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Create ResumeAustralian and US resumes look similar on the surface, but they are judged differently. An Australian resume is usually more detailed, often two to three pages for experienced professionals, and may include a slightly broader career context. A US resume is usually shorter, sharper, more achievement-driven, and much less tolerant of personal information, photos, long descriptions, or anything that feels like a full career biography.
The mistake I see candidates make is not using the “wrong” spelling or layout. It is sending a resume that answers the wrong market’s hiring question. Australian employers often want enough context to understand your scope, responsibilities, environment, and fit. US employers usually want fast proof of impact, relevance, and measurable outcomes. Same career. Different packaging. Very different screening behaviour.
The main difference between an Australian resume and a US resume is not just length. It is the level of context expected.
An Australian resume tends to give recruiters and hiring managers more room to understand the candidate’s role, industry, responsibilities, achievements, systems, stakeholders, and career progression. It is still meant to be concise, but it does not need to be stripped down to the bone.
A US resume is usually more compressed. It expects the candidate to prove relevance quickly, often within one or two pages, with stronger emphasis on measurable achievements, commercial outcomes, keywords, and direct alignment with the job description.
Here is the simplest way to think about it:
Australian resume: “Here is the relevant context, scope, and evidence that I can do this job.”
US resume: “Here is the fastest possible proof that I match this role and have delivered results.”
That difference changes everything: length, tone, bullet style, personal details, formatting, achievements, and how much background you include.
Candidates often assume they can simply change “organisation” to “organization” and call it a US resume. No. That is cosmetic. The bigger issue is whether the resume matches how that market screens candidates.
A resume is not a document about your entire career. It is a hiring argument. In Australia and the US, that argument needs to be built slightly differently.
In Australia, employers usually expect a resume that gives enough detail to understand your work history properly. This does not mean writing a life story. It means giving practical context so the reader can assess your suitability without guessing.
Australian recruiters often look for:
Clear contact details
A short professional summary
Core skills or areas of expertise
Reverse chronological work history
Role scope and responsibilities
Achievements and measurable outcomes
Education and qualifications
Licences, certifications, or registrations where relevant
Technical skills, systems, or tools
Volunteer work where relevant
Referees only if requested, or “Referees available on request” if suitable
The Australian hiring process often involves more human review than candidates realise. Yes, applicant tracking systems are used, especially by larger organisations, government bodies, universities, banks, health services, and high-volume employers. But the resume still needs to make sense to a recruiter or hiring manager who is trying to answer practical questions quickly.
They are often asking:
Has this person done work similar enough to what we need?
What level were they operating at?
What type of organisation or team were they in?
Were they hands-on, strategic, operational, client-facing, technical, or leadership-focused?
Can I see enough evidence to justify an interview?
Is anything unclear, inflated, or oddly vague?
This is why Australian resumes can usually tolerate more detail than US resumes. A two-page resume is common. For senior professionals, technical specialists, project leaders, government applicants, academics, healthcare professionals, and executives, three pages can be completely reasonable if the content earns its space.
What does not work is padding. Australian recruiters are not asking for extra pages because they enjoy reading. Trust me, nobody has ever opened a five-page resume and thought, “Lovely, my afternoon plans have improved.” The extra detail only helps when it improves decision-making.
A US resume is usually expected to be concise, achievement-led, and highly targeted. The market is less forgiving of long role descriptions, personal information, and content that does not directly support the job application.
US employers typically expect:
One page for early-career or mid-level candidates
Two pages for senior professionals, specialists, executives, or candidates with substantial relevant experience
No photo
No date of birth
No marital status
No nationality unless it is directly relevant to work authorisation
No full home address
No references on the resume
Strong results-focused bullet points
Clear keywords from the job description
Minimal design complexity
A direct professional summary
Strong evidence of impact, scale, and outcomes
The US resume style is heavily shaped by speed and risk. Recruiters often screen large volumes quickly. Employers are also cautious about information that could create discrimination concerns. That is why personal details that may feel normal in some countries can be a problem in the US.
The US resume needs to answer a sharper question:
Can this candidate clearly prove they match this role, at this level, with relevant outcomes, without making me work too hard to find the evidence?
This is why US resumes often feel more direct. They usually prioritise impact over explanation.
For example, an Australian resume may say:
Weak Example
Managed a team of customer service staff and supported operational improvements across the department.
