Personal information on a resume: what to include and what to leave off

Introduction

Date of birth, marital status, nationality, a passport photo, a full home address: plenty of old resume templates still ask for all of it. In the UK, almost none of that personal information belongs on a resume. The header has one job, which is letting an employer contact you, and anything beyond that either wastes space or hands a recruiter something the law says they shouldn't judge you on.

Below, you'll see exactly what goes in the header and what to delete, why the Equality Act 2010 is behind that advice, and when a right to work line or a driving licence earns its place. If you're applying in the US, the differences are covered too. (British employers usually call the document a CV; the rules are the same.)

The personal information every resume needs

The government-run National Careers Service keeps the list short: your name, phone number, email address and a link to a work network profile such as LinkedIn. Add your town or city and you're done. In practice:

• Your name, the one you use at work, in a larger font at the top. There's no need for "CV" or "Curriculum Vitae" as a heading.
• One mobile number that you actually answer, with a voicemail greeting you'd be happy for an employer to hear.
• A plain email address along the lines of firstname.lastname, never your current employer's account.
• Your town or city: "Leeds" or "Croydon, London" is plenty.
• A LinkedIn link if your profile is up to date, or a portfolio or GitHub if your work lives online.

Right under your name, add a line that says what you do or the role you're after. That's your resume headline, and it deserves its own five minutes. Put together, a header looks like this:

Priya Shah

Junior data analyst

07XXX XXXXXX · priya.shah@gmail.com · Leeds · linkedin.com/in/priya-shah

Your town is enough, not your full address

A full postal address adds nothing at application stage. Recruiters get in touch by phone or email, and your address is personal data you hand to everyone who opens the file, including whoever it gets forwarded to. Your town or city answers the only question an employer has at this point, which is whether you can get to work.

If distance matters, say so on your own terms: "Relocating to Bristol in March" or "Happy to travel across the North West" tells a recruiter far more than a postcode.

Personal information to leave off a UK resume

The National Careers Service is blunt about it: "You should not include your age, your date of birth, whether you're married or your nationality." The reason sits in the Equality Act 2010, which lists nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. Under the Act, race includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins. Acas, the workplace advice service, reminds employers that they must not discriminate against an applicant because of any of these.

Acas goes further on age. It tells employers to avoid asking for an applicant's age or date of birth on the application form, because a candidate who doesn't get the job may treat the question as evidence of discrimination. An employer who wants to track diversity can ask for an age group on a separate, anonymous monitoring form that nobody sifting applications gets to see. If the employer is advised not to ask, you have no reason to volunteer it. And if you're worried about age bias, our guide to a resume over 50 shows how to keep your dates from giving it away.

The same logic covers marital status, children, religion and health: none of it tells an employer whether you can do the job. Leave the photo off too for most UK applications. It's a question of its own, and our guide to putting a photo on your resume covers the few roles where it makes sense.

Right to work and driving licence: only when they matter

Two pieces of personal information are useless on most resumes and decisive on a few.

Every UK employer has to check that you're allowed to work for them before they employ you. British and Irish citizens usually prove it with a passport. Everyone else can use a share code or eligible immigration documents, and GOV.UK is clear that an employer can't reject you for handing over documents instead of a share code. So your nationality stays off the page. But if you're not British or Irish and a recruiter might wonder about visa sponsorship, one factual line saves them the guesswork, such as "Full right to work in the UK" if that's your situation. Put it at the end of your header or your personal statement.

A driving licence follows the same rule. If the job involves driving, such as deliveries, field sales, home care visits or site work across a region, write "Full UK driving licence" next to your town, and add the categories if you hold more than a car licence. If an employer asks to see your record, GOV.UK lets you create a check code that stays valid for 21 days. For an office job in a city centre, leave it out.

Applying in the US: what changes

The header holds the same five items, with your city and state in place of a town. The rules behind it are written for employers, but they point the same way. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) says employers should not ask for a photograph, and that one needed for identification can be obtained after an offer is made and accepted. It warns that questions about marital status or children are frequently used to discriminate against women. Most employers, it adds, should not ask whether you're a US citizen before making an offer, and the Form I-9 work eligibility check can't start until you've accepted one. Age is protected from 40 upwards under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

So a US resume, like a UK one, leaves out your photo, age, family and nationality. That's a real change if you're adapting a resume written for France, where some careers guides still recommend a date of birth and a photo: strip those lines before you send it to an English-speaking employer.

Jolicv's little nudge

On Jolicv, the personal information panel asks for your first and last name, job title, email, phone and location, with a switch to show or hide your photo. There's no field for a date of birth, nationality or marital status, so there's nothing to delete: your LinkedIn goes in the Links section, and a driving licence, which has no box of its own, fits in Skills or after your location. Browse the resume templates and start for free, no card needed.

Conclusion

Personal information on a resume comes down to five items: name, phone, email, town and a LinkedIn or portfolio link, with your headline just below. Age, date of birth, marital status, nationality and a photo stay off, in the UK and the US alike. A right to work line or a driving licence goes in only when the job makes it relevant. Spend five minutes trimming your header today, and every recruiter who opens your resume will see what matters first.

Frequently asked questions

Should I put my date of birth in the personal information on my resume?

No. The National Careers Service says not to include your age or date of birth, and age is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. Acas even advises employers not to ask for it on application forms. Your date of birth only comes up later, for instance when an employer checks your right to work online.

Do I need my full address on a resume?

No, your town or city is enough, for example "Leeds" or "Croydon, London". A full postal address adds nothing at application stage and shares personal data with everyone who opens the file. If location matters for the role, say how you'll get there instead: "Relocating to Bristol in March" is more useful than a postcode.

Should I mention my nationality or visa status in my resume's personal information?

Leave your nationality off: it falls under race in the Equality Act and tells an employer nothing about your skills. What matters is your right to work, which every employer checks before you start. If you're not British or Irish, one factual line such as "Full right to work in the UK" saves a recruiter from guessing.

How do I list a driving licence on a resume?

List it only when the job involves driving, such as deliveries, field sales or home care visits. Write "Full UK driving licence" next to your town, and add the categories if you hold more than a car licence. If an employer wants to see your record, you can create a check code on GOV.UK, valid for 21 days.

What personal information should I leave off a US resume?

Leave off your photo, age or date of birth, marital status, children and citizenship. The EEOC tells employers not to ask for a photograph and warns that questions about marital status or children are often used to discriminate. Most employers shouldn't ask about citizenship before an offer, and the Form I-9 check only starts once you accept.

Is it illegal for a UK employer to ask my age?

Not in itself, but it's risky for them. Acas points out that asking isn't discriminatory on its own, yet a rejected candidate may treat the question as evidence of discrimination. So it advises employers to keep age and date of birth off application forms and to ask for an age group on a separate, anonymous monitoring form.