Language Proficiency Levels on a Resume: CEFR, LinkedIn and ILR Scales

On a resume, state each language with a CEFR level, from A1 (beginner) to C2 (near-native), and add the test that proves it when you have one: for example "French: C1 (DALF C1)". The CEFR is the scale recruiters, universities and resume parsers recognise internationally. LinkedIn's five labels, such as "Professional working proficiency", come from the US ILR scale and have no official CEFR equivalent, so add the CEFR level next to them.

This guide puts the three scales side by side, converts the main test scores (IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC, Cambridge, DELF and DALF, Goethe) to CEFR levels, and shows how a resume parser reads what you write. Every equivalence comes from the organisation that publishes the scale or the test, linked at the end.

The CEFR levels (A1 to C2)

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages was published by the Council of Europe in 2001 and extended by a Companion Volume in 2020. It has six levels in three groups.

For most office jobs run in a foreign language, employers ask for B2 or C1. Customer-facing, legal or editorial roles often ask for C1 or C2.

LinkedIn proficiency levels and their CEFR equivalents

LinkedIn lets you pick one of five labels for each language. They follow the names of the US Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale, which is why they talk about "working" and "professional" proficiency. Neither LinkedIn, the ILR nor the Council of Europe publishes an official conversion to the CEFR, so the right-hand column is the usual reading by recruiters, not a standard.

The middle label is the one people misread most. A research table hosted by the ILR puts ILR level 3 at C1, while many recruiters read "professional working" as a solid B2. If you have a test result, write the CEFR level and the label goes from vague to precise.

The ILR scale

The ILR scale is used by US government agencies. It runs from 0 to 5, with "plus" levels in between for someone who is clearly above a level but not yet at the next one: 0 No proficiency, 0+ Memorized, 1 Elementary, 2 Limited working, 3 General professional, 4 Advanced professional and 5 Functionally native, with 1+, 2+, 3+ and 4+ in between. You will mostly see it on resumes for US federal jobs, defense and diplomacy roles; elsewhere, the CEFR is more widely understood.

In the US, the ACTFL scale (Novice to Distinguished) is also common in education. ACTFL published its own one-way CEFR ratings for its tests in 2016: Advanced High speaking is rated C1 and Superior is rated C2, for example.

Language test scores converted to CEFR

A test score is the strongest proof of a level, and the main tests publish their own CEFR tables.

A few caveats from the test makers themselves. IELTS says its bands are not exact equivalences, and treats band 5 as the border between B1 and B2. ETS moved TOEFL iBT to a 1–6 scale on 21 January 2026, where the same number means the same CEFR level in every section; until January 2028, reports also show a comparable 0–120 total. For the TOEIC, ETS gives minimum scores per level and asks that they are not applied too strictly. Cambridge exams each target one level (A2 Key, B1 Preliminary, B2 First, C1 Advanced, C2 Proficiency), but a strong result can certify the level above.

How to list languages on a resume

Give languages their own seperate section, one line per language, with the level and the proof. Put the language that matters most for the job first.

• English: C1 (IELTS 7.5, 2025)
• Spanish: B2, used daily with clients in Madrid for two years
• French: native
• German: A2

Four habits make that section easier to read, for people and for software:

• Write the level as text. Star ratings, progress bars and percentages are pictures; a resume parser can't read them, and a recruiter does not know what "80%" means.
• Avoid words without a scale. "Fluent", "good" and "conversational" mean different things to different readers. If you use them, add the CEFR level in brackets.
• Date your test. Results from tests such as IELTS and TOEFL are usually accepted for two years, so the year helps.
• Don't overstate. A language listed on a resume is often checked in the interview, sometimes in that very language.

Want to see how your own CV reads? Our free ATS resume checker shows which fields a parser finds, languages included.

How resume parsers read language levels

Applicant tracking systems use a resume parser to turn the CV file into fields, and recruiters then filter candidates on those fields: "Spanish, B2 or above". That only works when the level comes back as a value on one scale, not as the free text the candidate wrote. Parsers differ alot here; many return the text as written, and you have to clean it up yourself.

The HireLayer resume parsing API returns every language with a CEFR-based level, or null when the resume states none. The six possible values pair a working-proficiency label with its CEFR level, from "Introductory Proficiency (A1)" to "Native or Bilingual (C2)". Here is the languages block of the example response in our documentation:

"languages": [
  { "language": "English", "level": "Native or Bilingual (C2)" },
  { "language": "French", "level": "Professional Working Proficiency (B2)" }
]

Because the value always comes from the same list, a filter such as "B2 or above" works accross every CV, whatever wording the candidate chose. The full list of values is in the CV Extract documentation, and our guide to what a resume parser is explains the other fields it normalizes, like dates and educaton levels.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and further reading

1. Council of Europe: CEFR global scale (Table 1)
2. Interagency Language Roundtable: speaking skill level descriptions
3. LinkedIn API reference: language proficiency values
4. ACTFL: assigning CEFR ratings to ACTFL assessments
5. IELTS and the CEFR
6. ETS: TOEFL iBT score scale update
7. ETS: mapping TOEIC Listening and Reading scores to the CEFR
8. Cambridge English: B2 First results and the Cambridge English Scale
9. France Éducation international: DELF
10. Goethe-Institut: German exams
11. HireLayer CV Extract: languages field reference