How to Write a Resume in Australia: A Step-by-Step Guide

10 min read

Writing a resume can feel harder than it should.

You open a blank document, type your name at the top and then somehow you're expected to summarise years of work, skills and experience in a way that sounds professional, works with modern recruitment systems and convinces an employer to talk to you.

No pressure, then.

The good news is that a strong resume doesn't need fancy language or an elaborate design. It needs to make it easy for an employer to understand who you are, what you can do and why your experience might be relevant to the job.

This guide walks you through how to write a resume for the Australian job market, step by step.

Step 1: Start with the job, not your resume

Before changing a single word of your resume, read the job advertisement carefully.

Look for:

• the skills the employer repeatedly mentions

• required qualifications or licences

• specific software, systems or technical knowledge

• responsibilities that match things you've done before

• words used to describe the type of person they're looking for

• essential versus desirable requirements

These give you clues about what the employer considers important.

Australian employment guidance recommends tailoring your resume for each job and using relevant keywords from the job advertisement.

That doesn't mean copying entire sentences from the ad or cramming keywords into your resume everywhere they might possibly fit.

It means making sure that genuinely relevant experience isn't buried somewhere an employer may never find it.

Think of it this way:

You're not changing your experience to fit the job. You're deciding which parts of your real experience are most useful to show them.

Step 2: Add your contact details

At the top of your resume, include:

• your full name

• mobile number

• professional email address

• LinkedIn profile, if it's current and relevant

You don't need to include your full street address.

You also generally don't need personal information such as:

• your age or date of birth

• a photograph

• your sex or gender

• your marital status

There may occasionally be specific information requested as part of an employer's application process, but that doesn't mean it needs to live permanently on your resume.

Keep this section simple.

Its job is to make it easy for an employer to identify and contact you.

Step 3: Consider adding a short professional summary

A professional or career summary isn't compulsory, but it can be useful.

It sits near the top of your resume and gives the employer a quick snapshot of the experience and skills you bring.

Usually, a few sentences is enough.

Instead of writing something generic like:

"Hardworking and motivated individual seeking a challenging position where I can utilise my skills."

try to tell the employer something useful.

For example:

"Customer service professional with six years' experience across retail and administration. Experienced in handling customer enquiries, coordinating bookings and maintaining accurate records. Known for communicating clearly, staying organised and remaining calm in busy environments."

Notice that it doesn't claim the person is extraordinary.

It simply tells us what they've done and what they're good at.

That's considerably more useful.

Step 4: Identify your key skills

Your skills section should highlight capabilities relevant to the job.

Depending on your experience, these might include:

• customer service

• administration

• team leadership

• Microsoft 365

• Xero

• scheduling

• inventory management

• stakeholder communication

• cash handling

• project coordination

• conflict resolution

• data entry

• workplace safety

• specific machinery, systems or industry software

Avoid filling the section entirely with vague words such as:

"Hardworking. Friendly. Motivated. Reliable."

Those qualities aren't bad.

They're simply stronger when your experience demonstrates them.

If you say you're organised, where have you managed schedules, deadlines, appointments or competing priorities?

If you say you have strong communication skills, where have you dealt with customers, colleagues, stakeholders or difficult conversations?

Evidence is stronger than adjectives.

Step 5: Add your employment history

For most resumes, employment history should be listed in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent role.

For each position, include:

Job title
Employer
Dates employed

Then explain what you actually did.

This is where many resumes turn into little more than a list of duties.

Instead of only writing:

• Answered phones

• Served customers

• Processed invoices

give the employer enough context to understand the experience.

For example:

• Managed customer enquiries by phone and email, resolving routine issues and escalating complex matters when required.

• Processed supplier invoices and maintained accurate financial records using Xero.

• Supported customers in a busy retail environment, including sales, payments, returns and product enquiries.

You don't need to turn every ordinary responsibility into an earth-shattering corporate achievement.

Sometimes you simply need to explain your experience clearly.

Where you do have achievements, include them.

Perhaps you:

• trained new employees

• increased sales

• improved a process

• managed a large customer portfolio

• reduced errors

• introduced a new system

• consistently met targets

• took on additional responsibilities

Specific examples help an employer understand what you actually contributed.

Step 6: Include education, qualifications and licences

Include qualifications, education and licences that are relevant to your employment history or the jobs you're applying for.

Depending on your circumstances, this might include:

• university qualifications

• TAFE qualifications

• certificates

• apprenticeships

• industry accreditation

• licences

• tickets

• relevant professional development

List your most recent or relevant qualifications clearly.

For licences or certifications that expire, include current information and expiry dates where appropriate.

If you've been working for many years, you usually don't need extensive information about secondary school.

If you're younger or applying for your first job, school information may be considerably more relevant.

Your resume should reflect where you are in your career rather than blindly following a template designed for everybody.

Step 7: Don't forget experience that wasn't a paid job

Paid employment isn't the only place people develop useful skills.

You may also have relevant experience through:

• volunteering

• community involvement

• caring responsibilities

• sporting clubs

• committees

• freelance work

• running a small business

• personal projects

• study

• work experience

This can be particularly valuable if you're entering the workforce, returning after a career break or changing industries.

