Biodata Format for Job (2026): Free Sample, What to Include and When to Use a Resume Instead

When a job notice says "send your biodata", it wants a one-to-two-page document that opens with your personal details and then lists education, experience, skills and a signed declaration. That is a different document from a resume: send a biodata to a startup and you look dated; send a resume to a PSU office that wants fields filled and it gets returned. Here is the exact section order, two copy-ready samples, a modern variant, and a five-step conversion for when a resume is the better choice.

Biodata vs resume vs CV: what the words mean in India

In Indian offices the three words get used loosely. What matters is what the reader expects on page one. A biodata leads with who you are (date of birth, address, languages). A resume leads with what you can do (a summary and achievement bullets). A CV is the long academic version; our CV format guide covers it in depth.

Freshers deciding between the two should read our resume format for freshers; campus and portal applications want the resume.

When employers actually ask for a "biodata"

The request comes from a recognisable set of employers, and spotting them tells you which document to send.

• Proprietor-run businesses. Shops, showrooms, CA and law offices, clinics, small manufacturing units. The owner reads it personally and wants to know your age, where you live and whether you can start on Monday.
• Government, PSU, bank and municipal forms. These come with a printed or PDF proforma. Fill the fields exactly as laid out and attach self-attested copies.
• Schools and coaching institutes. Private schools in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities routinely say "biodata with photograph" for teaching, clerk and warden posts. For a CBSE or ICSE school in a metro, a resume in the style of our teacher resume guide works better.
• Drivers, office assistants, receptionists, security, field staff. The hiring manager needs licence details, languages and address proximity more than achievement bullets.
• Site and contract trades. Electricians, fitters, technicians hired through contractors, where trade certificates and licence numbers matter.
• Nursing and paramedical posts in smaller hospitals, whose own forms ask for registration numbers and DOB.

One clarification, because search results mix the two: a marriage biodata is a different document with family and horoscope details, and nothing on this page applies to it.

Standard job biodata sections, in order

The traditional Indian job biodata follows a fixed sequence. Keep it; the reader expects to find each item in the same place every time.

1. Heading. "BIODATA" centred at the top, or your name in bold. If a photo is asked for, it goes top right, passport size, plain background.
2. Personal details block. Name, date of birth, gender, nationality, marital status, languages known, address, phone and email. Father's or husband's name only when the form asks. Use a two-column table or labelled lines, never a paragraph.
3. Career objective (optional, one line). Name the role and the setting. Our career objective guide has examples; keep it to one sentence here.
4. Educational qualifications table. Columns: Qualification, Board or University, Year, Percentage or CGPA. Highest first. Include Class X and XII; small employers and government forms want them.
5. Work experience. Most recent first: employer, designation, city, dates, and three to four lines of what you handled. Freshers put internships or training here under "Training / Internship".
6. Skills and technical qualifications. Software (Tally, MS Excel), typing speed with language, licences (driving licence class, wireman licence), trade certificates, machines you can operate.
7. Additional information. Certifications, awards, notice period, references if asked. Hobbies only in the traditional format.
8. Declaration. "I hereby declare that the information furnished above is true to the best of my knowledge and belief." Then Date and Place on the left, Signature on the right.

Sample job biodata: fresher office assistant, Patna

A B.Com graduate applying to a chartered accountant's office in Patna that advertised "office assistant, send biodata". One page, traditional block, and still two concrete things she did during training.

Compact sample: experienced electrician, Surat

For an experienced tradesperson the personal block shrinks and licences and employers take the space. This is a senior electrician applying to a textile mill's maintenance department through a contractor who asked for a biodata.

The modern biodata: keep the word, drop the dead fields

Many employers who say "biodata" simply mean "send me your details" and are not attached to a marital-status line. A modern biodata keeps the familiar structure and the declaration, which small-firm owners like, but trims the personal block to fields that matter for the job, and it parses cleanly because it uses plain lines instead of nested tables.

• Name, phone, email, city. The full postal address can wait until you are hired.
• Date of birth only if the role has an age limit (government, drivers, security, some bank contracts).
• Languages known, which matter in customer-facing and field roles.
• Licence or registration numbers relevant to the trade: driving licence class, wireman licence, nursing council or pharmacist registration.
• Notice period or availability, which is what the owner actually wants to know.