A stronger US-style version would be:
Good Example
Led a 12-person customer service team and reduced average response time by 28% by redesigning escalation workflows and introducing weekly performance coaching.
The second version gives the hiring manager evidence. Team size. Result. Action. Business relevance. That is what travels well across both markets, but it is especially important in the US.
Resume length is one of the biggest practical differences between Australian and US resumes.
In Australia, a resume is often two to three pages for experienced professionals. One page may be acceptable for students, graduates, retail applicants, casual roles, entry-level roles, or candidates with limited experience. More senior candidates may need three pages if the content is genuinely relevant.
In the US, one page is still the default expectation for many candidates, especially early-career professionals. Two pages are acceptable when the experience level justifies it, but the second page must earn its existence.
Here is the recruiter reality: length is not the issue. Waste is the issue.
A two-page resume can feel too long if it is full of generic responsibilities. A three-page Australian resume can work beautifully if every section helps the employer understand scope, relevance, and results. A one-page US resume can fail if it is so compressed that it removes the proof.
The better question is not “How many pages should my resume be?”
The better question is:
How much information does this market need to make a confident interview decision?
For Australia, that usually means enough context to understand the role properly. For the US, that usually means less context and more proof.
This is where candidates moving between Australia and the US can get themselves into trouble.
For both Australian and US resumes, keep personal details limited and professional.
Include:
Full name
Mobile number
Professional email address
City and state or city and country
LinkedIn profile if it is current and relevant
Portfolio, GitHub, website, or professional profile if relevant
Avoid:
Date of birth
Age
Marital status
Gender
Religion
Photo
Passport number
Full street address
Nationality unless it directly relates to visa or work rights
Health information unless legally or practically required for the role
In Australia, some candidates still include too much personal information because they have seen older resume templates floating around. Please retire those templates. They belong in the same drawer as fax cover sheets and “references available on request” written in 18-point font.
In the US, personal information is even more problematic. A photo, age, marital status, or other protected detail can make an employer uncomfortable because it introduces information they should not be using in hiring decisions.
From a recruiter perspective, personal details almost never help. They either distract, create risk, or make the resume look outdated. The employer does not need to know your age to assess your stakeholder management skills. They do not need your marital status to evaluate your sales performance. They need evidence that you can do the job.
This is one of the most common traps.
In Australia, people often use “resume” and “CV” interchangeably. A recruiter may say “send me your CV” and simply mean your normal professional resume. In many Australian workplaces, CV does not automatically mean an academic document.
In the US, “resume” and “CV” usually mean different things. A US resume is the short, targeted document used for most job applications. A CV is usually a much longer academic, medical, scientific, research, or higher education document that may include publications, presentations, grants, teaching, research, and academic history.
This matters because an Australian candidate applying to US roles may think, “They asked for a resume, but my CV should be fine.”
It may not be fine.
If you send an Australian-style CV to a US employer, it can look too long, too descriptive, too unfocused, or simply mismatched to the market. The recruiter may not think, “This person is from Australia, so the format differs.” They may think, “This candidate has not tailored their application.”
That sounds harsh, but it is how screening often works. Recruiters do not always have time to decode intent. They judge the document in front of them.
Resume formatting is not about making the document pretty. It is about reducing friction.
Both Australian and US resumes should be clean, readable, ATS-friendly, and easy to scan. But US resumes usually need to be more restrained, especially for corporate, technical, finance, legal, operations, sales, and professional roles.
A strong format for both markets usually includes:
Clear section headings
Reverse chronological order
Consistent dates
Simple fonts
Enough white space
No heavy graphics
No text boxes that confuse parsing
No complex tables unless you know they parse cleanly
Standard file format, usually PDF unless the employer requests Word
Clear job titles, company names, and locations
The difference is in how much design personality the market tolerates.
Australian resumes can sometimes get away with a slightly more spacious layout, especially when the industry allows it. But even then, I would not recommend over-designed templates. They often look impressive to the candidate and annoying to the recruiter.
US resumes tend to reward a more conservative format. Not boring. Just clean. The US market is extremely used to fast-scanning resumes with clear bullet points, tight summaries, and direct evidence.
A good resume design does not shout. It gets out of the way.
Australian resumes often include more role context. US resumes usually demand more impact.
That does not mean Australian resumes should be vague. It means the balance is different.
An Australian resume may include a few lines describing the company, team, reporting line, client base, territory, project type, or operational environment. This can help when job titles are broad or when the organisation is not widely known.
