CV format for jobs in India: samples for freshers, experienced and academics

The correct CV format for most jobs in India is reverse-chronological: your most recent job or qualification comes first, in a single column with plain section headings. Recruiters read it top to bottom in under a minute, and job portals and company applicant tracking systems (ATS) read it the same way, so a predictable layout helps on both counts.

Indian employers, Naukri-style job portals and campus placement cells use “CV” and “résumé” for the same thing. If a job ad says “send your CV”, it wants a 1–2 page document like the samples below, not a 6-page life history. The long-form CV is only for academic and research jobs (covered further down).

For private-sector jobs in India, a CV and a résumé are the same document. A biodata is different: it adds personal details such as father's name, date of birth and a photo, and is still asked for by government offices, PSUs, schools and many traditional employers. An academic CV is a longer record of research and teaching.

Need the personal-details version? Use the biodata format for job (free Word and PDF files). For the full comparison, including how the US and UK use the words, read résumé vs CV.

A fresher's CV should be one page, with education and projects above skills, because those are your evidence. Include 10th and 12th marks only if the employer asks or you are applying through campus drives that filter on them (TCS, Infosys, Wipro-style mass hiring usually does). Replace a vague objective with one that names the role and one real skill.

FULL NAME
City, State | +91 [mobile] | [email] | linkedin.com/in/[yourname]

CAREER OBJECTIVE
[Degree] graduate ([year]) with [one concrete skill or project]. Looking for a [job title] role where I can [what you will do for the employer].

EDUCATION
[Degree, branch] | [College], [University] | [Start year]–[End year] | [CGPA or %]
Class XII ([stream]) | [School], [Board] | [Year] | [%]
Class X | [School], [Board] | [Year] | [%]

PROJECTS
[Project name] | [Tools used] | [Month Year]
- [What you built and why, in one line]
- [Result: what it did, how many users, what you measured]

INTERNSHIPS / TRAINING
[Role], [Organisation], [City] | [Month Year]–[Month Year]
- [Task you owned] → [what changed because of it]

SKILLS
Technical: [4–8 skills that appear in the job description]
Tools: [MS Excel, Tally, Python, Figma …]
Languages: English, Hindi, [others]

CERTIFICATIONS & ACHIEVEMENTS
- [Certificate name], [Issuer], [Year]
- [Rank, prize or position of responsibility], [Year]

For a full walkthrough with examples by branch, see how to make a résumé for freshers and the fresher résumé format.

Once you have two or more years of work, experience moves to the top and education shrinks to one line per degree. Drop 10th and 12th marks unless asked. Each role gets 3–5 bullet points that start with a verb and end with a result; older or unrelated jobs get one line or nothing.

FULL NAME
[Current job title] | City, State | +91 [mobile] | [email] | linkedin.com/in/[yourname]

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
[Job title] with [X] years in [industry/domain]. [Biggest relevant result, with a number]. Skilled in [3–4 skills from the job description]. Notice period: [X days].

WORK EXPERIENCE
[Job title] | [Company], [City] | [Month Year]–Present
- [Action verb] [what you did] → [measurable result]
- [Action verb] [what you did] → [measurable result]
- [Team size, budget or scope you handled]

[Job title] | [Company], [City] | [Month Year]–[Month Year]
- [Action verb] [what you did] → [measurable result]
- [Promotion, award or key project]

SKILLS
[Group 1]: [skills]
[Group 2]: [tools / software]

EDUCATION
[Degree], [College], [University] | [Year] | [CGPA or %]

CERTIFICATIONS
- [Certificate], [Issuer], [Year]

Mention your notice period and current location in the summary or header. Indian recruiters ask for both on the first call, so putting them on the CV saves a round. Leave current and expected CTC off the CV; give them when asked.

An academic CV is a complete record of your research and teaching, with no page limit. Use it for PhD admissions, JRF/SRF and project posts, postdocs, and assistant professor or lecturer applications. Universities and institutes often ask for it alongside their own application form, which may score publications and teaching experience separately, so list them in a way the committee can count.

• Order: Education → Research interests → Teaching/academic experience → Publications → Conferences → Grants and awards → Service → References.
• Publications: one consistent citation style (APA or IEEE), newest first, with DOIs. Separate peer-reviewed journals from conference papers and book chapters.
• Qualifying exams: NET, JRF, SET or GATE with year and score or rank, in the education section.
• References: 2–3 referees with designation and institutional email; your PhD supervisor usually comes first.

FULL NAME
[Designation], [Department], [Institution] | [email] | ORCID: [id] | Google Scholar: [link]

RESEARCH INTERESTS
[3–5 specific areas]

EDUCATION
Ph.D., [Subject], [University], [Year] — Thesis: "[title]", Supervisor: [name]
M.Sc./M.Tech, [Subject], [University], [Year] | [CGPA or %]
B.Sc./B.Tech, [Subject], [University], [Year] | [CGPA or %]
NET/JRF/GATE: [exam, year, rank or score, if applicable]

ACADEMIC & TEACHING EXPERIENCE
[Designation], [Institution] | [Month Year]–[Month Year]
- Courses taught: [course names, UG/PG]

PUBLICATIONS
Journal articles: [Authors], "[Title]," [Journal], [Vol(Issue)], [Pages], [Year]. [DOI]
Conference papers: [same citation style]
Book chapters / patents: [if any]

CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS & FDPs
- [Title of talk/poster], [Event], [City], [Year]

GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS & AWARDS
- [Name], [Funding body], [Amount if public], [Year]

ADMINISTRATIVE ROLES / SERVICE
- [Committee, reviewer, coordinator roles]

REFERENCES
[Name, designation, institution, email] × 2–3

For government jobs, follow the format in the notification first. Large exams (SSC, banking, railways) collect everything through an online form and don't want a CV at all. Where a CV or biodata is asked for, such as PSU, university, contract and project posts, it is a formal single-column document with father's name, date of birth, category, education with percentages, a photo and a signed declaration.

Use the sarkari CV format 2026 for the field-by-field layout, or download the ready sarkari biodata format in Word and PDF. Hindi readers can use the सरकारी नौकरी resume format guide.

Send a PDF by default. It looks the same on every phone and laptop, and the recruiter can't accidentally edit it. Send Word (.docx) only when the job ad or a consultant specifically asks for it, usually because they want to add their own logo or remove your phone number before forwarding.

• Make it text-based. Export from Word or Google Docs (File → Download → PDF). Don't scan a printout or save a photo as PDF; portals and ATS can't read the text in an image.
• Name the file properly: Firstname-Lastname-CV-JobTitle.pdf, not CV-final-2.pdf.
• Keep it small: under 1 MB. Some job portals cap uploads at 2 MB.
• Check the last page: a single line spilling onto page 2 looks careless. Tighten margins or a bullet instead.

Use one clean font at 10.5–12 pt, margins of 0.5–1 inch, and enough white space that each section is easy to find. Skip tables, text boxes, icons and two-column layouts if you'll upload the CV to portals; they often scramble when parsed.

For private-sector jobs, put only name, phone, email, city and LinkedIn. Date of birth, father's name, marital status, religion and a photo are not needed and take space your experience could use. Add them only when the employer, a government notification or a biodata format asks for them.

A declaration line (“I hereby declare that the information above is true…”) is expected on government and biodata formats. On a private-sector CV it is optional; many recruiters see it as a waste of a line.