If you’re looking to land a job in France, then you need a French resume that stands out. There are different CV and resume conventions all around the world, so if you want to work in France, you need to know how things work here.
Luckily, this is our guide for how to write a French resume, with examples included to make life easier. Let’s dive in and find out more.
How to Structure a French Resume
One of the key things to know about writing a French resume is the correct way to structure it. At a glance, recruiters and hiring managers will know if you know the conventions of a French resume, or if you’re using your CV from overseas.
Critically, French resumes tend to be just one page, with six key sections:
- Personal Information (Informations Personnelles)
- Professional Objective (Projet Professionnel)
- Work Experience (Expérience Professionnelle)
- Education (Formation)
- Skills (Compétences)
- Interests (Centres d’intérêt)
It’s a lot to pack onto one page, so let’s see what should be in each section.
Personal Information (Informations Personnelles)
Unlike US resumes, French (and most European) resumes are not anonymized. You need to include your personal information at the top of your CV so that recruiters know how to contact you.
The things to include are:
- Your full name
- Your address
- Your phone number (with dialing code)
- Your email address
- Your nationality
You can also choose to add your date of birth and a headshot photo. These aren’t essential, but are commonplace on a French resume.
Professional Objective (Projet Professionnel)
Unlike other European CVs, French resumes have a small section to tell recruiters a bit about yourself. This should be predominantly about your career goals and aspirations, so make sure you tailor it to match the job you’re applying for.
Work Experience (Expérience Professionnelle)
Next comes the meat of your CV, which is your work experience. You need to list your jobs in reverse chronological order, so your most recent or current job is at the top.
For each example, include:
- You job title
- The company name with its location
- Dates of employment
- Any key responsibilities and achievements
It’s fairly standard to outline your responsibilities and achievements in bullet points to keep things concise. It makes it easy for the recruiter to skim as well, matching your experience and competencies to the job description.
As with any resume, focus on the achievement or outcome of each responsibility. Instead of saying you drove efficiency within the department, say that you streamlined processes in your department, leading to a 20% increase in productivity.
It focuses more on the concrete value you give to the company, rather than abstract concepts.
Education (Formation)
Much like with your work experience section, your education should be listed in reverse chronological order. It’s also worth mentioning the French equivalent for each degree or diploma if you got your certifications overseas.
Each entry should include:
- The title of your degree, with the grade achieved
- The name of the institution
- Dates of attendance
- Key achievements, modules, or projects that are relevant to the role
Again, keep it on task and relevant to the job at hand. If you have a Master’s, you don’t need to list all your SAT scores and credits. One page is not a lot of space!
Skills (Compétences)
Within the skills section of your French resume, you have three main subsections:
- Technical skills
- Soft skills
- Languages
The technical skills are the most important. Consider systems that you’ll be working with, any software you’re adept at using, physical or digital tools at your disposal, and any qualifications that match, like Google Analytics.
Soft skills are those transferable skills like people management, organizational skills, problem-solving, and so on. Some job descriptions will highlight or focus on particular soft skills, so make sure to mirror those words and phrases in your French resume.
The last section, languages, is key. As France is a part of the EU, there are applicants from all over the 27 member states who don’t need a visa to work in the country.
Of course, there are also applicants from further afield. As such, language proficiencies can be a deal-breaker. List all the languages you can speak and understand, with the level you know them to (i.e., B1, A2).
For developer vacancies, you can also list the coding languages you know at this point, or list them in technical skills.
Interests (Centres d’intérêt)
This is another section that doesn’t appear in a lot of European CVs, but does have a role in the standard French resume. In this section, you can share some of your hobbies and interests that may have relevance to the role.
For instance, if your role is about problem-solving under pressure, you can draw a parallel between that and a hobby like rock climbing. The recruiters want to see a glimpse into your personality, as well as your technical skills.
Tips for Formatting a French Resume
When formatting a French resume, there are a few things to remember.
- For the font, opt for either Arial or Times New Roman, in a size 11-12.
- Use headings for clear sectioning of your CV
- Save as a PDF to avoid any formatting errors when reopening
- Use bullet points instead of paragraphs to avoid text overload
While these are tips that work for a French resume, they also work for CVs across Europe. If you have trouble formatting your French resume, use Ausland’s CV builder instead.
It sorts all the formatting out for you, so you just have to focus on the content and making it shine!
Work on Your Writing
Formatting and structuring your French resume is key, but the content is king. You need to make sure that you hit every note on the job description and keep it concise at the same time. It’s a hard line to walk.
Here are some extra writing tips:
- Read any bullet points out loud. If you need to take a breath or stumble over the words, it’s either too long, too complicated, or both.
- Keep everything outcome-focused. Ask yourself, what do I want the recruiter to come away thinking with this point?
- If the job post is for a French-speaking role, your CV needs to be in French, and vice versa for an English-speaking role.
- Spellcheck everything. Get a friend to read it, if you can, as it’s harder to spot errors in our own work.
- Keep it professional. The recruiters want to know your personality, skillset, and goals, but this is not your Hinge profile. Use formal language and keep everything relevant to the role.
French resume example
So, with all of these formatting, structural, and writing tips in mind, let’s see what a French resume looks like in practice. Here, you get a visual of what your CV should look like and the clarity you need to land your dream job in France.
