Writing a Quebec-Style Résumé

The basic format:

• 1 page for young professionals, 2 pages maximum for experienced profiles
• Sober font: Calibri, Arial, size 10 or 11
• No bright colors, no backgrounds, no decorative frames

Do NOT include:

• No photo
• No date of birth or age
• No marital status
• No nationality
• No religion or origin
• No social insurance number (SIN), driver's licence number or health insurance card number
• No financial information (credit card, bank account)

This is protected by Quebec's Charter of Rights. Québec.ca also advises caution before giving this information to an employer: see Protecting your personal information (Québec.ca).

Recommended structure, in this order:

1. Name + contact info (phone, email, address)
2. Career objective: 1 or 2 sentences on the type of job you want, linked to the position
3. Professional experience: reverse chronological order (most recent first)
4. Education (degrees earned)
5. Technical skills and language skills
6. Interests and activities (optional)

Little experience, or changing fields? Put your skills before your experience: that is the skills-based résumé. References do not go on the résumé: bring the list to the interview.

Contact info to include:

• Full name
• Canadian phone number
• Professional email address (avoid nicknames)
• Full address (street, city, postal code), as Québec.ca recommends
• LinkedIn (optional, but recommended if up to date)

For each experience:

• Job title + Company + City + Dates (month/year)
• 5 bullets at most describing your duties and concrete achievements: Québec.ca advises ideally no more than five duties per job
• Start each bullet with an action verb: administer, analyze, compile, oversee, inform...
• Include numbers when possible (« increased sales by 25 % »)

To estimate your net salary from a job offer, use our net salary calculator — useful for evaluating an offer and preparing a salary negotiation.

Québec.ca describes three types of résumé. Choose according to the job you want and what you want to highlight:

• Chronological résumé: your jobs from most recent to oldest. Useful for a job similar to the one you hold. Avoid it if you have changed jobs often or had long periods without work, or if the link with your new goal is hard to make.
• Skills-based (functional) résumé: your skills first, starting with those related to the job. Useful if you have little experience, unrelated jobs or are changing fields. Avoid it if you want to show your career progression.
• Combination résumé: the most common. It presents both your skills and your experience, from most recent to oldest. Useful if you have changed jobs often or worked for several employers in the same field.

What the official page adds to the rules above:

• Writing: true information only, simple vocabulary, no negative phrasing, no mistakes. Don't contradict yourself, and resist the urge to be funny.
• Education: the name and city of each school, the diploma and the date you earned it, professional development courses related to the job, scholarships and awards received.
• Additional information, depending on the posting: languages spoken and written, software with your level (beginner, intermediate, advanced), a qualification card or professional order, awards received for your work. A portfolio can show examples.
• References: ask each person's permission before giving their name.

The cover letter is often requested:

• 1 page maximum
• Explains why you want this specific role
• And what you can bring to the company
• Personalized for each application

Résumé format varies enormously by country. Here are the most common differences.

Practical consequence: a résumé sent as-is from France or francophone Africa often gets rejected in Quebec because of the photo or date of birth — recruiters see it as a legal risk of discrimination accusation, even unintentional. Removing these elements is the first adaptation to make before your first Quebec application.

The most common questions about Quebec résumés: whether to translate to French, how to present foreign diplomas, how often to adapt the résumé, and what to do without Canadian experience.

Related guides that may be useful:

• Succeeding at a Quebec job interview — the next step after your CV passes the initial screen.
• Finding a job in Quebec — the overall view of job searching (platforms, support, PRIIME).
• Get foreign degrees recognized in Quebec — to showcase your qualifications in the Education section of the CV.
• Build your CV with our generator — an interactive form that produces a Quebec-format CV, ready to download as a PDF.
• Net salary calculator — to estimate your real take-home pay from an offer and prepare a salary negotiation.
• Translating an Official Document for Quebec (certified translator) — to get a certified translation of diplomas and references that strengthen your CV.
• Professional Networking in Quebec — to get this résumé circulating before a job is even posted.

For official advice:

• Find a job (Québec.ca)
• Prepare your application — writing your résumé, cover letter and portfolio (Québec.ca)
• Writing your résumé, with two downloadable sample résumés (Québec.ca)

You can also book an appointment with a counsellor at a Services Québec office — it's free.