A Swiss CV follows a logical order: contact details and work permit in the header, then the target job title, professional experience in reverse-chronological order, education, skills, languages (CEFR levels) and interests. Experience comes before education as soon as you have work history. The essential CV sections are contact details, experience, education and languages. A photo and date of birth remain optional. You remove anything that adds nothing: empty mentions, generic hobbies, ready-made phrases.
"What do I put first, my studies or my experience?" "Is an interests section still worth anything?" When you rework your CV, the order of your CV sections comes up almost as often as the question of how many pages. And it is not a detail: a recruiter often spends 6 to 8 seconds on a first glance, and focuses most of their attention on your name, your current role, your previous role and your education.
In other words, the order of your sections decides what the recruiter sees first. In this article, we list the essential sections, give the order expected in Switzerland, and spell out what is better left off.
What are the essential sections of a CV?
Some sections are non-negotiable: without them, the CV is incomplete. Others are useful depending on your profile, and a few no longer serve much purpose. Here is how it sorts out.
| Section | Status | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Contact details and header | Essential | Name, phone, email, city, LinkedIn: the recruiter must be able to reach you in a second |
| Nationality and work permit | Essential (Switzerland) | The recruiter wants to know immediately whether you have the right to work |
| Target job title | Recommended | It guides the reading: the recruiter knows which role you are applying for |
| Professional experience | Essential | The heart of the CV, what the recruiter reads first |
| Education | Essential | Degrees and certifications, in reverse-chronological order |
| Skills | Recommended | Technical and transferable, targeted to the posting |
| Languages | Essential (Switzerland) | A multilingual market: CEFR levels are expected |
| Interests | Optional | Useful if they say something about you, pointless if they are generic |
| Photo | Optional | Not mandatory, but still common on CVs in French-speaking Switzerland |
The logic is simple: everything that helps the recruiter decide stays, everything that only fills space goes. For Switzerland, mentioning your work permit is particularly important, because not knowing whether you can work is an immediate obstacle.
In what order should you place the sections of a CV?
The order follows one rule: the most useful at the top. In French-speaking Switzerland, the expected structure puts the header and title first, then experience before education as soon as you have a professional track record.
Here is the reference order:
- Header: name, contact details, city, nationality and work permit, LinkedIn.
- Target job title: sometimes with a 2 to 3 line summary.
- Professional experience: in reverse-chronological order, from the most recent role to the oldest.
- Education: degrees and certifications, also in reverse-chronological order.
- Skills: technical and transferable, tailored to the posting.
- Languages: with CEFR levels (A1 to C2).
- Interests: only if they add something.
Reverse-chronological order is not an aesthetic preference: it is the expected format, because it makes for quick, efficient reading. The recruiter wants to see your current situation before your older history.
There is one exception to this order: if you are a student, a recent graduate or changing careers without experience in the target field, place education before experience. In that case, your degree is your strongest argument, so it should appear first.
Should you include a photo, your date of birth and your nationality?
This is where Switzerland stands apart from France, and where many candidates hesitate. Here is what you need to know, section by section.
| Item | In Switzerland | Our advice |
|---|---|---|
| Photo | Not mandatory, but still common and often expected in French-speaking Switzerland | A professional, understated photo remains a signal of seriousness |
| Nationality | Worth stating, especially for non-Swiss candidates | Include it, it is information recruiters expect |
| Work permit | Priority information for HR (B, C, G, L, Ci) | Put it in the header if you are not Swiss |
| Date of birth | Not legally required, accepted | Can be left off without penalty; your call |
| Languages | Expected, with CEFR levels | State the real level, not "fluent" or "basics" |
Nationality and work permit are the two items that really make a difference on the Swiss market. For a cross-border commuter or a foreign candidate, stating your G, B or C permit right in the header saves the recruiter from wondering, and that alone can be enough to clear a first screen. To go further on these local codes, read our article on the format of a Swiss CV.
Which sections should you remove from your CV?
A good CV is as much about what you put in as what you take out. Several sections or mentions no longer add anything and take up valuable space.
- "References available on request." It is obvious: the recruiter knows they can ask you for them. This line only fills space.
- Generic interests. "Reading, travel, cinema" says nothing about you. Either a hobby is genuinely telling, or you drop the section.
- Skills that are too obvious. No need to state that you master Office for a management role: it is assumed.
- The catch-all career objective. A vague sentence like "looking for new challenges" adds nothing. A precise job title does the job better.
- Experience that is too old or off-topic. A summer job from fifteen years ago with no link to the posting can often disappear.
Removing these items frees up space and improves readability, including for automatic screening software. Many Swiss companies filter CVs with an ATS before any human look: a clear structure, with no complex tables or decorative columns, helps you clear that filter. To understand how this software reads your CV, see our article on how ATS works.
The real reflex is to adapt your sections to each posting rather than keeping a "generic" CV. That is exactly what candidat.app does: starting from your real background, the tool generates a CV structured to Swiss conventions, with the right sections in the right order, without inventing anything. You keep control of the content, and you save the time you would have spent on formatting.
In short
A Swiss CV is organised from most useful to least useful: header with contact details and work permit, target job title, professional experience in reverse-chronological order, education, skills, languages with CEFR levels, then interests if they are genuinely telling. Experience comes before education as soon as you have worked, except for students and career changers. Contact details, experience, education and languages are essential. A photo and date of birth remain optional, but nationality and permit are expected. And above all, you remove anything that fills without informing.
FAQ
Should you put experience or education first on a CV?
Experience, as soon as you have worked. In Switzerland, the expected structure places professional experience before education, because that is what the recruiter reads first. The exception: students, recent graduates and people changing careers, for whom education is the main argument and therefore comes first.
Which sections are truly mandatory on a CV?
Contact details, professional experience, education and languages. In Switzerland, add the work permit for non-Swiss candidates. The rest (photo, interests, date of birth) is optional and depends on your profile and the target role.
Should I keep an interests section?
Only if it adds something. A hobby that reveals a useful quality or a genuine commitment can work in your favour. A generic list like "reading, travel, sport" adds nothing, and it is better to remove it to save space.
Should you state your age or date of birth on a Swiss CV?
It is not legally required. The date of birth is still accepted and common, but it can be left off without penalty. It is up to you to decide based on your situation and preference.
How do you present the languages section on a CV in Switzerland?
State each language with its level according to the European CEFR framework (from A1 to C2), rather than vague words like "fluent" or "basics." On a multilingual market, a precise level is more credible and more useful to the recruiter. To avoid the other common missteps, read our article on [the mistakes that get your application rejected](/en/blog/application-mistakes-rejection-switzerland).