The French CV: what really changes compared with your own résumé

A French CV is not a translated résumé. Article L1221-6 of the French Labour Code limits what a recruiter may ask to what has a direct and necessary link with the job, and article L1132-1 lists twenty-five prohibited grounds of discrimination. France's Défenseur des droits wrote in its June 2019 guide that requiring a photo on a CV "can only be exceptional".

What actually makes a French CV different?

Sending a translated version of your American résumé or your British CV produces a readable document that still feels off: too long, too personal, or organised around a logic French recruiters are not looking for.

Three features come back in the CVs that work in France. Restraint first: one page for a short career, two at most for a senior profile, with no compulsory photo and no private details. Reverse chronological order next, from the most recent job backwards, which will be familiar to you. And an explicit job title at the top of the page, naming the role you are applying for rather than the person applying.

France Travail, the national employment service, sums up the format in one line in its page updated on 18 September 2025: "Trop d'infos tuent l'info", too much information kills information. It also advises a precise, keyword-bearing title, "Technicien informatique" rather than "Technicien", because that line is the entry point for recruiters searching a database.

What can a recruiter legally ask you in France?

Article L1221-6 of the Labour Code states that information asked of a candidate "ne peuvent avoir comme finalité que d'apprécier sa capacité à occuper l'emploi proposé ou ses aptitudes professionnelles", may only serve to assess their ability to do the job, and that it must present a direct and necessary link with the job offered.

Article L1132-1 of the same code lists twenty-five grounds on which an application cannot be set aside, among them origin, age, family situation, state of health, place of residence and physical appearance. The Défenseur des droits, the national rights ombudsman, adds the grounds drawn from European and international texts and speaks of "plus de 25 critères de discrimination".

Two practical consequences. The photo is never routinely required: the guide "Pour un recrutement sans discrimination", published by the Défenseur des droits in June 2019, states that asking for a photo on a CV "can only be exceptional". And your data does not sit in a company file forever: the CNIL, the French data protection authority, wrote on 30 January 2023 that keeping a CV after an unsuccessful application "n'excède en principe pas deux ans", as a rule no more than two years from the last contact, and that a recruiter may ask for neither a social security number nor bank details at application stage.

Which sections go in, and in what order?

• Coordonnées: first name, surname, city, email, phone. A full postal address is no longer expected.
• Titre or accroche: the target job, optionally followed by two summary lines.
• Expérience professionnelle: job title, employer, city, dates, then two to four lines of duties.
• Formation: qualifications from the most recent backwards, with institution and year.
• Langues: your level on the Common European Framework scale, plus the diploma if you have one.
• Compétences and centres d'intérêt: tools, software, driving licence, volunteering.

Two Anglo-Saxon habits have no place here. "References available on request" is not used in France, and referees are contacted later, if at all. A long "Summary" or "Objective" paragraph is also unusual: two lines under the title are enough.

The Langues section deserves care. "Français courant" means nothing to a recruiter who has read it on ten CVs. Write "Français B2 (DELF B2, 2025)": the level is anchored, dated, and the diploma can be checked. Our online level test gives you a reference point before you commit it to paper.

What vocabulary should you use for your experience?

A French CV is written without "je". Two forms dominate, and you should stick to one. The nominal form, the most common: "Gestion d'un portefeuille de trente clients", "Encadrement d'une équipe de cinq personnes". The infinitive form, more dynamic: "Gérer un portefeuille de trente clients", "Encadrer une équipe de cinq personnes". English action verbs in the past tense, "Managed", "Led", "Delivered", have no direct French equivalent on a CV.

Months are written in lower case, and a period reads "de septembre 2023 à juin 2025". The usual verbs are concrete: encadrer, piloter, coordonner, mettre en place, assurer le suivi de. Finally, a foreign qualification is not translated word for word: give its original name, then an equivalence in years of study after secondary school, for instance "équivalent bac+5" for a five-year degree.

Which language slips give a translated CV away?

• Missing accents, including on capitals: "Ecole" for "École", "experience" for "expérience".
• False friends: "actuellement" means currently, not actually; "assister à une réunion" means to attend it; a "licence" is a three-year degree, not a permit; "formation" is education or training, not a formation.
• Invented job titles: translating your own title literally often produces a job that does not exist in France. Take the closest French title and put the original in brackets.
• The lettre de motivation treated as a CV summary. It exists to explain the link between your background and this particular job. Our article "How to write a professional email in French: the phrases and codes you need" covers the formulas expected in French professional writing.

What these rules do not tell you

The law describes what a recruiter may ask, not what actually happens: photos still circulate on CVs. The real argument is elsewhere. A photo adds information the recruiter is not allowed to use, so it cannot help you.

Formatting conventions are not rules either. The one-page CV is a habit, stricter in consulting than in research, where publications legitimately pile up. And everything above concerns France: Quebec, Belgium and Switzerland have their own habits and their own legal framework. Finally, a flawless CV does not make up for a level of French below what the job needs. If the interview is in French, the useful work is not on the document but on speaking.

At Frenchee, classes are live on video with qualified native teachers, one to one or in small groups of three to five students, with no subscription. Going through your CV, rehearsing the standard interview questions and building the vocabulary of your own sector are goals you can set from the first lesson.

Sources

• Code du travail numérique, French Ministry of Labour, articles L1221-6 and L1132-1
• Défenseur des droits, "Pour un recrutement sans discrimination", June 2019
• CNIL, "Recrutement et données personnelles dans les TPE/PME", 30 January 2023
• France Travail, "Comment rédiger un CV efficace et percutant", updated 18 September 2025