Biodata format for a job: biodata vs resume vs CV in India

Outside India the words shift: in the UK, for example, “CV” is the everyday word for what Indians call a resume. Our CV vs resume guide covers the international meaning.

State Bank of India publishes a “Candidate’s Bio-data-cum-Attestation Form” with its specialist cadre officer advertisements. The advertisement CRPD/SCO/2026-27/24 (30 September 2026), for instance, asks applicants to upload a “Detailed Resume” and the bio-data form as separate PDFs (each up to 500 KB). The form is filled in the candidate’s own handwriting, signed and scanned, and has spaces for document verification at the interview. It asks for:

• Full name in block letters as per the degree certificate, and marital status
• Date of birth as per the high school certificate, passport or another document; place of birth, district and state
• Nationality and religion; father’s or husband’s name and occupation; mother’s name and occupation
• Category, and mother tongue plus other languages (speak, read, write)
• Education: board or university, month and year of passing, marks and percentage
• Experience: employer, position and duties, period in years and months
• Present and permanent addresses, and places lived for more than a year in the last five years
• Any court cases or disciplinary action, and two referees
• A signed certification that the particulars are true, with place and date, and a pasted photograph signed across

The lesson: when an employer gives you a form, fill that form exactly. Do not attach your own biodata instead of it. The form is linked under Sources below.

• Private companies, job portals, campus placements: a resume. See the fresher resume format.
• Government and PSU recruitment: usually an online application form and documents. Some contract and specialist posts ask for a biodata, a resume or both in a set format; read the notification. Details in the government job resume guide.
• Teaching, research and academic posts: a CV with publications, conferences and teaching record.
• A local employer, school or shop that says “send your biodata”: they usually mean a resume with personal details. Ask, or send a job biodata like the sample below.

A B.A. graduate with a computer diploma applying for office assistant and computer operator posts. Personal details come first, as most Indian biodata formats expect, and it ends with a declaration.

1. Write your name and date of birth exactly as on your Class X certificate. Forms often ask for the date of birth “as per” that certificate, and documents are checked against it.
2. List every qualification with board or university, year and percentage or grade, newest first.
3. Give experience with exact months, so the total in years and months can be worked out.
4. Add only the personal details the employer needs. Leave out religion and caste unless the form asks; government forms ask for category because of reservation rules.
5. Attach or paste a photograph only if asked. SBI’s form asks for the same photograph you uploaded online, signed across.
6. End with a declaration, place, date and your signature, and keep it to one or two pages.

A marriage biodata (height, family background, horoscope details and so on) is a different document for a different purpose. None of those details belong in a biodata for a job.