The “CV vs. resume” issue has since been bothering many job hopefuls.
As a professional, you might have also encountered before the challenge of knowing how these documents differ. If you’re still in need of a guide when to use each document, read on to find out their differences and know which one you should create.
CV vs. Resume: The Battle of Job Search Tools
Resume and curriculum vitae (CV) share a common goal: to present you to the employer in the best light possible. However, geographically speaking, the position you want or your target employer or firm will determine which of the two you must send.
In the US, sending a resume for every job application is a common practice, unless applying for a job in the academe, research, or overseas. In these cases, Americans present a CV. Moreover, most employers in other countries such as the United Kingdom and those in the Middle East prefer CVs.
While both documents are vital in your job search, mainly, their major difference lies in the content. A resume sums up your best skills and experiences, while a CV comes with a list and then explains or describes your experiences, skills, qualities, and other pertinent details to convey your worth for the post.
Want to know more about the difference between the two? Check them out below.
Resume
A resume outlines your expertise and experiences linked to the career or position you want. That said; it can simply set you apart from other job hopefuls. It just takes good writing knack to create a piece that neatly stresses your credentials, relevant skills, and feats.
Know the basics of resume writing—from choice of format to keyword inclusion—to impress your future employer. To start off, choose the right resume format by taking your personal circumstance into consideration. Also, remember your resume should be tailor-made for the post you intend to fill in.
At most, resumes don’t exceed one page and include key details below:
Name and Contact Information. The header section must contain your complete name, phone numbers, email address, and present home address.
Profile Summary. Give the reader a glimpse of your qualifications in 4 or 5 sentences, using strong adjectives that truly describe you both as a worker and as a person.
Areas of Expertise. List down all your industry-focused skills and strengths to convey how you will be able to perform the job toward reaching the firm’s goals.
Work Experience. This section includes the names and locations of the firms you have worked for, inclusive years of employment, your job titles and their descriptions, and key achievements for each job held.
Other “minor” sections are education, awards and honors, training, certifications, affiliations, and technical skills.
Tip: If you want to pursue a creative job, create a visual or infographic resume.
Curriculum Vitae
CV is a highly detailed account of your life’s pursuits, those most relevant to the professional and academic realms. Thus, it is vital when applying for a job in the academe or research.
The usual CV length of someone who’s just starting their graduate school career may be two or three pages. In contrast, the number of pages of an expert researcher’s CV may reach 4 pages or more.
Here’s what a CV contains:
- Name and Contact Details. They include your complete name, telephone number, email address, and present home address, along with the contact information of your current school or work.
- Academic History. Unlike in a resume where you only put the college and post-graduate degrees or the highest degree earned, this one lists all your schooling from high school. Specifically, it cites the degrees you earned (even if in progress), the schools you went to, year of completion, and titles of your theses or dissertations.
- Work Experience. Create a list of your teaching knowledge, field exposure, laboratory practices, volunteer works, and other related job experience.
- Skills. Put here both the hard skills and soft skills you have gained over the years.
- Honors and Awards. In citing the honors and awards you have received, put the name of the award and the organization, year received, and brief description about such award.
- Grants. Through this section, tell the hiring manager about the grant or scholarship, date received, and the grant-giving body.
- Publications and Presentations. This section provides lists of presentations you gave in conferences and your published books and articles.
- Memberships. A list of professional groups you have joined. Put here the organizations’ name, location or chapter, and the dates of your membership.
CV vs. Resume: Tips on Resume and CV Writing
Now that you know the many differences and similarities between CV and resume, try making one yourself. Heed these helpful tips to produce a job-winning piece.
- Seek a pattern or guide. A sample output or template will help organize your copy, giving ease when the recruiters view your credentials. You may browse some resume samples here.
- Tailor your resume or CV to the target job. In your resume, put a career tag and include the work experience that relates to your desired post. In a CV, if you are applying for a job in education, place your teaching experience near the top.
- Put keywords. Besides being a good way of tailoring your piece to the job, keywords will make your application visible and relevant to online searches, letting the recruiters to find you.
- Remove irrelevant details. Don’t lose your chance of getting hired after dismaying the hiring manager with the content of your application summary. Hence, unless called for, avoid putting photos, salary history, and reason for leaving your previous job.
- Edit, edit, and edit. A flawless document can impress anyone. Thus, make sure you have no spelling and grammar errors and the format is consistent. For instance, if you use bullet points in one job duty, apply them to the succeeding ones, too.
Still don’t know how to write a CV or resume? Can’t find the best curriculum vitae example or clueless about the right CV format for job? Need more help to fix your job search tools? Let our expert CV writing service help you win your dream job with a stunning copy. Contact us today to get started!
Sources: indeed.com | how2become.com | thebalancecareers.com
Photos by Lukas and Tirachard Kumtanom from Pexels
