Australian employers usually spend less than a minute on a CV, so keep yours short, clear and easy to scan. Two pages is plenty. For farm, hospitality and labouring jobs, one page is often better.
What to include
- Contact details: name, Australian mobile number, email and the town you are in now.
- Visa and availability: for example “Working Holiday visa (417), available immediately for 3 months”. Employers want to know this straight away.
- Short profile: two or three lines on who you are and the work you want.
- Work experience: most recent first. Job title, employer, town or country, dates and two or three things you did.
- Skills and tickets: RSA, White Card, forklift licence, driver licence, first aid, barista, languages.
- References: one or two people who can vouch for you, or “available on request”.
What to leave out
- Date of birth, marital status, religion and a photo. These are not expected in Australia.
- Your passport number or Tax File Number. Never put these on a CV.
- Long paragraphs. Use short bullet points.
Tips for working holiday makers
- Make a version for each type of work (farm, hospitality, construction) and lead with the most relevant experience.
- Hands-on work from home counts: bar work, retail, gardening, helping on a family farm.
- Save it as a PDF named with your name, for example Anna-Schmidt-CV.pdf.
- Check spelling, and use Australian English (for example “organise”, not “organize”).
Post your CV on TAW so employers can find you.