A CV for Australia is usually called a resume. It is one or two pages if it is your first, and it grows with your experience. It includes your name, phone, email and suburb. It does not need your full address or your age. That is how the guide from the Jobs and Skills Centres, of the Government of Western Australia, explains it.
That guide is aimed at people starting out, and it is the only public source we were able to read in full. A particular company may ask for something else: if the job ad states a format, follow the ad.
What goes in, in order
These are the sections of the guide, with a summary in the place it indicates:
- Contact details: name, phone, email and suburb, state and postcode.
- Summary: a short paragraph of about three sentences, just below the contact details.
- Education: most recent first. Short courses and certificates go here too.
- Skills: the guide suggests choosing 5 to 10 and giving examples of where you have used them.
- Experience: the job title and up to five tasks. Unpaid experience also counts, such as work placements or volunteering.
- Activities: sports, clubs or hobbies that show something useful, such as teamwork.
- References: two people, with their job title, company, phone and email.
What details are not needed
The guide says expressly that a full address and age are not needed. If your CV from home includes other personal details, such as a photo, date of birth, marital status or ID number, note that the guide does not include them in what it asks for.
The context helps explain this. According to Study Australia, the law protects workers from discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability and religion.
Do you put a photo?
We have not found an official rule that forbids it. What we can say is that the Western Australian guide does not mention it among the contact details. Its downloadable examples could not be read in detail, because they are images.
References: who works
In Australia, an employer may phone people who can speak about how you work. The guide says:
- Who: someone you have worked for or who has known you for more than a year.
- Who not: a relative.
- First: ask their permission and for their contact details.
- How many: the guide works with two, such as a boss and a teacher.
If you have just arrived, your references will be in another country. The guide does not cover that case, so we have noted it below.
How to write it
These are the guide's tips:
- Short and clear: easy to read at a glance.
- Action verbs: start each point with words such as completed or created.
- Simple design: no flashy fonts or colours.
- Tailored: change it for the job you are applying for.
- No mistakes: check the spelling and grammar.
An example of how to turn a task into that style, written by us:
- Instead of "In charge of the bar", write: "Served up to 80 customers per shift and handled cash and card payments".
Only put in figures that are real.
Where to put the RSA and the White Card
The guide places courses and certificates in the education section, with the training provider, the name of the course and the date. These two courses are asked for in their sectors:
Cover letter
The cover letter guide from the same body says that:
- It is your first impression: the letter introduces the person and the CV gives the details.
- A generic letter will not do: you change it for each job.
- It explains what the CV does not make clear: a move to another state, a change of sector or time out of work.
- It also works without an ad: you can send it to a company with no vacancy advertised.
How to hand it in
Not everything is online. The Government of Western Australia cites going to businesses with a copy of your CV, even if no vacancies are advertised. The other routes are in how to look for work.
Free help
In Western Australia, the Jobs and Skills Centres check your CV at no cost. Their phone number is 13 64 64. They also have a service for people from different cultures and languages, with the Multicultural Services Centre of WA. In other states we have not checked for an equivalent service.
If you are looking at sectors by city, see Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.
What we could not confirm
- Photo: no official source we have opened says whether you should include one or not.
- Visa type on the CV: we have not found an official source that says whether it is a good idea to state it, or where.
- References from another country: the guides do not explain whether employers accept them, or how.
- Foreign experience and qualifications: we have not seen how to translate or present them either.
- Other guides: those from job websites and several universities could not be checked. That is why this article relies on a single public source, from a single state.
Sources
All seen on 5 November 2026.
- Your resume toolkit, Jobs and Skills WA, official, Government of Western Australia.
- Writing a winning cover letter, Jobs and Skills WA, official.
- Resume examples, Jobs and Skills WA, official. Only the index could be read.
- JobsWA, Jobs and Skills WA, official.
- Your work rights explained, Study Australia, official.