Should You Put Your Age on Your Resume in Australia?

8 min read

If you're updating your resume and wondering whether to include your age or date of birth, the short answer is:

Usually, no.

For most Australian job applications, your age doesn't need to appear on your resume.

Neither does your date of birth.

Your resume is there to show an employer your:

• skills

• experience

• qualifications

• achievements

• suitability for the job

Your birthday generally doesn't help them assess any of those things.

And if you're worried that leaving it off looks suspicious, it doesn't.

It's completely normal to keep unnecessary personal information off an Australian resume.

What personal details should you include?

Keep the top of your resume simple.

Generally, include:

• your full name

• mobile number

• professional email address

• LinkedIn profile, if relevant and current

You don't generally need to include:

• your age

• date of birth

• photograph

• marital status

• sex or gender

• full street address

The Australian Human Rights Commission specifically advises that these personal details don't need to be included on a resume.

That also gives you more room for information an employer actually needs.

If you're rebuilding the whole document, our How to Write a Resume in Australia: A Step-by-Step Guide walks through what belongs in each section.

Why leave your age off?

The simplest reason is:

It's usually not relevant to your ability to do the job.

Your resume should help an employer answer questions such as:

• Can this person do the work?

• Do they have relevant skills?

• What experience do they have?

• Do they meet the requirements?

• Are they worth interviewing?

Your exact age rarely helps answer those questions.

There is also a privacy consideration.

A resume can end up:

• uploaded to recruitment websites

• emailed to employers

• stored in recruitment systems

• shared internally

• viewed by recruiters

There's little benefit in distributing personal information that isn't needed.

Workforce Australia, for example, specifically tells job seekers not to include their date of birth or address in applications submitted through its platform.

But can't an employer work out my age anyway?

Sometimes, approximately.

Your employment history or education dates may give someone clues.

But that's different from placing:

Date of Birth: 14 August 1971

at the top of the document.

You don't need to make your age a feature of your application.

Your resume should direct attention towards your capability and relevance, not demographic information.

Should you remove all dates from your resume?

No.

Don't become so concerned about age that your resume starts looking like a witness-protection document.

Employment dates are useful.

They help an employer understand:

• how recently you held a role

• how long you worked there

• your career progression

• the context of your experience

Australian resume guidance generally recommends including employment dates.

So don't remove useful information purely to conceal your age.

Instead, ask whether each date is genuinely useful to the employer.

What about education dates?

This is a little more flexible.

If you completed a qualification recently, the date may be useful.

If you completed it many years ago, the qualification itself may matter more than exactly when you received it.

For example:

Bachelor of Business
Federation University Australia

may tell the employer everything they need to know.

In another application, the completion year may be useful or specifically requested.

There isn't one compulsory rule for every resume.

The important thing is that anything you include is accurate and relevant.

If the employer's application form asks for completion dates, provide them accurately.

What if I'm worried I'm too old to get hired?

This is a very real concern for some job seekers.

Age discrimination exists.

Older workers can encounter assumptions such as:

• they'll struggle with technology

• they're overqualified

• they'll expect too much money

• they won't stay long

• they won't adapt

• they'll struggle working with younger people

Those are assumptions.

They aren't evidence of what an individual person can or can't do.

Australian law provides protections against age discrimination in employment, including during recruitment.

But knowing discrimination is unlawful doesn't magically stop every person from carrying unconscious or conscious bias.

So your resume should do what it can to keep attention where it belongs:

on your relevance to the job.

That means showing:

• current skills

• relevant recent experience

• achievements

• current qualifications or licences

• recent professional development

• familiarity with relevant technology

• evidence you understand the role you're applying for

Don't write your resume defensively.

Give the employer useful evidence instead.

Should older workers leave early jobs off their resume?

Often, yes, if those jobs are no longer relevant.

But that's about relevance, not pretending you're younger.

If you've been working for 30 years, you probably don't need detailed descriptions of every role you've held across those 30 years.

Your resume is not your complete employment archive.

Focus primarily on:

• recent experience

• relevant experience

• transferable skills

• significant achievements

• experience that supports this particular application

An early job can still be included if it's genuinely useful.

But if you've spent 20 years in management, your casual retail job from 1989 probably doesn't need four bullet points describing how you operated the register.

If resume length is becoming an issue, see How Long Should a Resume Be in Australia?

What if I'm worried I'm too young?

Age concerns aren't limited to older workers.

Younger job seekers can also worry that employers will assume they are:

• inexperienced

• unreliable

• immature

• unlikely to stay

• unable to handle responsibility

Again, your age isn't the most useful response to that concern.

Evidence is.

If you're early in your career, your resume can show responsibility through:

• part-time work

• casual work

• volunteering

• school responsibilities

• sporting clubs

• community involvement

• work experience

• projects

• study

• extracurricular activities

You don't need ten years of employment history to demonstrate reliability, teamwork, communication or initiative.

