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Create ResumeThe personal details section of an Australian resume should be simple: your full name, mobile number, professional email address, city and state, LinkedIn profile if useful, and a portfolio or website if relevant to the role. You do not need to include your date of birth, full home address, marital status, nationality, religion, gender, photo, health information, or family details.
That is the practical answer. But the bigger issue is this: personal details can either help a recruiter contact you quickly or quietly distract from your suitability. In the Australian job market, less is usually better. Your resume is not a personal biography. It is a hiring document. Every detail at the top should help the employer understand who you are professionally, where you are based, and how to reach you.
For most Australian resumes, your personal details should sit at the top of the first page and include only the information a recruiter or hiring manager needs to identify and contact you.
A clean Australian resume header usually includes:
Full name
Mobile number
Professional email address
City and state
LinkedIn profile
Portfolio, website, or GitHub if relevant
Work rights or visa status only when it helps your application
That is enough for most roles.
Your personal details should be easy to find, but they should not take over the page. I see resumes where the header uses a huge amount of space, then the actual experience starts halfway down the page. That is a waste of prime resume real estate.
A strong Australian resume header can look like this:
Good Example
Amelia Nguyen
Melbourne, VIC | 04XX XXX XXX | amelia.nguyen@email.com
linkedin.com/in/amelia-nguyen | portfolio link if relevant
This works because it is clean, modern, and practical. A recruiter can scan it in seconds. An applicant tracking system can read it. The hiring manager does not need to hunt for basic contact information.
Weak Example
Amelia Nguyen
Date of birth: 14 March 1992
Marital status: Single
Nationality: Vietnamese Australian
Full address: Unit number, street name, suburb, postcode
Driver licence number
Passport number
Personal photo attached
This creates unnecessary risk and distraction. None of that information helps me assess whether Amelia can do the job. Some of it may also introduce bias, privacy issues, or irrelevant assumptions.
A resume header should be boring in the best possible way. Clear. Professional. Easy to use. No circus lights required.
I know candidates often feel tempted to add more because they think a resume should look “complete”. But recruiters are not looking for a complete personal profile. We are looking for relevance, clarity, and contactability.
Your resume header should answer three basic questions quickly:
Who are you?
Where are you based?
How can we contact you?
That is it. Anything beyond that needs to earn its place.
No, you usually do not need to include your full home address on an Australian resume.
In most cases, your city and state are enough:
Sydney, NSW
Brisbane, QLD
Perth, WA
Adelaide, SA
Canberra, ACT
Hobart, TAS
Darwin, NT
Melbourne, VIC
Recruiters generally want to know whether your location makes sense for the role. They do not need your unit number, street name, or exact suburb unless there is a specific operational reason.
This is where candidates sometimes misunderstand recruiter behaviour. If a job is based in Melbourne and your resume says “Melbourne, VIC”, that usually answers the location question. If your resume lists a suburb on the opposite side of the city, some employers may start making assumptions about commute, reliability, or flexibility before they have even spoken to you.
Is that fair? Not always. Does it happen? Yes.
For remote or hybrid roles, location still matters because Australian employers may have state based payroll, tax, office attendance, client coverage, or time zone requirements. So do not remove location entirely unless you have a strategic reason. Just keep it broad.
No. Do not include your date of birth or age on an Australian resume.
Your age is not part of your suitability for the role. The employer needs to assess your skills, experience, qualifications, achievements, and fit for the job requirements. Adding your date of birth gives the reader information they do not need and should not use when making a hiring decision.
I have seen younger candidates include age because they think it shows energy. I have seen older candidates include age because they think it shows maturity. Both are usually unnecessary.
Here is the uncomfortable truth: when you give employers irrelevant personal information, you cannot control what they do with it mentally. Most recruiters are trained not to use age as a decision factor, but unconscious assumptions still exist. Some hiring managers see age and start building a story. Too young. Too senior. Too expensive. Might not stay. Might not adapt. Might want flexibility. Might not like reporting to someone younger.
That entire little drama can start before anyone has read your achievements properly.
Leave age off the resume. Let your experience speak.
No. In Australia, you should usually avoid adding a photo to your resume unless you are applying for a role where appearance is directly relevant and specifically requested, such as certain modelling, acting, media, or performance roles.
