A CV for a job abroad: what changes from country to country

A CV built for France is not wrong elsewhere, but it is not always read the way you imagine. A photo expected in Berlin is unusual in London, a date of birth that is routine in Geneva has no place on an American resume, and the name of your French qualification means nothing to a recruiter in Toronto. This guide lists what changes almost everywhere, then the conventions of the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Canada and the US according to their official sources, before moving on to translation and qualifications. One rule comes before all the others: if the job ad asks for something, do it.

What changes almost everywhere

• Personal details. In France, none of them is compulsory. In English-speaking countries, they disappear: the UK government's careers service advises leaving out your age, date of birth, marital status and nationality; the Canadian government's job site recommends leaving out age, height, weight and marital status. In Germany and Switzerland, on the other hand, the official guides still put your date of birth at the top of the CV. When in doubt, keep only what serves the job.
• The photo. Unusual in the English-speaking world, still expected in Germany, and in Switzerland attached only if the job ad asks for one. Our guide to photos on a CV explains when one helps and how to choose it.
• What the document is called. In the UK it is a CV; in the US and English-speaking Canada it is a resume: a short document tailored to the role. Over there, a “CV” usually means the full record of a researcher or an academic.
• References. In English-speaking countries, an employer who is seriously considering hiring you asks for the details of people willing to vouch for you: a former manager, a teacher. They do not belong on the CV: in the UK you write “references available on request”; in Canada you keep them on a separate sheet. Only name people who have agreed.
• Dates. Day and month are not written in the same order on both sides of the Atlantic: write the month out in full followed by the year, and list your jobs from newest to oldest, the most widespread convention.
• French acronyms. BTS, CDI, DUT, grande école, classes préparatoires: outside France, nobody knows them. Spell them out once, or replace them with what they mean.

Country by country

These are conventions, not laws, and they vary by sector and by company: the Munich subsidiary of an American group may prefer an English-style CV. For each country, what follows draws on an official source, listed at the bottom of the page.

A word on language: in Switzerland as in Canada, the CV is written in the language of the job ad. That means French, German or Italian depending on the Swiss region; usually French in Quebec and English in the rest of Canada.

For a job elsewhere in Europe, or if you do not know the country's conventions, there is Europass: a free European Union tool that lets you build your CV in many languages, in a format recognised across Europe. It is not compulsory, just a common starting point: the German employment agency calls it a solid base, while noting that many employers prefer a more individual design. Tailor it to each job ad like any other CV.

Translate, don't transcribe

• Write in the language of the job ad, the whole CV: not a French CV with an English headline.
• Translate the job, not the words. “Chargé d'affaires” or “Chef de rayon” have no literal translation: look up the title used in that country's job ads for the same work, and use it.
• Keep proper nouns (schools, companies) as they are, and add a few words of context when the company is not known abroad: its sector, its size, its customers.
• Give your language levels using the Common European Framework of Reference (from A1 to C2) and, if you have one, the name of the test you took. How to present your languages and tools is covered in our guide to skills on a CV.

The site can do this work between French and English. On Translate your CV, you pick the target language and say what matters (British rather than American English, a job title to keep): your PDF is translated in place, in its own layout, or rewritten in a new single-column template, as PDF and Word, with figures and contact details checked. The conventions specific to English-language CVs (action verbs, dates, acronyms spelled out) are on CV in English. For German, Spanish or Italian, the site does not translate: have your version checked by a native speaker.

Qualifications: explain, don't convert

Don't hunt for the exact “equivalent” of your qualification: education systems do not map onto each other, and a loose translation misleads. On the CV, keep the official name, then explain in brackets what the recruiter needs to understand: the level, the field, the type of institution. “Diplôme d'ingénieur, École centrale de Lyon (master's-level degree, general engineering)” reads anywhere; “Diplôme d'ingénieur, ECL” only reads in France.

If the employer wants proof, there are two cases. For an unregulated job, you can ask the ENIC-NARIC centre of the country where you want to work for a statement of comparability: it places your qualification within their system. For a regulated profession, in healthcare or law for example, the procedure depends on the profession and the country, and it comes before you apply. The ENIC-NARIC France centre, run by France Éducation international, provides information on getting French qualifications recognised abroad.

Before you send it

1. Your phone number with the international dialling code, which the German employment agency reminds applicants from abroad to include, and a plain email address.
2. Your city and your mobility: if you still live in France, one line saying when you can relocate removes a doubt before it arises.
3. Your right to work in the country, if you already have it: it is often one of a foreign recruiter's first questions, and one line is enough.
4. Getting past the robots: abroad too, large companies screen applications with software. The rules are the same as in France (see ATS screening robots) and our ATS CV check reads a CV in English just as it reads one in French.