Show where you've actually used those skills.

What if the job has a genuine age requirement?

There are some situations where age can legitimately matter because of legal requirements connected to the work.

For example, certain duties involving alcohol may legally require a worker to be above a particular age.

In those situations, the employer may need to confirm that you meet the relevant legal requirement.

That's different from an employer simply preferring someone younger or older.

If an application asks whether you meet a genuine legal requirement, answer accurately.

You still don't need to add your full date of birth to every resume you send for the rest of your working life.

What about putting a photo on your resume?

For most Australian job applications, you don't need one.

The Australian Human Rights Commission includes photographs among the personal information you don't need to place on your resume.

There may be unusual roles or industries where appearance is genuinely relevant to the work or where an employer specifically requests particular application material.

But for the ordinary Australian job seeker:

your resume doesn't need a headshot.

Save the space for your experience.

What about LinkedIn? My photo is there anyway

LinkedIn is different from your resume.

A professional LinkedIn profile commonly includes a profile photograph.

If you choose to link your LinkedIn profile from your resume, an employer may see that image.

That doesn't mean your photograph also needs to be embedded in the resume itself.

The two tools serve slightly different purposes.

Your resume should still be designed around your suitability for the specific job.

What if an online application asks for my date of birth?

First, check why it's being requested.

Some employers may legitimately collect certain information at different stages for:

• legal eligibility

• employment administration

• identity verification

• regulatory requirements

• workforce reporting

That doesn't necessarily mean the information belongs on your resume.

There's a difference between:

information an organisation may legitimately need during a recruitment or employment process

and:

information every employer needs before deciding whether to interview you.

Only provide sensitive personal information through legitimate application systems and when you understand why it's required.

Don't casually send documents containing unnecessary identifying information to unknown employers or questionable job advertisements.

Should you change your resume if you're returning to work later in life?

Possibly, but again the goal isn't to hide your age.

The goal is to make your resume current and relevant.

Focus on:

• what you can do now

• skills you've maintained

• skills you've refreshed

• recent learning

• previous experience that remains relevant

• what you're ready to contribute

If you've also spent time away from paid employment, our guide How to Write a Resume After a Career Break in Australia explains how to handle the gap without making it the centre of your application.

Should you hide that you're experienced?

No.

There is a difference between removing irrelevant old information and minimising valuable experience.

Experience can mean you've already learned how to:

• deal with difficult customers

• solve problems

• manage competing priorities

• communicate with different people

• work independently

• lead others

• make decisions

• understand workplace expectations

• adapt when things go wrong

Those capabilities have value.

Don't turn:

"I have 20 years of useful experience"

into:

"Please don't notice I've worked for 20 years."

Instead, curate that experience.

Keep what's relevant.

Remove what's distracting.

Show the employer what it means for their job.

What if I'm changing careers as well?

This is another situation where age can start occupying far too much mental space.

You may be thinking:

I'm 45. Is it too late?

or:

I'm 55. Who's going to hire me in a completely different field?

Your resume can't control another person's biases.

What it can do is clearly show how your existing experience connects to the new role.

That means focusing on:

• transferable skills

• relevant achievements

• recent learning

• genuine skill gaps you've addressed

• why your background makes sense for the position

Our How to Write a Career Change Resume in Australia guide goes through that process step by step.

What should you put on your resume instead of your age?

Use the space to tell the employer something useful.

Prioritise:

A clear professional summary

Explain your relevant background and what you offer.

Relevant skills

Match genuine skills to the requirements in the job advertisement.

Work experience

Focus on recent and relevant responsibilities and achievements.

Evidence

Show what you've actually done rather than relying on generic claims.

Qualifications and licences

Include those relevant to the role.

Recent learning

Particularly useful if you want to demonstrate that your knowledge and digital skills are current.

Relevant unpaid experience

Volunteering, projects and community involvement can all demonstrate useful capabilities.

Every section should help answer:

Why might this person be suitable for this job?

Your birthday doesn't usually help.

Before you send your resume

Do a quick personal-information check.

Ask:

• Is my name correct?

• Is my mobile number current?

• Is my email professional?

• Is my LinkedIn profile current if I've linked it?

• Have I removed personal information that isn't necessary?

• Is everything I've included relevant?

• Is the document tailored to the job?

• Is everything accurate?

Then move on to the things that actually matter.

Your experience.

Your skills.

Your suitability.

Your value.

Your age isn't your application

You don't need to apologise for being 19.

You don't need to disguise being 59.

Your age is one fact about you.

It isn't a summary of your capability.

For most Australian job applications, leave your age and date of birth off your resume and use that space to show an employer what you can actually bring to the role.

Before submitting your application, Elevana's free Resume Checklist can help you work through the final checks.

And if you're building or updating the whole document, Resume Ready takes you through the process step by step, from identifying your skills through to tailoring and final review.

Explore Resume Ready →