For normal corporate, professional, trade, government, healthcare, education, technology, finance, administration, retail, and operational roles, a resume photo is unnecessary.
This is one of the biggest differences I see with candidates moving to Australia from countries where CV photos are common. In some markets, a photo is expected. In Australia, it often looks out of place.
A photo can also create bias risk. It introduces assumptions about age, race, gender, appearance, style, and background. Good recruiters do not need that information to assess your suitability. Hiring managers do not need it either.
A polished LinkedIn profile photo is fine if you include your LinkedIn link. But your resume itself should focus on professional evidence, not appearance.
No. These details should not be included on an Australian resume.
You do not need to list:
Nationality
Ethnicity
Religion
Marital status
Sexual orientation
Family status
Political views
Cultural background
None of these details should be used to decide whether you can perform the role.
The only time nationality or citizenship related information may become relevant is when it connects directly to work rights, security clearance, government requirements, defence roles, or legal eligibility to work in Australia. Even then, you do not need to write a personal life story. Keep it factual and job related.
For example:
Good Example
Full working rights in Australia
Australian citizen eligible for baseline security clearance
Permanent resident with unrestricted work rights
Weak Example
Married with two children
Born in India, now living in Australia
Christian
Australian by marriage
The weak examples invite irrelevant interpretation. The good examples answer practical hiring questions.
Sometimes, yes.
Work rights can be useful on an Australian resume if they remove doubt for the employer. This is especially true if you are an international candidate, recent migrant, temporary visa holder, permanent resident, or applying from outside Australia.
Australian employers often worry about work rights because sponsorship, visa limitations, start dates, and role eligibility can affect hiring decisions. Some employers are open to sponsorship. Many are not. Some roles require unrestricted work rights. Some require citizenship. Some require security clearance. Some casual or contract roles need immediate availability.
If your work rights are strong, clear, and relevant, include them briefly.
Good Example
Full working rights in Australia
Australian permanent resident
Australian citizen
Temporary graduate visa with full time work rights until 2028
Eligible to work in Australia without sponsorship
If you require sponsorship, be careful but honest. Do not hide it until the final stage. That wastes your time and the employer’s time. But also do not overexplain it in the header if it weakens your positioning too early.
A practical approach is to include a short line when it helps:
Seeking employer sponsorship for long term opportunities in Australia
The key is clarity. Recruiters do not enjoy playing visa detective at 9:17 pm with thirty seven tabs open.
Yes, include your LinkedIn profile if it is current, professional, and aligned with your resume.
LinkedIn is commonly used in Australian recruitment. Recruiters often check it to confirm your career history, understand your professional positioning, view recommendations, assess communication style, and see whether your profile supports the story your resume is telling.
But do not include LinkedIn if your profile is half empty, outdated, or contradicts your resume.
This happens more often than candidates realise. A resume says “Senior Project Manager”, LinkedIn says “Project Coordinator”. Resume says “currently employed”, LinkedIn says the role ended nine months ago. Resume says “Melbourne”, LinkedIn says “Dubai”. None of these are automatically fatal, but they create doubt.
Recruiters do not need perfection. We do need consistency.
Before adding your LinkedIn link, check:
Your job titles broadly match your resume
Dates are not wildly inconsistent
Your location makes sense
Your headline supports your target role
Your profile photo is professional
Your About section is not generic fluff
Your most relevant skills are visible
Use a clean custom LinkedIn URL if possible. It looks more professional than a long messy link with random numbers.
Yes, if it helps prove your work.
A portfolio or website is useful when employers need to see evidence of your output. This is common in design, marketing, writing, content, architecture, UX, software development, data, product, photography, communications, and creative roles.
A GitHub link can help for technical roles, but only if the projects are relevant and reasonably presentable. A messy, abandoned GitHub with unclear projects may not help much. The same applies to portfolios. A link is only valuable if the destination strengthens your application.
Include:
Portfolio for creative, content, design, UX, or marketing roles
GitHub for software, engineering, data, or technical roles
Personal website for consulting, writing, speaking, research, or specialist work
Published work links for journalism, policy, academia, or communications roles
Do not include personal social media unless it is professionally relevant. Your Instagram baking page may be lovely. It does not need to sit on an accounting resume unless you are applying to manage social content for a bakery.