For example:
Good Example
Reported to the Head of Operations and managed workforce planning, rostering, and performance reporting across a 180-person multi-site hospitality group.
That context helps. It shows scale, function, reporting line, and environment.
A US resume may still include context, but it should quickly move into outcomes.
Good Example
Managed workforce planning across 180 employees in a multi-site hospitality group, reducing overtime costs by 19% while improving roster coverage during peak trading periods.
That version turns context into performance evidence.
The mistake candidates make is assuming responsibilities are enough. They are not. Responsibilities tell me what you were meant to do. Achievements tell me whether you did it well.
Recruiters and hiring managers do not only ask, “What did this person do?”
They ask:
How well did they do it?
At what scale?
In what environment?
With what complexity?
Compared with what expectation?
What changed because they were there?
That is the real resume question.
The biggest weakness I see in both Australian and US resumes is achievement writing.
Candidates often write resumes like job descriptions. They list duties, tasks, and responsibilities, then wonder why they do not stand out. The problem is not that the experience is weak. It is that the evidence is hidden.
A responsibility says:
Weak Example
Responsible for managing supplier relationships.
An achievement says:
Good Example
Renegotiated supplier agreements across three categories, reducing annual procurement costs by 14% while maintaining service-level standards.
The difference is not just wording. The second version gives the hiring manager a reason to care.
Strong achievements usually include:
What you improved
What you reduced
What you increased
What you built
What you led
What changed because of your work
The scale of responsibility
The commercial, operational, customer, people, compliance, technical, or strategic result
For Australian resumes, achievements should support the broader context of your role. For US resumes, achievements should do more of the heavy lifting because the document is shorter.
A practical way to write stronger bullet points is to use this structure:
Action + Scope + Result + Method
For example:
Good Example
Improved monthly reporting accuracy by redesigning data validation checks across Salesforce and Excel, reducing manual corrections from four hours to under one hour per cycle.
This works because it tells the reader what changed, how it changed, and why it mattered.
Not every achievement needs a number. Some roles do not produce neat metrics. But every strong bullet should show value.
If you cannot measure it, show the practical impact:
Improved handover quality
Reduced rework
Increased stakeholder confidence
Shortened approval time
Improved compliance readiness
Resolved recurring customer complaints
Built a process that others adopted
Trained new staff to reduce dependency on one person
Hiring managers are not obsessed with numbers for the sake of numbers. They are looking for evidence that you know how to create value in the role.
Candidates talk about applicant tracking systems as if they are mysterious robots sitting in judgement with tiny clipboards. The reality is less dramatic and more annoying.
An ATS is mainly used to store, manage, filter, search, and track applications. Some systems parse resumes badly. Some recruiters use keyword searches. Some employers rely heavily on system screening. Others barely use it beyond application storage.
The practical advice is the same for Australian and US resumes:
Use standard job titles where possible
Include keywords from the job ad naturally
Avoid graphics-heavy templates
Use clear section headings
Spell out acronyms at least once
Match your skills language to the role
Avoid hiding important information in headers, footers, images, or text boxes
Save the file in the requested format
The difference is that US resumes often need tighter keyword alignment because the market is larger, more competitive, and more used to fast filtering. But keyword stuffing is still a mistake.
If a job ad says “account management,” “pipeline development,” “Salesforce,” and “enterprise clients,” your resume should reflect those terms if they honestly match your experience. Do not write “client happiness ninja with CRM magic.” Nobody is searching for that, and frankly, nobody should be.
The ATS is not the only audience. Your resume has to pass the system and make sense to a human. Optimising for one while irritating the other is not strategy. It is self-sabotage with formatting.
If you are converting an Australian resume for US applications, do not just shorten it randomly. Cut and reshape it strategically.
Start by removing personal details that do not belong on a US resume. That means no photo, date of birth, marital status, full address, or unrelated personal information.
Then compress the summary. A US resume summary should be direct and role-specific. Avoid broad statements like “hardworking professional with excellent communication skills.” That tells the recruiter nothing useful.
Weak Example
I am a motivated and hardworking operations professional with excellent communication skills and a passion for achieving results.
Good Example
Operations Manager with eight years’ experience leading workforce planning, process improvement, vendor management, and multi-site service delivery across fast-paced hospitality and retail environments.
Next, reduce role descriptions. US resumes do not need long explanations under every job. Keep only the context that proves relevance.
