No: in Canada, don't put a photo on your resume. The Canadian resume is photo-free, and that includes Quebec, even though French-style CVs elsewhere often carry one. The exceptions are acting, modelling and some on-camera roles.
If you're applying from abroad or recently moved, removing the photo is one of the first changes to make.
Why don't Canadian resumes have photos?
The Canadian Human Rights Act and each province's human rights code bar employment decisions based on grounds such as race, colour, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, sex and disability. A photo reveals several of those 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 it's relevant to the role, a line on your work status (for example, "Permanent resident, eligible to work in Canada") is useful.
Never include your Social Insurance Number (SIN). Employers only ask for it after hiring, for payroll, and on a resume it's an identity-theft risk.
Do you put a photo on a resume in Quebec?
No. Quebec follows the Canadian convention, not the French one. Its Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms covers similar grounds to the rest of the country, and Quebec employers expect the same photo-free format. If you're applying in French, a CV in French with no photo is the norm.
When is a photo expected on a Canadian resume?
Only where appearance is part of the job:
- Acting and performing: a headshot, usually as a separate file.
- Modelling: a portfolio, not a photo on the resume.
- Some on-camera roles: follow the employer's instructions.
Does a photo on your resume cause problems with ATS?
Most larger Canadian employers 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 Canada?
- No photo, date of birth, marital status or SIN.
- One column, standard headings (Summary, Experience, Education, Skills).
- One to two pages.
- Keywords from the job posting, written the same way.
HAIRED's free resume 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.
