Resume and CV format in Malaysia (2026)

"Source" links the official, job-board, university or recruiter page we read. "Varies" means sources disagree; the sections below say how. "Common practice" is a convention, not a rule.

Only if the employer asks for one, as government job advertisements can. Jobstreet Malaysia's article on photos puts it this way: "It is normal in Malaysia for resumes to have photos, but they are not required." The same article notes that some Malaysian companies' application systems ask you to upload a photo, and that most applicant tracking systems cannot read images. (Jobstreet Malaysia)

Advice leans against a photo on the document itself. Jobstreet's CV guide says to skip photos unless the employer asks (Jobstreet Malaysia), Robert Walters Malaysia advised avoiding photographs and graphics (Robert Walters Malaysia), and Swinburne Sarawak's sample resume has no photo. (Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak) Public-sector applications are the exception: an SPA advertisement for a contract clerical post in January 2026 asked for a recent passport-size colour photo, together with a MyKad copy and SPM results. (Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam Malaysia (SPA))

Our suggestion: leave it off for private-sector jobs; if a portal has a photo field, use a recent headshot on a plain background there; for government jobs, follow the advertisement.

Include: your full name, mobile number, email, city and state, and a LinkedIn or portfolio link. If you are not Malaysian, add your nationality and visa status, as Jobstreet advises for foreign applicants. (Jobstreet Malaysia)

Leave out: your IC or passport number, which Jobstreet lists among details to avoid sharing and says is rarely required in the early stages of an application (Jobstreet Malaysia); marital status and religion, which Jobstreet says are no longer expected and "may even be seen as outdated" (Jobstreet Malaysia); and your date of birth, which Robert Walters Malaysia said "should never be included". (Robert Walters Malaysia) A full street address isn't needed either: Jobstreet's safety article suggests a general location such as your state or city. (Jobstreet Malaysia) Randstad's guide still lists a home address, so neither choice is wrong. (Randstad Malaysia)

Employers do collect these details, but later and on their own forms. CIMB's privacy notice for job applicants, for example, lists date of birth, marital status, NRIC and passport numbers and driving licence details among the data the bank collects. (CIMB) That is a different thing from printing your IC number on a file you send to dozens of companies. If an employer wants proof that you can work in Malaysia, Jobstreet's SEEK Pass lets citizens verify it with their MyKad; the employer sees your name, the document type, your right-to-work status and the date it was verified. (SEEK Pass)

If you graduated recently, put education above work experience and give your CGPA if it is above 3.4, as Jobstreet Malaysia recommends. (Jobstreet Malaysia) Write it on the degree line with the scale, for example "CGPA 3.62/4.00"; Swinburne Sarawak's sample does the same. (Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak)

School leavers list the year of their SPM result and their SPM grades. (Jobstreet Malaysia) Once you have a diploma or degree and some work experience, a one-line SPM or STPM entry is enough, or none at all (our suggestion). Keep the full grades for government applications, where they can be a requirement: the SPA advertisement above required at least a credit in SPM Bahasa Melayu. (Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam Malaysia (SPA))

Languages. Jobstreet says English is the standard for most corporate CVs, though some sectors may require Malay or Chinese proficiency. (Jobstreet Malaysia) Give each language a level, in the form "Malay (Native)". (Jobstreet Malaysia) Bahasa Malaysia, English and Mandarin are the three in Jobstreet's own example (Jobstreet Malaysia); add Tamil, Cantonese or any other language you can work in.

Expected salary. Hiredly, a Malaysian job platform, argues for leaving it off the resume: "Removing your expected salary from resumes can open you up to more job opportunities in Malaysia." (Hiredly) Give a figure when a form or an interviewer asks for one.

Notice period. Jobstreet says giving at least one month's notice is standard practice in Malaysia and that most Malaysian employment contracts specify one month. (Jobstreet Malaysia) Check your own contract. You can add "Notice period: 1 month" under your contact details or leave it for the interview; either is fine.

Federal civil-service jobs handled by the Public Service Commission (SPA) are applied for through its SPA9 system, which accepts registrations at any time of year; a registration stays valid for one year. (Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam Malaysia (SPA)) SPA9 is a structured online form, not a resume upload, and the advertisements can ask for documents a private employer would not: in the January 2026 example, a passport-size colour photo, a MyKad copy and SPM results. (Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam Malaysia (SPA)) So the "leave it off" advice above is for private employers; for a government post, give exactly what the advertisement lists.