Only include a driver licence if it is relevant to the role.
For many office based roles, your driver licence does not matter. For field sales, community services, trades, logistics, transport, construction, healthcare outreach, real estate, regional roles, and jobs requiring travel between sites, it can be useful.
If the job ad mentions a licence requirement, include it clearly.
Good Example
Current Australian driver licence
Full NSW driver licence and own vehicle
HR licence with clean driving record
Do not include your licence number. The employer does not need it at resume stage. They may verify licence details later if required.
This is a good rule for personal details generally: give the employer the category of information they need, not the private identifier they do not.
Availability can be useful when it directly affects hiring.
For example, include it if:
You are available immediately
You are applying for casual or shift based work
You are relocating soon
You are on a fixed contract ending soon
The job ad asks for availability
You can only work certain days or hours
Good Example
Available immediately
Available from 15 July 2026
Available for Monday to Friday shifts
Relocating to Brisbane in August 2026
For professional permanent roles, I would not always put availability in the resume header unless it is a selling point. If you are currently employed and have a four week notice period, that can usually be discussed later.
Do not clutter the top of your resume with scheduling details unless they help the employer make a faster decision.
Leave off anything that does not help assess your ability to do the job or contact you professionally.
In Australia, I would usually remove:
Date of birth
Age
Full home address
Photo
Marital status
Number of children
Religion
Nationality unless directly relevant to work rights
Ethnicity
Gender
Health details
Disability information unless you choose to disclose for adjustments
Passport number
Tax file number
Medicare number
Driver licence number
Personal social media
Salary expectations unless requested
References and referee contact details
Some of these details are private. Some are irrelevant. Some create bias risk. Some simply waste space.
The resume should not give strangers more personal information than they need. Remember, your resume may pass through job boards, applicant tracking systems, recruitment agencies, internal HR teams, hiring managers, panel members, and shared folders. Treat it like a professional document, not a personal identity file.
Recruiters want to reduce friction. A strong resume makes the next step obvious.
When I review a resume, the personal details section is not where I want surprises. I want to see a clean header, then move quickly into the candidate’s professional value.
Too much personal information can create four problems.
First, it can distract from the actual hiring case. If the top of your resume is packed with personal details, the reader may spend mental energy on irrelevant information before they understand your capability.
Second, it can create bias risk. Even when recruiters are careful, extra personal details can introduce assumptions that should not be part of the process.
Third, it can make the resume feel outdated. Australian resume norms have shifted. Long personal information blocks can make a candidate look like they are using an old CV format from another market or another decade.
Fourth, it can weaken your positioning. Professional candidates know what is relevant. A focused resume signals judgement.
That last point matters more than people think. A resume is not just a record of your history. It is also a sample of your communication. If you cannot decide what belongs in the first ten lines, the reader may wonder how clearly you communicate in the role.
Here is how recruiters usually interpret the main personal details on an Australian resume.
Your name identifies you. Keep it clear and professional. Use the name you use professionally. If you have a preferred name, you can include it naturally.
Your phone number tells us how quickly we can reach you. Use a mobile number you actually answer. If you are applying in Australia from overseas, include your country code.
Your email address is basic credibility. A strange, outdated, or overly personal email address can create a poor impression. Use a simple format based on your name.
Your location helps us understand whether the role is realistic. City and state are usually enough.
Your LinkedIn profile helps us validate and expand your professional story. It should not contradict the resume.
Your portfolio or website gives evidence of output. It should be relevant and easy to navigate.
Your work rights reduce hiring uncertainty. Include them when they help answer a likely employer concern.
Everything else needs to fight for its place. Most personal details lose that fight.
The biggest mistake is treating the resume like an official government form. It is not. You do not need to disclose everything about yourself.
Another common mistake is copying resume norms from another country without adapting them to Australia. This is especially common with CVs from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Africa where photos, nationality, date of birth, or marital status may be more common. In Australia, those details can feel unnecessary or inappropriate.
Candidates also overcorrect in the other direction and remove location entirely. That can be a problem if the employer needs someone in a specific city, state, region, or time zone. You do not need your full address, but you usually do need a broad location.
Another mistake is using an unprofessional email address. This sounds basic, but I still see it. Your email address does not need to be impressive. It just needs not to raise eyebrows.
