

You know how to speak French, but you’ve never written a French resume? Don’t worry. I’ll show you exactly what you need to know about your expérience professionnelle and more.
Writing a French resume is scary if French isn’t your first language. But don’t worry. There are some simple steps you should take to get it right.
I’ll equip you with everything you need to know not to make a gaffe. So read my article with your eyes wide open, and learn how to write your resume in French!
This guide will show you:
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Sample resume made in our builder—See more templates and create your resume here.
Denis Cramer
1160 Eglinton Avenue
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
416-250-5724
denis.cramer@gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/denis.cramer
Social Media Specialist
Profil
Spécialiste en réseaux sociaux et community manager depuis plus de 5 ans, j’ai planifié et mené à terme des campagnes de communication ayant contribué à augmenter l’engagement et le taux de conversion de l’audience. Chez 4shares, j’ai notamment permis à l’entreprise de voir son engagement en ligne augmenter de 13% par publication, grâce à une analyse stratégique du compte Instagram. Dans le rôle de gestionnaire de réseaux sociaux, j’espère apporter à Community ma capacité à créer une communauté à partir de rien et mes compétences d’analyse de données, dans le but de développer votre nombre d’abonnés et créer du contenu performant.
Expérience professionnelle
Janvier 2017 – Aujourd’hui
Social Media Specialist
4Shares, Santa Monica, CA
Mai 2015 – Décembre 2017
Junior Social Media Specialist
LoggedIn, Los Angeles, CA
Formation
Septembre 2013 – Juin 2015
Maîtrise sciences de la communication
Université de Californie, Berkeley CA
Septembre 2010 – Juin 2013
Baccalauréat de créativité, innovation et entrepreneuriat
Université de Californie, Berkeley CA
Compétences
Informatique
Langues
Centres d’intérêts
You prefer to read in French? Have a look at another guide about comment faire un CV written in French.
Now, here’s the job-winning french resume formula:
When writing a French resume, you must know that you’re also writing a French CV or curriculum vitae. There’s no difference between these two. However, you shouldn’t be fooled by the name. Translating your current resume into its French equivalent won’t do. You must be aware of the differences, and I will help you with that.
First, look at what should stay the same, which is the resume layout:
Once you have it sorted, let’s move on to sectioning your French resume. The resume parts in American and French resumes are the same, so divide yours into the following sections:
Those are the must-haves on your French CV. But be mindful of the space to leave room for additional information, like Informatique (Computer skills), Langues (Language skills), or Centres d’intérêts (Hobbies) that you’d want to add near the end.
There are many ways your French CV can end up a debacle. One is mentioning your age in your personal information (Coordonnées)一you should limit the number of details you give. That applies to a photo, too.
Stick to the simple info so that the recruiter can contact you easily. Include
And this is how a resume header in a French resume should look:
RIGHT |
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Denis Cramer 1160 Eglinton Avenue Santa Barbara, CA 93105 416-250-5724 denis.cramer@gmail.com linkedin.com/in/denis.cramer
Social Media Specialist
(...) |
When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.
When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.
The personal statement (Profil) is an introduction to your application, and it can be either a resume summary (Résumé) or a resume objective (Objectif). They both should make an exciting presentation for the reader.
Use the summary if you have work experience and relevant achievements to support your application. If you don’t, use the objective to write about your aspirations and interest in the position.
Here’s how to write a resume summary:
Check out the below example to put a face to those rules:
RIGHT |
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Spécialiste en réseaux sociaux et community manager depuis plus de 5 ans, j’ai planifié et mené à terme des campagnes de communication ayant contribué à augmenter l’engagement et le taux de conversion de l’audience. Chez 4shares, j’ai notamment permis à l’entreprise de voir son engagement en ligne augmenter de 13% par publication, grâce à une analyse stratégique du compte Instagram. Dans le rôle de gestionnaire de réseaux sociaux, j’espère apporter à Community ma capacité à créer une communauté à partir de rien et mes compétences d’analyse de données, dans le but de développer votre nombre d’abonnés et créer du contenu performant. |
If you’re going for the objective, follow the exact instructions, but remember that you must align your goals with the employer's vision of a perfect candidate.
Look at the objective sample to sum it up:
RIGHT |
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Diplômée en marketing numérique ayant réalisé un stage à l'agence publicitaire The Socialite, je souhaite utiliser mes compétences en gestion de réseaux sociaux et en analyse de données, ainsi que ma maîtrise du français pour créer du contenu efficace en tant que spécialiste marketing digital et réseaux sociaux chez Social Flow. |
This section is the clique leader. You’ve got to tread with confidence to impress. And it’s easier than you might think.
Prove to the recruiters that you have professional experience (Expérience Professionnelle) and that you’ll bring results with you. This is how you can do that:
Look at the work section example for a French CV:
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Expérience professionnelle
Janvier 2017 – Aujourd’hui Social Media Specialist 4Shares, Santa Monica, CA
Mai 2015 – Décembre 2017 Junior Social Media Specialist LoggedIn, Los Angeles, CA
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Focus on transferable skills if you’re writing a no-experience resume or have some experience not relevant to the job. You can use your volunteering or internship experience to show the skills you’ve gained and which of your qualities were the most prominent on the job.
If you don’t want the recruiters to go full-on blasé, write about your educational background (Formation) with care.
First and foremost, make your recruiter’s life easier. Find the equivalent of your current degree and translate accordingly. Including the highest one suffices, especially if you have years of experience.
Secondly, include the dates of attendance, degree name in bold, and school name and location.
Find the following guide to what to write in the education section in a French resume:
High School Diploma | Diplôme d’Études Secondaires (DES) or Diplôme d’Études Professionnelles (DEP) |
Associate’s Degree | Diplôme d’Études Collégiales (DEC) |
Bachelor’s Degree | Baccalauréat |
Masters Degree | Maîtrise |
Doctorate | Doctorat |
See how your education entry should look like based on the below example:
RIGHT |
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Formation
Septembre 2013 – Juin 2015 Maîtrise sciences de la communication Université de Californie, Berkeley CA
Septembre 2010 – Juin 2013 Baccalauréat de créativité, innovation et entrepreneuriat Université de Californie, Berkeley CA |
If you’re only beginning your career, the education section will be the most important section to you. Ensure it also consists of some of your academic achievements, like the grade or any prestigious certifications you’ve earned.
It’s time for an exposé.
You need to lay bare your skills (Compétences) to the hiring manager so they can decide whether you're what they've been looking for all along. You can do this by listing the most relevant skills in your French resume. Here’s how:
One more thing—
Separate your computer skills (Informatique) or software (Logiciels) from the key skills section.
This is how it should look:
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Compétences
Informatique
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The last thing on your French resume checklist is to include additional sections, such as language skills (Langues) or hobbies (Centres d’intérêts). Let me describe these sections une par une:
See the below example:
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Langues
Centres d’intérêts
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On a finishing note, I’m highly encouraging you to attach a cover letter to your French resume. Recruiters do want to read them to better understand your application. Read more in our French guide and learn comment faire une lettre de motivation (with examples).
A great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:
See more cover letter templates and start writing.
Everything you need to know about how to write a French CV in a nutshell:
Et voilà! That’s how you write a French resume.
Please tell me—
Do you have more questions about how to write a French resume? What’s the most challenging part of writing a French CV?
Give a shout in the comments! Let’s get the conversation rolling.
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