Australian CV format — length, sections, and what to leave off

Australian employers and boards (Seek, Indeed AU, employer ATS pages) expect a reverse-chronological resume that reads cleanly in an applicant tracking system and in a six-second human skim. SEEK still notes that "CV" and "resumé" are used interchangeably locally, with longer academic CVs reserved for research, medicine, and law.

Hays guidance for professionals centres on roughly two pages of relevant detail. Fresh graduates can land interviews on one strong page; senior operators often need two to three. Relevance beats arbitrary page count — cut old retail from a director CV, keep it on a graduate CV.

Header: full name, mobile, professional email, suburb/city + state, LinkedIn or portfolio URL. Professional summary (3–4 sentences). Skills (tools and methods the JD actually uses). Experience reverse-chronological with achievement bullets. Education. Optional: certifications, volunteering, languages.

No photo for ordinary roles (acting/modelling excepted). No date of birth, marital status, religion, or nationality parade. ABC career experts and AU recruiters increasingly advise against full home street addresses and against listing referee phone numbers on the document — "referees available on request" is enough until asked.

PDF preserves layout for email and most portals. Some APS and state government processes still want Word or a selection-criteria statement beside the CV — follow the vacancy instructions exactly. WA Jobs and I work for NSW postings often demand criteria responses in STAR form; your resume alone will not carry those applications.

Can a stranger find your phone in two seconds? Does page one show your latest role and strongest proof? Did you remove photo and DOB? Are bullets outcomes, not duties? If yes, you are inside Australian format norms — now tailor for the role, not the template gallery.