Australian Resume Format 2026: Template and Full Sample

The Australian resume format is a reverse-chronological resume of two to four pages, written in Australian English, with no photo, age, date of birth or marital status, and a referees section at the end. Australians use "resume" and "CV" for the same document. Order: contact details, career summary, key skills, experience, education, licences, referees.

The length surprises most people arriving from the US. The University of Queensland's careers service says professional résumés in Australia are generally between 2 and 4 pages, with a two-page maximum preferred for internships and graduate programs. Below you'll find the full format, a copyable template, and a complete sample resume you can rebuild in minutes.

Australian Resume Format at a Glance

The layout rules in the last row come from the same UQ résumé guide: font size 11 or 12 in a clear font such as Calibri or Arial, no tables (including invisible ones) because some software cannot read them, and a footer with your name and the page number.

Australian Resume Template (Copy the Structure)

FULL NAME
Suburb, STATE | 04XX XXX XXX | email@example.com | linkedin.com/in/yourname
Work rights: [Australian citizen / permanent resident / visa subclass and conditions]

CAREER SUMMARY
Three or four lines: your profession, years of experience, strongest
result, and the role you are applying for.

KEY SKILLS
• Skill from the job ad        • Skill from the job ad
• Software or system           • Licence or certification

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Job Title
Organisation, City                                        Mon YYYY – Present
One line about the organisation or the scope of the role.
• Achievement with a result
• Achievement with a result
• Responsibility that matters for the new role

EDUCATION
Qualification, Institution                                          YYYY

LICENCES AND CERTIFICATIONS
Driver's licence (full, STATE) • First aid • Industry tickets

REFEREES
Name, Position, Organisation | Phone | Email
Relationship: [e.g. direct manager, 2022 – 2025]

Section by Section

Contact details and work rights

Name, suburb and state, mobile number and a professional email address. UQ calls your street address optional; a suburb is enough. Add your LinkedIn URL if your profile is current.

If you are not an Australian citizen or permanent resident, add one work rights line under your contact details: "Work rights: Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485), full work rights to June 2027". Employers can confirm a visa holder's conditions through the Department of Home Affairs' Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) service, so state your conditions accurately. A clear line stops your application being parked while a recruiter wonders whether you can start.

Career summary

Three or four lines at the top. UQ suggests a maximum of three lines for a graduate's career objective; experienced candidates can use a short summary instead. Write it in plain language with a fact in it:

Project coordinator with six years in commercial construction across Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Coordinated fit-outs for hospital and education clients and introduced a defects tracker the site teams still use. Seeking a project coordinator or junior project manager role with a Tier 2 builder.

Australian workplaces tend to reward plain, factual self-description over big adjectives, so let the facts do the selling.

Key skills

Four to eight bullet points that match the job ad, as UQ recommends. Mirror the ad's wording and Australian spelling: if the ad says "stakeholder engagement" and "organisational change", use those exact phrases.

Professional experience

Reverse chronological. For each role, UQ suggests the job title, organisation, dates, one or two lines about the company or role, two to four bullet points on duties and skills, and one or two achievements. Casual and volunteer work belongs here too, especially early in your career; UQ lists all paid and unpaid professional experience, casual work and volunteering as content to include.

Education, licences and certifications

Your highest qualification first. High school results are unnecessary unless you are a recent school leaver or want to highlight something specific. Then list Australian licences and checks that matter for the job: driver's licence, first aid, Working with Children Check, Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA), a construction White Card, or professional registration such as AHPRA for health practitioners.

Referees

Australians say "referees", not "references", for the people who vouch for you. UQ notes that Australian employers prefer to contact referees by phone, and that many applicants write "Referees available upon request" instead of listing them, to save space or protect the referees' privacy. Either option is accepted; check the job ad, because some government and healthcare roles want named referees upfront.

For each referee: name, current position, organisation, phone and email, and optionally the relationship ("Relationship: previous supervisor for two years"). Ask permission first, tell them which jobs you have applied for, and warn them a call is coming.

What to Leave Off an Australian Resume

UQ's list of what to leave out: your age or date of birth, marital status, health status and photo. Also leave out:

• Your full street address if you would rather not share it
• Tax file number, Medicare number or bank details (scam job ads ask for these; real employers collect them only after you are hired)
• "Cash in hand" jobs where tax wasn't paid, which UQ specifically warns against
• Personality claims you can't back up

Resume vs CV in Australia

In Australia, "resume" and "CV" mean the same document. UQ's guide says Australians generally use both terms for the same thing, while other countries use them differently. The exception is an academic CV, which lists publications, grants and teaching and can run much longer. If a job ad asks for "your CV", send your normal 2 to 4 page resume.

