No: in Australia, don't put a photo on your resume. The standard Australian resume is photo-free, and employers prefer not to receive one. The exceptions are acting, modelling and some on-screen roles. New Zealand follows the same convention.
If you're coming from Europe, Asia or Latin America, where a photo is common, it's one of the first things to remove.
Why don't Australian resumes have photos?
Australia's federal anti-discrimination laws (covering age, sex, race and disability) and the state equivalents make it unlawful to make hiring decisions on those grounds. A photo reveals several of them at a glance, so employers would rather not see it.
For the same reason, leave out your date of birth, age, marital status, religion and nationality. If your visa or work rights matter for the role, one line stating your work rights (for example, "Full Australian working rights") is useful.
When is a photo expected on an Australian resume?
Only where appearance is part of the job:
- Acting and performing: a headshot, usually through a casting profile or as a separate file.
- Modelling: a portfolio, not a photo on the resume.
- Some on-screen roles: follow the employer's instructions.
How is an Australian resume different from a US one?
| Australia | US | |
|---|---|---|
| Photo | No | No |
| Length | 2-3 pages | 1 page (2 if senior) |
| Referees | Often listed at the end, or "available on request" | Rarely included |
| Personal details | Name, phone, email, suburb/city, LinkedIn | Name, phone, email, city, LinkedIn |
| Government jobs | Often require a response to selection criteria | Varies |
The extra length is space for detail, not padding: two to three pages of measurable achievements, not five bullet points per role from 2012.
Does a photo on your resume cause problems with ATS?
Many Australian employers and recruitment agencies screen applications with an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). The ATS ignores the image, but photos usually sit in a sidebar, table or text box, and those layouts scramble the text it reads.
In HAIRED's analysis of 10,000 CVs, 29% had embedded images or graphics, and PDFs with columns or tables failed to parse in 52% of cases, against 4% for a simple single-column file (see the study).
How do you check that your resume is ready for Australia?
- No photo, date of birth or marital status; a line on work rights if relevant.
- One column, standard headings (Career Summary, Experience, Education, Skills).
- Two to three pages, most detail on recent roles.
- Keywords from the job ad, written the same way.
HAIRED's free CV checker scores your resume from 0 to 100 in about 30 seconds and tells you what to fix, no account needed. To rebuild it, the resume builder has single-column, photo-free templates.
