An Australian resume is 2-3 pages long, reverse-chronological, with no photo or date of birth, a line stating your work rights, and two referees (or "Referees available on request") at the end. It's longer and more detailed than a one-page US resume, and it uses Australian spelling: "organised", not "organized".
Below is the exact layout, a full example, and what changes for graduates and government jobs. If you already have a resume, check it free against a 14-point ATS checklist in about 30 seconds.
What is the standard Australian resume format?
Use these sections, in this order:
1. Name and contact details
2. Career summary (3-4 lines)
3. Key skills
4. Employment history (most recent first)
5. Education and training
6. Certifications / licences (if relevant)
7. Referees
Format rules:
- 2-3 pages, A4, one column.
- Standard headings an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and a recruiter both recognise.
- Dates as Month YYYY: "March 2022 – Present".
- PDF or Word, with selectable text.
- No photo, date of birth, marital status or religion.
What goes in each section of an Australian resume?
Contact details: name, phone, email, suburb and state (no full street address), LinkedIn. Add your work rights if they matter for the role:
Jane Nguyen
Parramatta, NSW | 0400 000 000 | jane.nguyen@email.com | linkedin.com/in/janenguyen
Australian citizen
Common work-rights lines: "Australian citizen", "Permanent resident", "Full Australian working rights", or your visa type if it has conditions.
Career summary: 3-4 lines with your target role, years of experience, 2-3 keywords from the job ad and one measurable achievement.
Key skills: 6-10 skills from the job ad that you can back up, as a simple list.
Employment history: for each role, job title, employer, location and dates, then 3-6 bullets that open with an action verb and show a result:
Operations Coordinator — Northline Logistics, Melbourne VIC
March 2022 – Present
• Cut average dispatch time from 48 to 30 hours by redesigning the picking schedule.
• Managed a team of 6 warehouse staff across two shifts.
• Introduced a stock-count process that reduced write-offs by 18% in 12 months.
Older or less relevant roles can drop to one or two lines.
Education: degree, institution and year completed. Graduates can add relevant subjects, a thesis or a strong WAM/GPA.
Referees: two referees with name, title, company, phone and email, or "Referees available on request".
How is an Australian resume different from a US resume?
| Australia | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 2-3 pages | 1 page (2 if senior) |
| Referees | Usually included or "available on request" | Rarely included |
| Work rights | One line if relevant | Usually not on the resume |
| Spelling | Australian English ("organised") | US English ("organized") |
| Photo, date of birth | No | No |
If you're adapting a US resume for Australia, expand your recent roles, add referees and switch to Australian spelling. See also whether to put a photo on an Australian resume.
How do you write a resume for Australian government jobs?
Australian Public Service (APS) and state government jobs often ask for more than a resume. Many ask for a statement addressing the selection criteria, or a one- to two-page "pitch" explaining how your experience matches the role.
Read the job pack carefully and follow its exact instructions on length and format. For each criterion or capability, use the STAR structure (Situation, Task, Action, Result) with a concrete example and a measurable result. Your resume itself still follows the format above.
Why do Australian resumes get filtered out?
In HAIRED's analysis of 10,000 CVs, 73% had at least one critical ATS error (see the study). The most common:
- 61% used tables, columns or graphics that scramble the text.
- 58% matched under 40% of the keywords for their target role.
- 44% used non-standard section headings.
A two-column template from a design tool looks good, but it's the format most likely to break: in our analysis, PDFs with columns or tables failed to parse in 52% of cases, against 4% for a plain single-column file.
How do you check that your Australian resume is ready?
- 2-3 pages, one column, standard headings.
- No photo or date of birth; a work-rights line if relevant.
- Bullets with results, not duties: "Cut dispatch time 37%", not "Responsible for dispatch".
- The job ad's keywords, written the same way.
- Referees listed or "available on request".
HAIRED's free CV checker scores your resume from 0 to 100 against a fixed 14-point checklist and shows the fix for every point. To rebuild it, the resume builder has single-column ATS templates; Job Match tailors it to each job ad.