Australian Resume vs US Resume

If your US resume is strong, you are reformatting, not rewriting: add detail to your recent roles, switch the spelling, add referees and work rights, and move to A4.

Full Australian Resume Sample

A complete resume for a fictional project coordinator in Brisbane, in the format above.

DANIEL REYES
Newstead, QLD | 0412 345 678 | daniel.reyes@email.com | linkedin.com/in/danielreyes
Work rights: Australian permanent resident

CAREER SUMMARY
Project coordinator with six years in commercial construction across
Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Coordinated fit-outs for hospital and
education clients and introduced a defects tracker the site teams still
use. Seeking a project coordinator or junior project manager role with a
Tier 2 builder.

KEY SKILLS
• Subcontractor coordination        • Procore and Aconex document control
• Programming in MS Project         • Variation and RFI management
• Stakeholder engagement            • WHS compliance and site inductions

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Project Coordinator
Harbourline Constructions, Brisbane                     Feb 2022 – Present
Commercial builder delivering health and education projects in South East
Queensland.
• Coordinate up to 20 subcontractors on hospital ward refurbishments
  delivered while wards stayed operational
• Built a shared defects tracker in Procore; the site team now closes
  defects before practical completion instead of after
• Manage RFIs and variations and prepare the monthly client report

Site Administrator
Coastal Build Group, Gold Coast                         Jan 2020 – Jan 2022
• Ran site inductions and kept WHS registers audit-ready
• Maintained drawing registers and transmittals in Aconex
• Organised deliveries and crane bookings on a constrained CBD site

Customer Service Officer (casual, while studying)
Trade Depot Hardware, Brisbane                          Mar 2017 – Dec 2019
• Advised trade and DIY customers on building materials

EDUCATION
Bachelor of Construction Management, [University], Brisbane         2019

LICENCES AND CERTIFICATIONS
Construction Induction (White Card) • First Aid (HLTAID011)
Driver's licence (full, QLD) • PRINCE2 Foundation

REFEREES
Sarah Mitchell, Project Manager, Harbourline Constructions
0400 000 001 | s.mitchell@example.com
Relationship: direct manager, 2022 – present

Tom Nguyen, Site Manager, Coastal Build Group
0400 000 002 | t.nguyen@example.com
Relationship: site manager, 2020 – 2022

Why it works: a work rights line answers the first question, every role opens with one line of context, achievements describe outcomes without inflated numbers, Australian licences sit in their own section, and the referees include the relationship. On A4 at 11-point type, this runs to about two pages.

Applying for Australian Government Jobs

Public sector roles often ask for more than a resume. The UQ guide's final checklist reminds applicants to include every required document, including selection criteria responses, alongside the cover letter and resume. Read the job pack: if it asks for a one or two page "statement of claims" against the criteria, that statement is assessed as carefully as the resume itself.

Common Mistakes

1. A one-page US resume that leaves out the context Australian recruiters expect.
2. American spelling, which also misses exact keyword matches in the job ad.
3. A photo, age or date of birth.
4. No work rights line when you hold a visa.
5. Tables and text boxes, which UQ warns some software can't read.
6. Writing "References" where Australians expect "Referees", and listing referees who don't know they're on it.

Use This Format in the ResumeFast Builder

You can rebuild the sample above in the ResumeFast resume builder: pick a single-column template, keep the paper size on A4, rename the References section to "Referees", put your visa and work conditions in the Work permit field, and leave the photo and date of birth fields empty. ResumeFast's templates can print your name and the page number on page two and beyond, which matches UQ's footer advice. Building is free and your first PDF or Word download is free; plain text downloads are always free.

Before applying, paste the job ad into the free keyword matcher to check your Australian spelling against the ad, and run the file through the ATS checker. For roles in health, the registered nurse resume examples show how to present clinical experience and registration.

Related Guides

• Comparing countries? The international CV guide links every country guide, including the UK CV format and the Canadian resume guide.
• Testing an Australian resume against applicant tracking systems? Our complete ATS resume guide covers how parsing works.