You know how to describe your experience and what to write in your professional summary. But the personal details section still trips people up: Do I add a photo? Include my age? What about GDPR? Full address or just a city?
These are not trivial questions. Getting this section wrong can lead to rejection - or expose your personal data unnecessarily. And critically, the rules differ significantly depending on which country's job market you're applying to.
This article covers the UK market. If you're applying to roles in Germany, Poland, or the US, the conventions are quite different - we cover those in the comparison table at the end.
Photo on a CV - Expected or Off-Putting?
In the UK, a photo on your CV is not standard practice and is generally not expected. Most recruiters prefer CVs without photos. Including one can actually raise questions about unconscious bias, since employers are bound by the Equality Act 2010 not to discriminate on the basis of appearance, age, or ethnicity.
The practical reality: a photo adds no value to your application in the British job market and introduces risk - both for you (privacy) and for the recruiter (legal sensitivity around bias).
Exceptions:
- Acting, presenting, or modelling roles where appearance is directly part of the job
- Some international companies operating with European norms who explicitly request one
If in doubt, leave it out. A recruiter who wants to assess your professional profile needs your skills and experience - not your face.
88%
of UK recruiters say they do not expect or require a photo on a CV (CIPD survey)
Date of Birth and Age - Leave It Off
Including your date of birth on a UK CV is unnecessary and inadvisable. Age discrimination is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010, which means no legitimate employer should be making hiring decisions based on how old you are.
Omitting your date of birth is the standard in the UK. The same applies to your age - do not include it, even implicitly (avoid phrases like "20 years in the industry" in the personal details section; save that for your professional summary where it has context).
There is no situation in standard UK job applications where you need to include your date of birth on a CV. If a role genuinely has an age requirement by law (e.g. roles involving alcohol or certain security clearances), that information is gathered separately, not from your CV.
Address - City and Postcode District, Nothing More
Recruiters need to know roughly where you're based to understand your commute and relocation situation. They do not need your street address at the screening stage.
What to include: your city and country, or at most your postcode district.
London, UK or Manchester, M1 is entirely sufficient. Never put your full street address on a CV - it is an unnecessary privacy exposure and every recruiter and hiring manager will understand without it.
Your phone number and professional email address are the contact details that matter.
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Essential CleanGDPR and Data Consent - UK Context Post-Brexit
Since Brexit, the UK operates under UK GDPR (retained from the EU regulation and kept largely identical in the UK Data Protection Act 2018). In practice, the principles are the same as EU GDPR.
For UK job seekers, a formal GDPR consent clause is not commonly included in CVs the way it is in Poland. UK employers generally rely on legitimate interest as their legal basis for processing application data, and most privacy-compliant companies have their own data retention policies stated in their job ads or privacy notices.
That said, if you want to explicitly signal that you're comfortable with your data being retained for future opportunities, you can add a brief line at the end of your CV:
I consent to my personal data being retained by [Company Name] for up to 12 months for the purpose of future recruitment opportunities, in accordance with UK GDPR.
This is optional. If you're applying to a UK-based company, you generally do not need a formal consent clause on your CV. If you're applying to a European company with Polish or German operations, including a clause becomes more relevant.
What to Always Include
These are the contact details that must appear clearly at the top of your CV, regardless of the role:
- Full name - prominently at the top
- Phone number - your main mobile, active and checked regularly
- Professional email address - avoid informal nicknames or very old addresses
- City and country - no full street address needed
- LinkedIn profile URL - if active, up to date, and consistent with your CV
- Portfolio or personal site - for creative, technical, or freelance roles
Optional additions worth considering: GitHub profile for developers, a link to published work for journalists and writers, or a professional certifications page if one exists.
Country Comparison: What's Expected Where
The rules across different job markets are strikingly different. If you're creating multiple versions of your CV for different countries, these distinctions matter:
| Element | UK | Poland | Germany | USA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photo | Not expected | Optional | Expected, standard | Never include |
| Date of birth | Never include | Optional | Often included | Never include |
| Marital status | Never include | Never | Rare | Never include |
| GDPR / consent clause | Not standard | Required | Required | Not applicable |
| Full address | Not needed (city only) | Not needed (city only) | Full address standard | Not needed (city only) |
If you're using CVCompose to generate localised versions of your CV, treat the personal details section as a separate configuration for each market - do not copy your UK CV directly into a German or Polish template without adjusting what's included. A photo and date of birth that are absent from your UK version may be expected additions in Germany.
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Bold ProPersonal Details Checklist - Before You Send
- Full name clearly visible at the top
- Active phone number
- Professional email address
- City and country (no street address)
- LinkedIn URL - only if the profile is current and consistent
- No photo (UK standard - unless role explicitly requires one)
- No date of birth
- No marital status or nationality (unless explicitly requested)
- GDPR clause omitted (UK applications) or included (applications to Polish/European companies)