The main job sites, each opened on 24 October 2026:

• Jobstreet Malaysia: run by SEEK. You build a profile and upload a resume; Jobstreet says your profile is always sent to employers with your applications, so keep it consistent with your resume. (Jobstreet Malaysia)
• Hiredly: formerly WOBB; a Malaysian recruitment platform aimed at professional and executive roles. (Hiredly)
• MYFutureJobs: the government's free job portal, run by PERKESO (SOCSO) and linked from PERKESO's official site. (PERKESO (Social Security Organisation))
• Maukerja: a Malay-language job site with full-time and part-time vacancies ("kerja kosong").
• Glints Malaysia: internships, graduate jobs and early-career roles.
• LinkedIn Jobs: job listings across Malaysia; recruiters also search profiles, so keep yours consistent with your resume.

For federal civil-service posts, use SPA9 (above). Large employers also post jobs on their own careers pages; some of those forms fill in fields from the resume you upload, which is one more reason to keep it to a single column of plain text.

1. Header. Full name; +60 mobile number; email; city and state; LinkedIn. Foreign applicants add nationality and visa status. No IC number, photo or date of birth.
2. Profile. Two or three lines: your role, years of experience, and the two or three things you are strongest at. Fresh graduates can use a one-line career objective that names the role they want.
3. Work experience. Latest job first. Job title, company and city, then month and year for start and end. Three to five bullets each, starting with what you did and ending with a result you can show.
4. Education. Degree or diploma, institution, year, and CGPA with its scale if it helps you. Fresh graduates put this section above work experience; school leavers list SPM.
5. Skills. Tools, software and technical skills from the job ad that you really use. Avoid skill bars and star ratings: they are pictures, not text.
6. Languages. Each language with a level.
7. Certifications, projects and activities. Professional certificates, internships and industrial training, final-year projects, and co-curricular roles if you are early in your career.
8. References. "Available upon request", or two or three named referees if the employer asks for them. Ask your referees first.

A fictional marketing executive. Names, companies and numbers are made up; the layout is the point. No photo, IC number or date of birth.

NUR AISYAH KAMAL
Petaling Jaya, Selangor | +60 12-345 6789 | nur.aisyah@example.com | linkedin.com/in/example

PROFILE
Marketing executive with 3 years in e-commerce for consumer brands. Plans
marketplace campaigns, runs paid social ads and reports sales every week.

WORK EXPERIENCE
Marketing Executive, Example Retail Sdn Bhd, Kuala Lumpur        Jun 2023 – Present
- Plans monthly campaigns for 2 marketplace stores and reports sales weekly
- Lowered cost per order on paid social by testing new creatives every fortnight

Marketing Intern, Example Foods Sdn Bhd, Shah Alam                Jan 2023 – May 2023
- Wrote product listings in Malay and English for 40 products

EDUCATION
Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) Marketing, Universiti Example, 2023
CGPA 3.62/4.00

LANGUAGES
Malay (Native) | English (Fluent) | Mandarin (Basic)

1. Printing your IC number. It is rarely needed until an employer is ready to hire you, and then it goes on their form.
2. Listing marital status, religion or race out of habit. Jobstreet says marital status is no longer expected and may be seen as outdated. None of these helps an employer judge your work.
3. Putting text in images. A designed header, skill bars or a Canva graphic can look good and still be unreadable to the software that sorts applications. Keep your name, phone and email as plain text.
4. Stating an expected salary. It can rule you out before anyone reads the rest. Give a figure when you are asked.
5. A full page of school results. After a degree and a first job, one line of SPM or STPM is plenty. Use the space for what you have done since.
6. One resume for every job. Change the profile and the first bullets for each application so the skills the ad asks for are easy to find.
7. Mixed date formats. Pick one style, such as "Mar 2023 – Present", and use it everywhere.

Resumity's 7 resume templates are free, single-column, and export to PDF and DOCX. For this market we would start with:

• Meridian: plain black and grey, skills above experience; prints cleanly on A4.
• Henrietta: education comes before skills, which suits fresh graduates with a strong CGPA.
• Leslie: one touch of blue, experience before skills, for people with a few years of work behind them.

The PDF export is A4. None of the seven templates has a photo slot; as Jobstreet notes, some application systems ask you to upload a photo separately, and that is the place for it. Languages go in the skills section: Meridian, Leslie and the other templates with labelled skill rows print them under "Languages".

What we have tested: the text in PDFs exported from each template comes back intact when read by three open-source extractors (pdf.js, pdftotext and pypdf). We have not tested them in any employer's applicant tracking system. See how we test our templates.