first and people second. Use standard headings such as Experience and Education. Keep to one column with no text boxes, tables or graphics. Put dates in the same format throughout.

Mirror the advert. If it asks for stakeholder management and SAP, those exact words should appear in your skills list and in a bullet that proves them. Send Word unless the advert asks for PDF, and name the file with your name and the word resume.

What should you leave off an Australian resume?

Cut anything that does not help a recruiter decide whether to interview you. In our experience as UK recruiters, the same handful of items turns up on most British CVs, and none of them helps in Australia.

Tax and pension details come after the offer, not before. You apply for a tax file number once you are in Australia with a valid work visa, and the ATO tells you to keep it secure. Your employer will then ask for your super fund; the super guarantee is 12% for 2026 to 2027, and from 1 July 2026 employers pay it with each payday.

• Photo, date of birth, age, marital status and children.
• National Insurance number, passport number or a tax file number.
• Your full UK home address.
• GCSE grades and A level results if you hold a degree.
• Hobbies with no link to the job.
• Current salary, unless the application form asks.