International Resume: How to Write a CV for Foreign Employers

Applying abroad means more than translating your resume word for word. An international resume follows the conventions of the target market — the right format, length, photo policy and personal details — and ideally reaches the employer in their own language. Here is what changes from country to country, and how to get it right.

Resume vs CV: the same word means different things

The first source of confusion is the name of the document itself. In the United States and Canada a resume is a short, one-to-two-page summary tailored to a specific job. In the UK, Ireland, most of Europe, and much of Asia and Africa, the everyday word is CV (curriculum vitae) — and there it usually means the same short career document, not the long academic CV.

The exception is academia and research worldwide: there a CV really is a long, exhaustive record of publications, grants and teaching. So before you send anything, match the word and the length to what the recipient expects — a US recruiter wants one page, an Australian employer is fine with two, and a German company may expect a structured Lebenslauf.

What foreign employers expect by market

Photo, age and personal data: rules differ sharply

In the US, UK, Canada and Australia you should not include a photo, date of birth, marital status, nationality or a headshot. Anti-discrimination norms mean recruiters are trained to ignore — or even discard — resumes carrying that information. In much of continental Europe the opposite is true: a professional photo and a line of personal data are still customary in countries like Germany, France, Spain and Austria.

• US / UK / Canada / Australia: no photo, no age, no marital status. Contact details and location only.
• Germany, Austria, France, Spain: a professional photo and basic personal data are still common.
• Everywhere: a real email, a phone number with the country code, and a LinkedIn or portfolio link.
• Never put an ID number, passport number or full home address on a resume you send abroad.

Write in the employer's language

English is the safe default for international and remote roles, and for any posting written in English. But when a company advertises in German, French, Spanish or another local language, applying in that language signals genuine commitment and gets you past local screening. A resume in the employer's own language — clean, native-sounding, and tailored — almost always beats a translated-looking English one for a local role.

How Make Resume builds an international resume for you

You should not have to memorize every country's rules or rewrite your resume five times. This is where Make Resume helps: you fill your profile once, add the employer and the target role, and the app builds a one-page resume tailored to that job — in any of 10 languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and more.

It does more than translate. The app reshapes the resume for the target market and tells you what to change or add in your own data to fit the role — for example, which details to drop for a US application or which to emphasize for a European one. You review, adjust, and export a clean PDF. See how Make Resume works.

Free: 3 resumes, no sign-up. That is enough to produce polished versions in two or three languages and compare them before you apply.

A quick checklist before you send

1. Match the document name and length to the market (resume vs CV, one page vs two).
2. Follow the local photo and personal-data norms — when unsure, leave them out.
3. Apply in the language of the posting whenever the role is local.
4. Use international contact details: country code on the phone, a professional email.
5. Tailor the content to the specific employer, not just the country.