I also see candidates include personal details because they think it makes them more relatable. For example, “married father of three” or “proud mum returning to work”. I understand the intention, especially when someone wants to explain a career break or show stability. But your resume is not the best place for that framing. Keep the document focused on professional relevance. If context is needed, handle it strategically in the cover letter or interview.
Employers often say they want to “get to know the person”. Candidates sometimes interpret that as an invitation to add personal information to the resume.
That is not usually what employers mean.
When a hiring manager says they want to know the person, they usually mean:
How does this person think?
How do they communicate?
What kind of work have they done?
Can they solve our problem?
Will they fit the team and environment?
Are they reliable, motivated, and realistic?
They do not usually need your date of birth, marital status, religion, exact address, or family structure to answer those questions.
The professional version of personality comes through in your resume summary, achievements, career choices, language, and examples. Not through private personal data.
This is where candidates can be more strategic. Do not try to make your resume human by adding irrelevant personal facts. Make it human by writing clearly, showing judgement, and explaining your value without sounding like a template.
Use this checklist before sending your resume for an Australian job application.
Include these details:
Full name
Mobile number
Professional email
City and state
LinkedIn profile if strong and relevant
Portfolio, website, or GitHub if relevant
Work rights if they remove doubt
Driver licence only if relevant
Availability only if useful
Remove these details:
Date of birth
Age
Photo
Full street address
Marital status
Children or family details
Religion
Ethnicity
Gender
Health information
Then ask yourself one simple question: does this detail help someone assess or contact me for this role?
If the answer is no, remove it.
Here are a few practical examples based on different candidate situations.
Example: Office Based Professional
Daniel Harris
Sydney, NSW | 04XX XXX XXX | daniel.harris@email.com
linkedin.com/in/danielharris
This is clean and appropriate for most corporate roles.
Example: International Candidate With Work Rights
Priya Shah
Melbourne, VIC | 04XX XXX XXX | priya.shah@email.com
linkedin.com/in/priyashah
Full working rights in Australia
This helps remove a common employer question without overexplaining immigration history.
Example: Candidate Relocating Within Australia
James O’Connor
Relocating to Brisbane, QLD in August 2026 | 04XX XXX XXX | james.oconnor@email.com
linkedin.com/in/jamesoconnor
This is useful because it prevents the recruiter from assuming the candidate is applying from the wrong location by mistake.
Example: Creative Candidate
Sophie Martin
Melbourne, VIC | 04XX XXX XXX | sophie.martin@email.com
linkedin.com/in/sophiemartin | sophiemartinportfolio.com
For creative roles, the portfolio link matters because it gives hiring managers evidence of work quality.
Example: Field Role Requiring Travel
Liam Walker
Perth, WA | 04XX XXX XXX | liam.walker@email.com
Current WA driver licence | Available for regional travel
This includes extra personal detail only because it is job relevant.
Some personal information may be relevant later in the hiring process but still does not belong on the resume.
For example, disability, medical needs, pregnancy, caring responsibilities, or flexible work requirements may matter for practical planning. But you are not required to turn your resume into a disclosure document.
If you need adjustments for the recruitment process, you can raise them when appropriate. If you need flexible work, you can assess whether the role can support it and discuss it at the right stage. If you have work limitations that directly affect the role, be honest, but strategic.
The key is timing.
A resume is designed to get you considered. It should not answer every possible future question before the employer has even decided you are suitable.
This does not mean hiding important information. It means understanding the purpose of each stage. Resume first. Screening conversation next. Interview after that. Offer and checks later.
Candidates sometimes think “I should disclose everything upfront so nobody can say I hid it.” I understand that instinct. But oversharing too early can shift attention away from your capability before the employer has properly assessed it.
Be honest. Be professional. Be selective.
The best personal details section on an Australian resume does not try to impress anyone. It simply works.
It helps the recruiter contact you. It tells the employer where you are based. It points to relevant professional proof. It avoids private information that does not belong in the hiring decision.
That is the standard I would use.
A strong resume header should feel almost invisible. The reader should see it, understand it, and move straight into your professional value. If the personal details section becomes the most memorable part of your resume, something has probably gone wrong.
Keep it clean. Keep it relevant. Keep it Australian market appropriate.
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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