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Haha, how funny that US people laugh at other ways of making your CV. I'm myself surprised because it seems that only in the US the trend is to focus on accomplishments and avoid everything else.

I lived and worked in 3 different continents, and most of the formats I've seen and was required to write were the long CV with lots of personal information, sometimes including pictures.

I'm not defending this style, but maybe just explaining the usefulness. Keep in mind the main difference between a US resume and another country CV: achievements vs. information.

The driver license for example, may look weird to put it in your resume because it's an easy exam (you don't brag about it), but believe me, in other countries were not everyone knows how to drive a car (for different reasons varying from a different transportation system, manual transmission cars only, the family of an individual never owned a car, other cultural differences - in some countries is rare to see women driving) that information is really useful. Once we hired a project manager and relocated him to a remote location were there was no other transportation than our 4 wheel drive jeep. Most of us in the administration drove the cars of the organization and were fine about it. We were surprised that only after he relocated he revealed to us that he didn't know how to drive and that we had to hire a driver for him!!! (in some countries, it's usual to have a driver so the boss can still speak on the phone while traveling, or can just rest, besides it's a showcase of hierarchy or prestige if he can afford it). We had a very restricted budget for that location and it turned out very bad not knowing that info. I know that you can find out about it in the interview, but since we had few CVs for that position we made a direct decision and hired him because he was by far the best candidate and didn't interview most of the applicants.

In some countries you pay compensations to the employees for each dependent of the family (spouse, children), and other allowances for school age kids, some of them in a monthly basis, other once a year (for example when the school starts), other occasionally (when a child is born) so it's a must when reviewing candidates for a position to know in advance those details in order to budget properly. Usually, when applying for a job the candidate sends a letter to show his interest plus the CV. So, that personal information will go to the CV and before interviewing the candidate you already know it. If you can't afford under the law to pay for a specific position all the allowances for a number of dependents, then you save time not interviewing the candidates with most number of dependents. It really makes sense and for me it's not funny at all, but I can understand why you find it surprising. In one country I worked, when the wife gets pregnant you pay a compensation of about 6 months and keep the position available for her if she decides to return for 2 years, so if you hired someone else for that position you have to move around the people in the office to comply with the law. If you are hiring a woman 32 years old that got married 3 months ago, then you know she will work for you few months before taking the leave (since she won't wait many years to have kids as she is getting old for that). In that setting, it's imperative to know this information.

About the picture: I read once in a Carnegie book the story of Abraham Lincoln that after interviewing a person and sending him away, his assistants asked him: "why if he looked like a good fit for the job?" A. L. said: "I just didn't like his face." His assistants replied: "well, what can he do about it?" A. L. replied: "after 30, a person is responsible for his face." If you pay attention to the faces of people, some characteristics will show you whether the person smiles often, gets angry often, is boring, etc. Those characteristics only deepen with time. If you are the interviewer and see 2 almost identical CV, you can already have some insights if you have the pictures of the candidates before the interview. I know this feature is on decline and recently I haven't seen many CVs with pictures on them, but in the past it was common. I also remember some companies requiring you to hand write your CV (that was some years ago), they would not take another option. The same reason: some people believe that your hand writing shows traits of your personality, character, etc.

I think it's ok to laugh about a poor CV if written by a fellow of your country, because it shows that he doesn't know what he's doing. If you're laughing at how others did it in other countries, then for me it just shows how narrow your knowledge is and how little international exposure you have. In a anthropology seminar I attended I learned that people who can't adjust to another culture are those who are not open minded enough to understand the possibility that things are done different in other places and that is ok. In the CV case, I think that other countries have other customs for a reason, otherwise they wouldn't do it that way, don't you agree?