CV for Poland, UK, USA: Key Differences

When you relocate or just start applying abroad, the first instinct is: 'a CV is a CV, I'll send the same one.' No. A Polish recruiter, a British HR manager, and an American hiring manager look at your document differently, expect different formats, and will silently filter you out for some things without ever saying why. This post is about where the difference is fundamental, where you can reuse the same version, and what is an absolute no-go in each market.

Poland: CV like Germany, but with nuances

The Polish IT market was shaped by strong Central European standards. Listing a photo, date of birth, and even marital status is still common, especially in non-IT companies. In IT it is no longer required, but a photo still surprises nobody. Format is A4, chronological or reverse-chronological. Length: 1-2 pages unless you are a senior with 15 years of experience.

Polish recruiters like specifics in the tech stack. If you are a backend developer, a list of technologies in your profile or a separate Skills section fits perfectly. ATS exists but is not as aggressive as in the US. Many companies still read manually, especially mid-market businesses and outsourcing shops like Allegro, Comarch, or local studios.

• Photo: neutral one is fine. Not mandatory in IT, but not a red flag either
• Language: Polish or English depending on the company. Check the job post
• Format: PDF, A4, no unusual fonts
• Summary/profile: useful, but keep it short, 3-4 sentences
• Polish language level: mention it if you have it, it is a real advantage

What really matters for Poland: if you have any B1+ Polish, mention it. It opens significantly more roles even when the listing is technically in English. Also: many Polish companies hire on B2B contracts via JDG or ryczałt. If you already know that scheme, mention it in the cover letter. It saves everyone time.

UK: no photo, no date of birth, and please no extras

The British standard is very clear on anti-discrimination. You never include a photo, date of birth, gender, or marital status. The Equality Act does not legally bar you as a candidate from listing these, but any serious HR person will get nervous. It signals either 'this person does not know local norms' or 'compliance headache incoming.' Either way it hurts you.

Format: it is called a 'CV' here, not a 'resume.' Two pages maximum. British hiring managers strongly dislike three-page documents. Reverse-chronological order. At the top: name, contact details, LinkedIn. Then a short profile (Personal Statement or Professional Summary), 3-5 sentences. Then experience, education, skills. A GitHub link or portfolio link is fine.

• No photo, no date of birth, no marital status
• Two pages maximum. Better to cut than to pad
• British English spelling: 'organised', 'analysed', not 'organized', 'analyzed'
• 'References available upon request': do not write it. Everyone assumes this anyway
• Right to work: if you have it, mention it separately or in the cover letter

On the right to work specifically: if you are a Ukrainian living in the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme or Homes for Ukraine, you have the right to work. State it explicitly. Otherwise the recruiter assumes the worst and does not bother asking. One sentence in your cover letter or at the bottom of the CV resolves it.

USA: resume, one page, and the ATS will eat you alive

The American market is a separate planet. They do not say CV, they say resume. And that is not just a name change, it is a different document. One page if you are not in academia or not an executive with 20+ years. No photo, no personal data except name, phone, city (not full address), and email. Date of birth is taboo because of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Photo is taboo because of a whole stack of anti-discrimination law.

ATS here is the most aggressive in the world. Large companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Stripe process thousands of resumes weekly. The system parses your document and matches keywords against the job description. If the job says 'Kubernetes' and you wrote 'K8s,' the system might not match it. That is exactly why the AI CV Analyzer is useful not as hype but as a real check: it shows you the specific words you are missing.

• One page. Really. Even if you have a lot to say
• American English spelling: 'organized', 'optimized', not the British variant
• No photo, no full address (city and state is enough)
• Metrics everywhere: not 'developed API' but 'reduced API latency by 40%'
• Objective section is almost never used anymore, Summary is fine
• Work authorization: if you are on H-1B or TN, state it. If you need sponsorship, better to disclose upfront too

On metrics specifically: American recruiters scan a resume in 6-10 seconds on the first pass. They are looking for numbers. 'Implemented caching' means nothing. 'Implemented Redis caching, cut p99 latency from 800ms to 120ms' gives them something to grab. If you do not have hard numbers, indicate scale: 'for a platform serving 2M daily active users.' That reads too.

Where one CV works (and where it definitely does not)

Honestly: one identical CV will not work anywhere. But there are things you write once and carry across all versions unchanged. The substance of your experience is the same. The key metrics are the same. The tech stack is the same. What differs: length, personal data, spelling, tone of the summary, and whether there is a photo.

In practice this means: keep one master document with all your experience and metrics. Then build three versions: Polish (or Central European), British, and American. The difference between them is 30 minutes of work, not three days. If you track your applications in a job tracker, you can attach the specific CV version to each application and never mix up which version you sent where.

What you must never do in any of the three

Some things look equally bad in Warsaw, London, and New York. Regardless of the market.

• Functional format instead of chronological. All three markets dislike it for IT roles
• Empty buzzwords with no context: 'team player', 'result-oriented', 'passionate about technology'
• Unnamed companies with no context: 'Worked at startup' with no name and no explanation
• Reasons for leaving in the CV. Never, anywhere
• Personal email addresses like supercoder1994@mail.ru or kolya_dev@bigmir.net
• Tables and text boxes in the PDF, the ATS simply cannot parse them
• A .docx file sent without checking how it looks after conversion

Quick comparison: Poland, UK, USA

If you want everything above in one place:

1. 1Photo: Poland - acceptable, UK - never, USA - never
2. 2Date of birth: Poland - sometimes still listed, UK - never, USA - never
3. 3Length: Poland - 1-2 pages, UK - 2 pages, USA - 1 page
4. 4Document name: Poland - CV, UK - CV, USA - Resume
5. 5ATS aggressiveness: Poland - medium, UK - medium-high, USA - very high
6. 6Metrics: Poland - preferred, UK - preferred, USA - required
7. 7Spelling: Poland - both British and American EN are fine, UK - British EN, USA - American EN

If you are applying to multiple markets simultaneously, which is not unusual right now, check each version separately. The AI CV Analyzer shows which keywords from a specific job description are missing from your document and gives line-by-line comments. That is faster than guessing why you are getting no replies.