CV Format in India

Length and structure

• Two to three pages is accepted, and slightly longer than a UK CV is normal.
• Reverse chronological order is the standard for experienced candidates.
• For freshers, education comes first, followed by projects, internships and technical skills.
• A clear technical skills block is expected in engineering and IT roles.

Personal details: what is changing

Traditional Indian CVs often include date of birth, father's name, marital status, gender and sometimes a photograph. Many Indian employers still expect these; most multinational employers do not want them, and some will anonymise the application.

A reasonable rule: for Indian public sector, traditional corporates and many family businesses, include what the advert or application form asks for. For multinationals, technology companies and any international application, include only name, phone, email, city and a professional profile link.

Education and marks

Indian education is commonly reported as a percentage or CGPA, and both are understood domestically. For international applications, give the figure with its scale — "CGPA 8.4 / 10" or "First Class with Distinction (76%)" — because a bare number is not interpretable abroad.

Listing Class X and Class XII results is conventional in India and is worth including early in a career. It can be dropped once you have several years of work experience, and is generally unnecessary for international applications.

Name the university as well as the college, since the college alone is often not recognisable outside India.

Notice period and current CTC

Indian recruitment frequently asks for notice period and sometimes current compensation. Notice period is genuinely useful to state — it affects scheduling and is asked of everyone.

Current compensation is a different matter. It is commonly requested and increasingly resisted, and it is reasonable to leave it off the CV and discuss it in conversation. If an application form requires it, that is a different situation from volunteering it on the document.

Language and formatting

• Avoid the very formal register that appears on some traditional CVs. "I hereby declare that the above information is true" and a signature block are no longer expected by most employers.
• Keep a consistent date format throughout.
• Use a single column for anything going through an applicant tracking system, which most large Indian employers now use.
• State languages with a level rather than "known" — the CEFR scale reads well internationally.