Then rebuild the bullet points around results. For each role, ask:
What did I improve?
What did I save?
What did I grow?
What did I lead?
What problems did I solve?
What scale did I operate at?
What tools, systems, or methods matter for the target role?
Finally, adjust language. Use US spelling where appropriate. Change “referees” to “references,” but do not include references on the resume. Be careful with Australian terms that may not translate clearly.
For example:
“CBD” may not mean much to a US reader unless context is obvious
“Casual staff” may need clearer wording such as “hourly staff” or “part-time employees”
“Rostering” may be better translated as “scheduling” for US roles
“Turnover” may mean revenue in some contexts and employee attrition in others, so be specific
Australian company names may need a short descriptor if the employer is not known in the US
This is not dumbing down your experience. It is reducing translation friction.
The recruiter should not have to pause and wonder what your job title, employer, or terminology means. Every moment of confusion weakens the application.
If you are converting a US resume for Australian job applications, your main task is usually adding enough context without bloating the document.
Australian employers may want a clearer picture of:
Your role scope
Team size
Reporting line
Type of organisation
Industry or client base
Relevant systems and tools
Responsibilities that match the position description
Achievements that prove performance
Work rights if relevant
Local licences, certifications, or equivalent qualifications
A US resume that is too brief can feel thin in the Australian market, especially for mid-level, senior, government, healthcare, education, engineering, project, or technical roles.
This is where candidates can get caught. They think, “My US resume is concise and modern.” But an Australian recruiter may read it and think, “I cannot tell what this person actually owned.”
That does not mean you should write paragraphs of fluff. Add targeted context.
For example:
Weak Example
Led HR operations and supported employee relations.
Good Example
Led HR operations for a 320-employee national retail business, advising store managers on employee relations, performance management, onboarding, compliance, and workforce planning.
That one sentence gives the Australian reader a much clearer picture of scope and relevance.
If you are applying for Australian government roles, read the application instructions carefully. Government hiring may ask for specific responses, selection criteria, a pitch, or a longer CV. Do not assume a private-sector resume format is enough.
Australian applications can be more instruction-sensitive than candidates expect. If the employer asks for a two-page statement addressing selection criteria, they usually mean it. Sending only a resume and hoping they connect the dots is not a bold move. It is making the panel do unpaid detective work.
Recruiters notice patterns quickly. When a resume is written for the wrong market, it usually shows.
An Australian resume sent to a US employer may look:
Too long
Too descriptive
Too responsibility-heavy
Too light on measurable outcomes
Too personal if it includes unnecessary details
Too broad if it is not tightly matched to the role
A US resume sent to an Australian employer may look:
Too brief
Too sales-driven
Too compressed
Too light on context
Too unclear about scope
Too thin for senior or complex roles
Neither version is automatically better. They are built for different screening cultures.
This is where I want candidates to stop thinking in terms of “good resume” versus “bad resume.” A resume can be good in one market and ineffective in another.
The question is:
Does this document help this specific employer make a confident hiring decision?
That is the whole game.
Recruiters are not reading resumes like literature. They are screening for match, risk, evidence, clarity, and interview potential.
They are looking for reasons to continue, but they are also noticing reasons to hesitate.
Common hesitation triggers include:
Unclear job titles
Missing dates
Vague responsibilities
No evidence of outcomes
Overly designed formatting
Too much personal information
Too much unexplained jargon
Career gaps with no context where context is needed
International experience that is not translated for the local market
The strongest international resumes reduce doubt. They explain just enough, prove enough, and make relevance obvious.
The biggest mistake is creating a hybrid resume that satisfies nobody.
This happens when a candidate takes an Australian resume, cuts a few lines, changes spelling, removes the address, and assumes it is now US-ready. Or they take a US resume, add one extra page of responsibilities, and assume it is now Australian.
That is not localisation. That is document recycling with optimism.
Common mistakes include:
Using the same resume for both markets
Including a photo for US applications
Adding date of birth, marital status, or personal details
Writing long responsibility lists without achievements
Making the US resume too long
Making the Australian resume too thin
Assuming “CV” means the same thing everywhere
Keeping Australian terms that US readers may not understand
Keeping US terminology that Australian readers may misread
Ignoring government or industry-specific instructions
Using decorative templates that reduce ATS readability
Forgetting to show work rights or visa status when relevant
Listing references too early
Making senior experience sound junior by hiding scale and decision-making
One subtle mistake is failing to explain employer context.
