CV format for jobs in Pakistan: what employers expect

Most recruiters in Pakistan screen a large pile of CVs from Rozee.pk, LinkedIn, email and walk-ins. In the first pass they check four things: your current or last job title, years of experience, your highest qualification and where you are based. If those match the role, they read on.

So the top third of your CV matters most. Put your target job title under your name, a two- or three-line summary with your strongest result, and make sure your city and phone number are easy to find. A recruiter who has to search for your number will often move to the next CV.

1. Header: full name, job title, city, mobile number (with WhatsApp if you use it), professional email and LinkedIn.
2. Professional summary: two or three lines: who you are, years of experience, your field and one measurable result.
3. Work experience: newest job first. Job title, company, city and dates (month and year), then three to six bullets that start with a verb and end with a number.
4. Education: degree, institute, year and grade. Include CGPA or percentage if it is good; freshers should always include it.
5. Skills: the tools and skills the job advert names, in the same words.
6. Certifications and training: ACCA papers, Microsoft or Google certificates, NAVTTC courses, and so on.
7. Languages: English, Urdu and any regional or foreign languages, with your level.

Optional sections such as projects, volunteering, awards and publications go at the end. See our CV format guide for the general rules that apply everywhere.

One page for freshers and anyone with under three years of experience. Two pages for experienced professionals. Three pages only for senior roles, academic posts or doctors with long lists of rotations and publications.

Older CVs in Pakistan were often four or five pages long, with long objectives and every school certificate. That style now hurts you. Recruiters prefer a short CV they can scan, and applicant tracking systems (ATS) on job portals read the first pages most reliably.

Photos are common on Pakistani CVs, and many employers in retail, banking, hospitality, aviation and education still expect one. If you add a photo, use a recent head-and-shoulders picture with a plain background and work clothes. No selfies, sunglasses or group photos cropped down.

For multinational companies, tech firms and jobs abroad, a CV without a photo is the safer choice. It also parses more reliably in ATS software. When in doubt, follow the job advert: if it says "CV with recent photograph", add one.

Old templates asked for a long "Personal Information" section. Most of it is no longer needed, and some of it puts your privacy at risk when your CV is shared on WhatsApp groups and portals.

• Include: name, city, phone, email, LinkedIn. Nationality only if you are applying abroad.
• Optional: date of birth or age, marital status, and domicile. Add them only if the advert or form asks. Domicile matters mostly for government jobs, covered in our government jobs guide.
• Skip: CNIC number, father's name, religion, full home address, height and weight. Give your CNIC on an official application form or after an offer, not on a CV that will be forwarded.

Pakistani employers care about education more than many other markets, especially for freshers and for banks, government and teaching. List degrees newest first, with the institute, year and grade.

Example

• BBA (Hons), Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, 2025. CGPA 3.4/4.0
• Intermediate (FSc Pre-Engineering), BISE Lahore, 2021. 88%
• Matric (Science), BISE Lahore, 2019. 91%

Once you have a degree and some work experience, you can drop Matric and keep Intermediate in one line. A Cambridge background is written as O Levels and A Levels with the number of subjects and grades, e.g. "A Levels: 3 subjects, A*AB".

Large employers and job portals use ATS software to rank CVs against the job advert. To pass it:

• Use a clean single-column or simple two-column layout with real text, not an image or a Canva poster exported as a picture.
• Use standard headings: Experience, Education, Skills.
• Copy the exact skill words from the advert ("SAP FICO", "customer service", "Excel"), but only skills you really have.
• Upload a PDF unless the portal asks for Word.

Read the full checklist in our ATS-friendly CV guide, or test your file with the free ATS checker.

• A long "career objective" about wanting "a challenging position in a reputed organisation". Replace it with a summary of what you offer.
• Duties instead of results: "responsible for sales" instead of "grew sales by 22% in my territory".
• An email like cutekhan786@… Create a simple firstname.lastname address.
• Spelling mistakes and mixed date formats. Use one format throughout, e.g. "Mar 2023 – Present".
• References with full phone numbers of your current manager. Write "Available on request" or leave the section out.