CV format in Nepal

The standard order of sections

A CV in Nepal follows a predictable order, and recruiters scan for these sections in roughly this sequence. Deviating from it makes your CV harder to read, not more memorable.

• Contact details — full name, phone number, email address, and your city. A full street address is no longer expected and takes up space you need elsewhere.
• Personal statement or objective — three or four lines on who you are and what you are looking for. Rewrite this for each application; it is the fastest way to make a general CV feel specific.
• Work experience — most recent first, always. Include the organisation, your title, and the dates.
• Education — SEE, +2, Bachelor's and above, with the institution and year. If you are a student or recent graduate, move this above work experience.
• Skills — separate technical skills from soft skills. Be specific: 'Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP)' says more than 'computer skills'.
• Languages — Nepali, English, and any others, each with an honest proficiency level.
• Certifications and training — anything relevant, with the issuing body and year.
• References — two is normal in Nepal, with their designation and contact details. Ask permission first.

Should you include a photo?

Yes, in most cases. This is one of the clearest differences from American guidance, which tells you to leave a photo off because of hiring-discrimination law that does not apply here. In Nepal, as across much of South Asia and Europe, a photograph is normal and its absence is sometimes read as an omission.

Use a plain headshot against a neutral background, dressed as you would for the interview. A cropped photo from a wedding or a picture with sunglasses does more harm than no photo at all. If you are applying to an international organisation or a company abroad, check their guidance — some explicitly ask you not to include one.

Use A4 paper, not US Letter

Nepal uses A4 (210 × 297 mm). US Letter is shorter and wider, so a CV built on Letter prints with uneven margins here and can push your last lines onto a second page unexpectedly. Most international CV builders default to Letter because they are built for the American market.

If you are applying to a company in the United States or Canada, switch to Letter for that application.

How long should it be?

One page if you are a student, a recent graduate, or have under three years of experience. Two pages once you have more history than that fits. Three pages is almost never right outside academia, where a full publication list is expected.

Length is not a measure of effort. A recruiter reading forty applications gives each one a first pass of a few seconds, and a tight one-page CV is read properly far more often than a rambling three-page one.

Write achievements, not duties

This single change improves more CVs than any formatting decision. Most people list what they were responsible for. Employers want to know what happened because you were there.

"Responsible for handling customer queries" tells a recruiter nothing — it describes the job, not you. "Handled 60+ customer calls a day and maintained a 95% satisfaction score" tells them your volume, your reliability, and that you measure your own work.

You do not need dramatic numbers. How many people, how often, how much, how fast — any of these turns a duty into evidence.

File format: PDF unless told otherwise

Send a PDF. It looks identical on every device, and a Word file can reflow badly on the recruiter's machine and arrive looking broken through no fault of yours.

The exception is when the employer asks for something else. Many government positions, INGOs and local job portals specifically request .doc or .docx, and some online application forms only give you a plain-text box to paste into. Follow the instruction exactly — ignoring it is sometimes the first filter.