Belgium CV format: what changes when you apply from India

What changes between an Indian resume and a CV for Belgium

CV.

Mixed. Photographs do appear on Belgian CVs and are not expected, and the international employers in Brussels generally prefer them left off.

Nationality and work-permit status are useful; date of birth is optional. Language levels on the CEFR scale are close to mandatory.

Two pages.

Language matters more than spelling here: Dutch in Flanders, French in Wallonia, both in Brussels, English for the EU institutions and international employers. Send the CV in the language of the advertisement and nothing else.

The rules that only apply in Belgium

• Belgium's single permit is issued by the region — Flanders, Wallonia or Brussels-Capital — and the criteria and shortage lists differ between them. The same job title in two cities is two different applications with two different odds.
• Language ability is a screening field for most domestic roles. A precise "Dutch B1, French A2, English C1" beats "multilingual" by a wide margin, because the first can be checked and the second cannot.
• Brussels' international layer — the EU institutions, NATO, the trade associations and the consultancies around them — hires on a different logic to the Flemish and Walloon domestic markets, and a CV written for one reads oddly to the other.

How your CV actually gets read in Belgium

The regional public employment services — VDAB in Flanders, Le Forem in Wallonia, Actiris in Brussels — carry a large share of advertised roles alongside LinkedIn and StepStone, and employers search their candidate databases directly. Registering with the service for the region you are targeting is part of applying there, not an administrative afterthought.

Where Belgium roles are advertised: VDAB, Le Forem, LinkedIn and StepStone.

Check how your CV parses — free, no signup →

What employers in Belgium ask about your right to work

Non-EU nationals need a single permit combining work and residence. The employer applies, the region where the job sits decides, and the shortage-occupation lists that accelerate it are regional as well.

Which of our resume samples travel to Belgium

Antwerp's port and logistics cluster and the pharmaceutical employers across Flanders are the two places an Indian CV lands most easily.

Logistics resume samples →

Pharmaceuticals resume samples →

Project Management resume samples →

Information Technology resume samples →