Father's name, gender, marital status, nationality, religion, caste, height and weight move to the joining form if the employer asks later. Hobbies go unless relevant: a school hiring a sports teacher cares that you play district-level cricket; a CA firm does not care that you listen to music. If you want a sharper opening than an objective, the one-line profile title in our resume headline guide works just as well at the top of a biodata.

What to leave out for private-company applications

A private employer receiving applications by email, Naukri or LinkedIn is not reading a form; a recruiter is scanning for fit. Anything that slows the scan or raises a compliance question should go.

What replaces them is a two-line summary and bullets with numbers, which is exactly the shape of a resume.

How to convert a biodata into a resume in 5 steps

A biodata already contains most of what a resume needs; the work is reordering and rewriting. Follow our step-by-step resume writing guide if you want the long version.

1. Collapse the personal block into a two-line header. Name on line one; phone, email, city and LinkedIn on line two. Delete DOB, gender, marital status, nationality and address.
2. Replace the objective with a three-line summary. Target role, years or degree, two or three core skills, one result. Nisha's would read: "B.Com graduate with a DCA and Tally Prime certification. Completed a four-month office trainee stint at a consulting firm handling registers, correspondence and voucher entry. Seeking an office assistant or accounts support role in Patna."
3. Turn the education table into reverse-chronological lines. Degree, institute, year, percentage. Drop Class X once you have three or more years of experience.
4. Rewrite duties as achievement bullets. Every "responsible for" becomes an action verb and a number: "Maintained visitor, courier and file registers for a 12-person office, around 40 entries a day, with zero missing entries in the quarterly audit." Three or four bullets per job.
5. Delete the declaration, add a keyworded skills section, and test it. List tools and certifications in one block using the exact words from the job posting, then check your resume's ATS score free and fix anything the parser misreads.

Any of the minimal single-column designs in our resume templates library will do for the result; if you prefer Word, the Word resume format guide keeps the file parser-friendly. The one-line headline you use on portals should then match the resume; see resume headline examples for Naukri.

Frequently asked questions

Is a photo required on a job biodata?

Only if the employer or the form asks. Government and PSU forms, schools and many small firms expect a passport-size photo at the top right. For private-company applications by email or portal, leave it out; it adds nothing to screening.

Should I write my father's name on a biodata?

Only when the form has a field for it, which is typical of government, bank, PSU and some school forms. For a free-format biodata sent to a private company, skip it; it is not used in hiring and it dates the document.

What is the correct declaration wording for a biodata?

The standard line is: "I hereby declare that the information furnished above is true to the best of my knowledge and belief." Follow it with Date, Place and your signature (typed name is acceptable for email submissions). Some government forms print their own declaration; in that case copy their wording exactly rather than using your own.

Can I send a biodata instead of a resume to an IT company?

No. IT services companies, startups and any employer running an applicant tracking system expect a resume: a header, a short summary, achievement bullets and a skills section. A biodata that opens with date of birth and marital status reads as out of date. Use the five-step conversion above and check the result with the free ATS score checker before applying.

How long should a job biodata be?

One page for freshers and anyone under five years of experience; two pages at most for senior or government applications where the form demands detail. If it runs long, the personal details block is usually the culprit.

Is the biodata format the same for government jobs?

Government, PSU and bank recruitments usually publish a prescribed proforma with the notification. Fill it field by field in the order given, attach the listed documents, and do not substitute your own layout. Without a proforma, the traditional format on this page with the full personal block and a signed declaration is what such offices expect.

Should I mention caste or category on a job biodata?

Only when a government or PSU form has a category field (General, OBC, SC, ST, EWS), because reservation and age relaxation depend on it. Never add caste, religion or category to a biodata for a private employer.

Related guides & tools

• Free ATS score checker — see how a parser reads your biodata or resume
• Resume format for freshers — the one-page layout campus and portal recruiters expect
• CV format — when a full academic CV is the right document
• How to write a resume — section by section, with examples
• Career objective for resume — one-line objectives by role
• Resume format in Word — keep a Word file parser-friendly
• Resume headline for Naukri — the profile title recruiters search
• Resume templates — 100 ATS-friendly designs