Ask yourself:

What did this experience require me to do that could also be useful in a workplace?

Perhaps you organised people.

Managed competing commitments.

Handled money.

Communicated with different groups.

Solved problems.

Used technology.

Planned events.

Kept records.

Worked as part of a team.

You may have more relevant experience than you initially think.

Step 8: Tailor your resume to the job

You don't necessarily need to completely rewrite your resume every time you apply for something.

You should, however, review and tailor it.

Go back to the job advertisement from Step 1.

Check whether the most relevant information is easy to find.

You might:

• change the order of your key skills

• adjust your professional summary

• emphasise particular responsibilities or achievements

• use relevant terminology from the advertisement

• remove information that isn't helping this particular application

Importantly, tailoring does not mean claiming experience you don't have.

Your resume should always accurately represent your experience and capabilities.

The goal is relevance, not invention.

Step 9: Think about your referees

You should have suitable referees ready in case an employer requests them.

A referee is usually someone who can genuinely comment on your work, reliability, skills or experience.

Depending on your circumstances, that could include a:

• current or previous supervisor

• manager

• work experience supervisor

• volunteer coordinator

• teacher

• coach

• community leader

Ask someone before naming them as a referee and make sure their contact information is current.

There isn't one universal approach to putting referee details directly on an Australian resume.

Some employers specifically request them as part of the application.

Others don't need them until later in the recruitment process.

Follow the instructions in the job advertisement or application process.

If they haven't asked for referee details, you can keep them ready to provide when requested rather than unnecessarily distributing somebody else's contact information with every application.

Step 10: Keep the formatting simple

Your resume needs to be easy to read.

And increasingly, it may be read or processed by an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) before, or alongside, a human recruiter.

Use:

• clear headings

• a readable font

• consistent formatting

• sensible spacing

• straightforward bullet points

• enough white space to make the document easy to scan

Be cautious about complicated or highly decorative templates unless the role genuinely calls for creative presentation.

Fancy graphics and elaborate design don't make your experience more relevant.

Your resume isn't being entered into a graphic design competition.

Its job is to help an employer understand whether you're worth talking to.

Step 11: Check it before you send it

Before submitting your resume, check:

Accuracy

Are your dates, job titles, qualifications, licences and contact details correct?

Spelling and grammar

Read it carefully rather than relying entirely on spellcheck.

If possible, ask someone else to check it too.

Relevance

Does the most important information for this particular job stand out?

Consistency

Are dates, headings, fonts and bullet points formatted consistently?

Application instructions

Has the employer asked for a particular file type, document name, selection criteria response, cover letter or other information?

Follow those instructions first.

File format

If a specific file type isn't requested, common resume formats include DOCX and PDF.

File name

Don't send:

Resume-final-FINAL-new2.pdf

Use something easy for the employer to identify, such as:

Firstname-Lastname-Resume.pdf

or, if you're keeping several tailored versions:

Firstname-Lastname-Resume-Administration.pdf

A tiny detail, admittedly.

But a useful one.

How long should an Australian resume be?

As a general guide, aim for about two pages.

That isn't an unbreakable law of Australian employment.

Someone applying for their first casual job may need less.

Someone with extensive technical, professional or senior experience may genuinely need more.

Rather than desperately shrinking the font because your resume has dared to reach page three, ask:

Is everything here helping the employer understand why I might be suitable for this job?

If not, some of it probably doesn't need to be there.

Relevance matters more than hitting a magical page count.

Can you use AI to help write your resume?

Yes.

AI tools are increasingly being used by jobseekers to help prepare and tailor applications.

The important part is how you use them.

AI can help you:

• identify transferable skills

• find clearer ways to describe responsibilities

• check spelling and grammar

• compare your resume with a job advertisement

• identify relevant keywords

• organise information

• brainstorm questions that help uncover experience you've forgotten about

• improve the structure or clarity of something you've already written

But AI doesn't automatically know your career.

And it can produce very polished statements that sound impressive while being generic, exaggerated or simply untrue.

If:

"I helped customers and sometimes showed new staff what to do"

suddenly becomes:

"Spearheaded comprehensive customer experience initiatives while leading high-performing cross-functional teams"

we've wandered somewhat enthusiastically away from reality.

Use AI to help communicate your actual experience, not manufacture a more impressive fictional version of yourself.

Read everything it produces.

Check the facts.

Change anything that doesn't sound like you.

And make sure you could comfortably explain and discuss every claim on your resume in an interview.

AI can help you write the document.

You're still the person applying for the job.

You don't need the perfect resume

Your resume doesn't need the cleverest wording.

It doesn't need to make you sound like a different person.

And you don't need to somehow squeeze your entire working life onto a couple of pages.

A good resume helps an employer quickly understand:

What have you done?

What can you do?

What's relevant to this job?

Start there.

Then improve it one section at a time.

Want some help building yours?

If you're staring at your resume and still wondering what belongs where, Elevana's Resume Ready course takes you through the process step by step.

Rather than simply giving you a template and leaving you to figure out what to write in it, you'll work through your experience, skills and achievements and build a resume that accurately represents what you have to offer.

Explore Resume Ready →