CV format by country: what employers expect in 15 countries

In the US and Canada the document is called a resume; almost everywhere else it is a CV. The name matters less than what goes on it, and that is where countries split. The split is not random taste. It follows the anti-discrimination rules and hiring habits of each market.

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says pre-employment questions should be limited to what shows whether a person is qualified, and that a photograph needed for identification may be obtained after an offer is made and accepted. It warns that questions about marital status and children are frequently used to discriminate against women. In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 protects age, marriage and civil partnership, race including nationality, sex and other characteristics, so the National Careers Service tells you not to include your age, date of birth, marital status or nationality on a CV. Canada’s Job Bank gives similar advice.

Germany’s General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) also bans hiring discrimination on grounds including ethnicity, gender, religion, disability and age. Yet EURES’s guidance for Germany still says an application photo remains part of a German application. The law bans discrimination, not photos; the habit decides what a recruiter expects to see. Your job is to meet the local expectation without handing over more personal data than the market requires.

Nordic CVs are short, factual and a little more personal than a US resume. Two pages is the ceiling across the region, and a one-page cover letter is expected in most applications.

• Denmark: a photo is not required but it is the norm. In the Ballisager analyses cited by Aalborg University, 80% of employers prefer one and 73% prefer no more than two pages. Workindenmark says it is normal to include your age, whether you are married and have children, and what you do in your spare time, often in a short “About me” section at the end. Our Danish CV guide goes further.
• Sweden: Arbetsförmedlingen, the public employment service, says one to two pages is enough and that any photo should look professional. EURES lists date of birth and possibly nationality among the personal details, with references provided on request. The personal letter is no more than one A4 page and should complement the CV, not repeat it.
• Norway: EURES stresses tailoring both CV and cover letter to each position, and notes that some employers are moving away from cover letters because AI has made applications more uniform. Follow what the posting asks for.
• Finland: no more than two A4 pages, newest first. A photo is optional but quite common. The CV is not signed; the application letter is, and it stays under one page. Name two referees or note that references are available on request.

German-speaking employers expect a complete, orderly file rather than a single sales document. According to EURES, a German Lebenslauf is a table-format CV of no more than two pages in reverse chronological order, with a photo either on a cover sheet or in the top right-hand corner, and you sign and date it. The cover letter stays within one side of A4 and says why you want this job, what interests you about the company and why you are the best person for it. Copies of certificates and references for the training and jobs you mention go with the application, and for some positions you should have them translated into German.

Switzerland follows the same logic with even more weight on paper. EURES says the CV should not exceed two A4 pages and lists date of birth and nationality among its contents; the application comprises a covering letter, a CV including a photograph, and copies of diplomas and certificates of employment. Swiss employers attach great importance to those certificates, so explain your career progression, avoid unexplained gaps and state the Swiss equivalent of your qualifications. Our German CV guide and Swiss CV guide cover the details.

These three markets sit between the continental file and the North American resume. EURES says a Dutch CV should normally be a maximum of two A4 pages, open with personal details, and list work experience with exact dates, most recent first. Application letters are more appreciated in Dutch unless the posting says otherwise, on one A4 page. References and certificates need not be attached; take them to the interview.

For Ireland, EURES recommends one to two pages covering your personal details, education, work experience including volunteering, language skills (especially if English is not your first language) and interests. You only need a photograph if the application form asks for one.

In the UK, the National Careers Service says you should not include your age, date of birth, marital status or nationality, and suggests stating that references are available on request rather than listing referees’ contact details. See the UK CV guide and the Irish CV guide.

North American resumes strip out personal data and lead with results. For US federal jobs, USAJOBS accepts resumes of up to two pages only, a limit introduced under the Merit Hiring Plan of 29 May 2025, and tells applicants not to include photos or personal information such as age, sex or religious affiliation. Private employers set no official length, but the EEOC’s guidance explains why a photo or date of birth works against you: employers avoid collecting anything that could suggest a discriminatory decision.

Canada’s Job Bank advises leaving out age, weight, height, marital status, religion and political views, says a photo is not the norm in Canada, and warns never to put your Social Insurance Number on a resume. It recommends two pages, with jobs from more than 15 years ago minimised or removed, and references on a separate sheet only when the employer asks. See the US resume guide and the Canadian resume guide.

New Zealand’s government careers service, Tahatū, says to keep your CV to two pages if you can, to leave images off it, and to include referees only if the job ad asks for them; otherwise write “Referees available on request”. Australian conventions are covered in our Australian resume guide.

In Singapore, fair-employment guidance from TAFEP says job application forms should not ask for age or date of birth, gender, race, religion, marital status or photographs. The Workplace Fairness Act, slated to take effect in end-2027, will make hiring discrimination on grounds such as age, nationality, sex, marital status, race, religion and disability unlawful. A lean, results-led CV without personal details fits both. See the Singapore CV guide.

For the UAE we found no official guidance on CV format, so follow the employer’s portal and the posting. The government is clear on one point: job seekers are not required to pay any recruitment agency, and a company that asks you for money to process a visa is not genuine. See the UAE CV guide.

Europass is the EU’s free CV builder, available in 31 languages, and the European Commission calls it one of the best-known CV formats in Europe. EURES’s guidance for Finland says it can be used there. For the Netherlands, EURES says Europass is not yet widely known or established among employers and recommends the customary Dutch CV instead.

Use Europass when a programme, public employer or EU-funded scheme asks for it, or when you apply through EURES. For most private-sector jobs, a clean local format gets read faster, because it looks like the CVs the recruiter sees every day. The most useful part of Europass is its CEFR self-assessment grid for languages: A1–A2 is a basic user, B1–B2 an independent user and C1–C2 a proficient user. Put those codes on any CV instead of “fluent” or “conversational”.

Small conventions like these mark you as local or foreign in the first scan. The official guidance in this guide splits like this:

• Sign and date the CV: Germany, according to EURES. In Finland the CV is not signed but the application letter is.
• Attach certificates and references: Germany and Switzerland. The Netherlands says they need not be attached; bring them to the interview.
• References “available on request”: the UK, Sweden, Finland and New Zealand (unless the ad asks for names). Canada: on a separate sheet, only when requested.
• Cover letter of no more than one page: Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland. In Norway, some employers have dropped cover letters, so follow the posting.

Whatever the country, write the CV in the language of the job ad, tailor it to the posting and mirror its keywords. Our guide to mirroring job-description keywords shows how without keyword-stuffing.