Guide
How to write a CV for Finland
There is no single official CV standard in Finland, and expectations vary between employers, sectors and recruiters. Still, most Finnish hiring processes reward the same things: a short, factual, well-structured document that is easy to scan and clearly connected to the job being advertised. This guide explains what that usually looks like in practice, and how to adapt your existing CV instead of starting from scratch.
What Finnish employers commonly expect from a CV
Finnish recruitment culture tends to favour restraint. Claims are expected to be accurate and verifiable, the tone is matter-of-fact rather than promotional, and the document is expected to be readable in a minute or two. Many recruiters read applications on screen and in bulk, so structure matters more than visual creativity in most sectors.
Treat everything below as widely used practice rather than a rule. Design-led, academic and public-sector roles can all have different expectations, and the job advertisement itself is always the strongest signal.
Length, order and layout
One to two pages is the usual range for most roles. Academic and research CVs are commonly longer because publications and funding are listed in full.
- Reverse-chronological order is the most familiar format: most recent role first.
- Keep one consistent date format and do not leave unexplained gaps if you can describe them briefly.
- Plain headings, generous spacing and a standard font read better than dense multi-column templates, which some applicant tracking systems parse poorly.
- Export as PDF unless the employer explicitly asks for another format.
Photo, personal details and what to leave out
A photo is common in Finland and often expected, but it is not required, and leaving it out is not treated as an error. If you include one, use a neutral, professional headshot.
Include your name, phone number, email address and the city or region where you live. You do not need to give your full street address, date of birth, marital status, nationality or personal identity code on a CV. Non-discrimination rules mean employers should not base decisions on such details, so omitting them is normal and safe.
Which language to use: Finnish, Swedish or English
Write your CV in the language of the job advertisement whenever you can. If the advertisement is in Finnish, a Finnish CV signals that you can operate in the working language. If the advertisement or the company's working language is English, an English CV is perfectly normal, and this is common in technology, research and international companies.
If your Finnish is limited, do not machine-translate a whole CV and hope for the best. A clear, correct English CV is usually better received than an awkward Finnish one, and you can state your actual language levels honestly in the languages section.
Not sure which version to send?
DAVLA keeps one profile and generates the CV in the language you need, so you are not maintaining three separate documents by hand.
Section-by-section CV structure
Contact details and profile summary
Put your contact details at the top, and make sure the email address you use looks professional. A short summary of three or four lines works well when it names your field, your years of experience and what you are looking for. Skip it if it would only repeat the rest of the page.
Work experience written for Finnish recruiters
For each role, give the job title, employer, location and dates, then two to four bullet points about what you actually did and what changed as a result. Concrete detail beats adjectives: the size of the team, the systems you used, the volume you handled, the responsibility you carried.
If your previous employers are unknown in Finland, add a half-line describing the organisation, for example its sector and rough size. Recruiters cannot weigh experience they cannot place.
Education and qualifications
List your degrees with the institution, country and year. If your qualification was awarded abroad, give the original name of the degree and, where it helps, a short plain-language explanation of its level. Some professions and public-sector posts require a formal recognition decision from the Finnish National Agency for Education, and regulated healthcare roles are authorised separately by Valvira, so check the requirements for your own field rather than assuming.
Skills, languages and references
Keep the skills section specific and honest: tools, systems, certifications, licences such as a driving licence or a hygiene passport where relevant. State language levels in a way that is easy to interpret, for example using the CEFR scale, and be realistic about your Finnish level. References can simply be offered on request unless the advertisement asks for them.
- Name the software and systems you have really used, not everything you have heard of.
- Include Finnish work-relevant cards and licences, as many practical roles screen for them.
- Mention volunteer work, courses and internships when your paid experience is thin.
Official sources: Finnish National Agency for Education — recognition of qualifications, Valvira — licensing of health care professionals
Common mistakes that hold applications back
- Sending the same generic CV to every employer, with no link to the advertised duties.
- Listing duties without outcomes, so the reader cannot tell how well the work went.
- Overstating language skills, which becomes obvious in the first interview call.
- Heavy graphic templates that break when parsed by recruitment systems.
- Missing dates, unexplained gaps or inconsistent job titles between the CV and the application.
- A cover letter that repeats the CV instead of explaining motivation and fit.
Tailoring one CV per job application
The single most useful habit is also the most tedious one: adjust the CV for each advertisement. Read the requirements, then make sure the matching experience appears early and uses the same vocabulary as the posting. Move less relevant roles down, shorten them, and let the relevant ones breathe.
This does not mean inventing experience. It means surfacing what is already true about you in the order the employer cares about. Done manually, it takes 20 to 40 minutes per application, which is why most people stop doing it after the first few.
Let DAVLA do the tailoring
DAVLA reads the job posting, compares it with your profile, and produces a tailored CV and cover letter — without adding experience you never confirmed. You review everything before it is exported.
Frequently asked questions
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