If you worked for a well-known Australian company, a US hiring manager may not know the company. If you worked for a US organisation, an Australian recruiter may not understand the scale or market position. Add a short descriptor when it helps.
For example:
Good Example
Woolworths Group, one of Australia’s largest supermarket and retail groups
Or:
Good Example
Regional healthcare provider operating six outpatient clinics across Texas
This is not filler. It helps the reader understand the environment you worked in.
Another mistake is assuming confidence equals exaggeration. It does not. Strong resumes are specific, not inflated. “Strategic leader driving transformational excellence” is not impressive if the bullet points underneath say you updated spreadsheets and attended meetings. Say what you actually did, but say it properly.
Here is the practical comparison I would use when deciding how to adapt your document.
| Resume Element | Australian Resume | US Resume |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ |
| Common length | Usually two to three pages for experienced professionals | Usually one page, two if experience justifies it |
| Main focus | Context, scope, relevance, achievements | Impact, results, keywords, fast relevance |
| Personal details | Minimal professional details only | Very minimal, no protected personal details |
| Photo | Not recommended | Do not include |
| Address | City and state is usually enough | City and state is usually enough |
| CV vs resume | Often used interchangeably | Usually different documents |
| References | Usually not included unless requested | Not included |
| Tone | Professional, clear, context-aware | Concise, results-focused, direct |
| Role descriptions | Can include useful scope and responsibility context | Should be tight and impact-led |
| Government applications | May require selection criteria or specific formats | Federal resumes have separate requirements |
| ATS focus | Important, especially in larger organisations | Very important due high-volume screening |
| Best strategy | Show fit, scope, and evidence clearly | Show impact and match quickly |
The best resume is not the most detailed or the shortest. It is the one that removes doubt fastest for the market you are targeting.
Before you apply, ask yourself five questions.
Do not format your resume based only on where you are from. Format it based on where the employer is hiring and what hiring norms they expect.
If the role is based in Australia, use Australian resume expectations. If the role is based in the US, use US resume expectations. If it is a global remote role, check the employer’s location, job ad style, and application instructions.
Some job ads specify page limits, selection criteria, portfolio requirements, work authorisation details, or file types. Follow the instructions.
This sounds obvious, but recruiters reject plenty of candidates who ignore basic application requirements. Not because recruiters are cruel villains in cardigans, but because instructions are part of the assessment. If you ignore them before being hired, the employer wonders what you will ignore after being hired.
If your experience is local and obvious to the employer, you may need less context. If your experience is international, technical, niche, or from unfamiliar companies, give enough explanation to prevent confusion.
Context is not the enemy. Irrelevant context is.
For every major role, include evidence of value. That may be revenue, savings, efficiency, quality, compliance, customer outcomes, project delivery, stakeholder impact, team performance, or process improvement.
If your resume only lists tasks, it forces the hiring manager to guess whether you were any good. Do not make them guess.
Recruiters often make an initial judgement quickly. That does not mean they make the final decision in 20 seconds, but the first scan matters.
Your resume should make the following obvious:
Target role
Relevant experience
Level of seniority
Recent work history
Key skills
Evidence of performance
Location or work rights where relevant
Fit for the role
If those things are buried, your resume is working against you.
The real difference between an Australian resume and a US resume is hiring logic.
An Australian resume usually gives more room for context. A US resume usually demands faster proof. Australian employers may want to understand the shape of your experience. US employers often want the strongest evidence with the least friction.
Neither approach is superior. They are different filters.
So do not simply translate spelling, change the page length, or swap “referees” for “references.” Translate the hiring logic.
For an Australian resume, make sure the employer can understand:
What you did
Where you did it
The scope of your responsibility
How your experience matches the role
What outcomes you delivered
For a US resume, make sure the employer can quickly see:
Why you match the role
What measurable results you delivered
Which keywords and capabilities align
Why your experience is relevant now
Why you are worth interviewing
A strong resume does not make the recruiter work hard. It guides their judgement.
That is the part many candidates miss. Your resume is not just a record of your career. It is a decision-making tool for someone who is busy, cautious, and comparing you against other people.
Make the decision easier.
Written by Simar Malhi, a recruiter and headhunter with international recruitment experience. I write about CVs, job applications, hiring decisions, and the reality behind recruitment processes. My goal is to help candidates understand more honestly how employers, recruiters, and hiring managers actually select candidates.
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