How to Write a CV in Arabic: Sections, Examples & Template

Recruiters glance at the top of the page, then look for your latest job, so a familiar order helps them find what they need fast. For most people it is:

• Name, job title and contact details.
• Personal details, only where employers expect them.
• Professional summary.
• Work experience, newest job first.
• Education.
• Courses and certificates.
• Skills.
• Languages.
• References, or simply "Available on request".

New graduates, or anyone with under a year of work, should put education before experience: the degree, grade and graduation project are their strongest points.

Start with your full name as it appears on your passport, then the job title you are applying for, such as "General Accountant" or "English Teacher". Add your mobile number with the country code (for example +966 or +20), a professional email address, and your city and country. Add LinkedIn if your profile is up to date.

Many Gulf employers also expect personal details: nationality, date of birth, marital status and often a photo. In Egypt some ask about military service status; in the Gulf, recruiters may ask about your visa or iqama status. None of this is required everywhere. Follow the norm of the country and the employer: include it if the job ad or form asks for it, and usually leave it out for international companies or jobs outside the region. Never put your national ID or passport number on a CV.

If you add a photo, use a recent, formal head-and-shoulders photo on a plain light background. A casual photo does more harm than no photo at all.

The professional summary (نبذة مهنية) is three or four lines under the header: who you are, your years of experience, what you are good at and the job you want. Recruiters read it first, so make it specific to your field rather than a list of adjectives.

Example for an accountant: "Accountant with six years of experience in general accounting, VAT returns and month-end closing for trading companies in Riyadh. Skilled in Excel and ERP systems, and looking for a senior accountant role."

Example for a new graduate: "Business administration graduate with a three-month marketing internship. Comfortable with Excel and social media tools, and looking for a first role in marketing or sales."

Skip phrases such as "hard-working, ambitious team player": almost everyone writes them. One real fact, such as a professional certificate, says more.

List your jobs newest first. For each, give the job title, employer, city and dates, then three to five short bullets. Start each bullet with a verb and add a number where you can: how many, how much, how fast or by what percentage.

For an accountant:

• Prepared monthly financial statements for three branches and closed the books within five working days.
• Filed quarterly VAT returns on time, with no penalties in four years.
• Reconciled more than 200 customer and supplier accounts every month.

For a teacher:

• Taught English to five secondary classes, about 150 students.
• Raised the class average in final exams from 70% to 82% over two years.
• Ran the school reading club and organised a yearly spelling competition.

Use only numbers you can explain in an interview. A modest true figure is better than an impressive one you cannot back up.

For each qualification, give the degree and major, the university or institute, the years and, if it helps you, the grade (for example "Very good" or a GPA of 3.4 out of 4). Experienced candidates need only a line or two; new graduates can add a graduation project, an internship or volunteer work.

Courses and certificates get their own section on Arabic CVs, because employers in the region often look for them. Give the name, the issuer and the year. Professional certificates linked to the job, such as CMA for accountants, a teaching licence, PMP or BLS, count for far more than a long list of short online courses.

Under skills, list six to ten specific abilities you really have, one per line, such as "Advanced Excel", "IFRS financial statements" or "Lesson planning", reusing the wording of the job ad where it is true of you. Give each language a clear level (native, fluent, very good, good or basic) and be honest: English is often tested in the interview.

Keep the CV to one page early in your career, and two pages at most with long experience. A third page is rarely read.

• Use one font throughout, with one size for headings and one for body text.
• Align Arabic text to the right and keep the whole document right to left; names such as Excel or SAP can sit inside an Arabic line without flipping the paragraph.
• Pick one date format and keep it everywhere, for example 2021 – 2024 or 05/2021.
• If you use Hijri dates, use them for every entry and never mix them with Gregorian ones; many private-sector employers work in Gregorian.
• Use one kind of digit, either 1 2 3 or the Arabic-Indic ١ ٢ ٣, not both.

Common mistakes that are easy to avoid:

• Spelling and grammar errors, especially with hamza and ta marbuta. Read it aloud or ask someone to check it.
• An unprofessional email address instead of one made from your name.
• Duties with no results.
• The same CV for every job, instead of adjusting the title, summary and skills to each ad.
• Mixing the languages, such as Arabic headings with English content.
• A photo or scan of the CV instead of a real document file.

Send the CV in the language of the job ad. Government bodies, schools and many local companies work in Arabic, so an Arabic CV suits them. Multinationals and many large private employers in the Gulf usually expect English. If you apply to both, keep two versions with the same content rather than one CV that mixes the languages.

Send a PDF unless the employer asks for Word. A PDF looks the same on every device and keeps your Arabic font and layout intact. Some recruiters and agencies ask for Word so they can edit it; then send Word. Either way, name the file after yourself, for example Mohamed-Ali-CV.pdf, not cv-final.

Desktora's Arabic CV Templates page puts all of this into practice in your browser, with no sign-up. Nothing you type is uploaded; the draft is saved on your device only.

1. 1Open the Arabic CV Templates page and choose a template: Modern (coloured sidebar with photo), Classic (one column, best for ATS), Formal (shaded headings and tables) or Elegant (side headings and a timeline). Pick one of eight colours.
2. 2Set the CV language to Arabic or English; the headings and text direction follow.
3. 3Optionally load a ready example: accountant, teacher, civil engineer, nurse, sales representative or fresh graduate. Use it as a guide and replace every detail with your own.
4. 4Fill in your name and contact details, add a photo if you want one, and only the personal details you need, such as nationality. Empty ones are left off the CV.
5. 5Write your summary, then add each job with one achievement per line, plus education, courses, skills and languages with levels. New graduates can tick the option to show education first.
6. 6Watch the page preview and page count as you type, and trim if the CV runs past two pages.
7. 7Download it as a PDF with real, selectable Arabic text, or as an editable Word file.

For online job portals, choose Classic: its single column is the easiest layout for applicant tracking systems to read.