Before you write a single bullet, decide which country you are writing for. The same resume sent to Sydney, London, San Francisco and Toronto will fail in at least two of the four. The deltas are small but unforgiving.
Format rules — per country
| Country | Length | Photo? | Personal info | Style |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇦🇺 Australia | 2 pages OK (1 preferred) | ❌ No | Name, phone, email, LinkedIn, GitHub, city | Measured, direct, achievement-led |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 2 pages | ❌ No | Same as AU; no DOB or marital status | Slightly more formal |
| 🇺🇸 United States | 1 page (strict) | ❌ No | No address line; metro + state is enough | Punchy, metric-heavy |
| 🇨🇦 Canada | 1–2 pages | ❌ No | Same as US | Similar to US |
Tables, multi-column layouts, headshots, graphics, fancy fonts, icons in text. ATS parsers mangle them and you become invisible — even if a human would have liked the design.
What "personal info" means in 2026
- No date of birth, marital status, religion, nationality, or photo — illegal-to-ask in all four markets and a foreign-resume tell.
- No full street address — metro / city is enough; saves a line and avoids relocation-bias.
- Yes to LinkedIn URL, GitHub (if it's real), one personal site if you have one worth showing.
- One country-aware visa line if you are not a citizen / PR (we wire this in Lesson 8).
Don't try to write a CV that works in all four markets at once — you'll satisfy none. Pick the primary target (most candidates: Australia), write for that, and clone with the right deltas for the others.
One page for US strict, two for AU/UK/Canada. No photo, no DOB, no marital status, no tables, no columns. Pick a target market and write for it specifically.