Is a Resume a CV?

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Have you ever been on a job website where you were asked to submit a resume or a curriculum vitae (CV)? 

Depending on your career and where you live, a resume or a CV could be a foreign concept. 

While we almost exclusively use the term resume in the United States, CV is used in other parts of the world.

In other countries, such as the United Kingdom, the term CV basically means what we refer to in the U.S. as a resume, and in countries like India, both terms are sometimes used interchangeably. 

However, in North America, CVs and resumes focus on different parts of your work history, and you may need to choose one or the other regardless of where you live, depending on the type of job you want.

So, what do you do if you’re asking yourself “How do I turn my resume into a CV?” or if you’re applying for a position that prefers a curriculum vitae or vice versa?

If that’s the case, you’ll need to understand:

• The differences between a CV and a resume in the U.S.
• When to use a CV or resume
• What information to include in each
• What to focus on in a CV or resume if you want to work in the U.S.

Whichever you choose to draft, our guide on these differences and our handy online resume builder can help you create a solid application in minutes.

Main Differences Between a CV and Resume

What does CV stand for? Have you ever heard of a curriculum vitae? You’re not alone if you haven’t. 

Both CVs and resumes describe your qualifications and career so far.

However, there are 3 key differences:

• Length
• Main points
• Detail

The biggest difference you’ll notice is the length. While a resume may only be one or two pages, a curriculum vitae can be as long as necessary. 

A CV can be two pages or nine pages, depending on the extent of the candidate’s experience, education, and other relevant qualifications.

The highlighted points in a curriculum vitae are professional and academic achievements, while a resume focuses more on work history.

Where CVs and Resumes Are Commonly Requested

If you’re deciding between drafting a CV or a resume, you should be asking yourself where each one is more commonly used and in what sector. 

In the United States, you’ll typically be asked for a resume, especially if you work in a non-academic field.

By using this document you can show off your experience to hiring managers, whether it includes full-time jobs, volunteer roles, internship positions, or awards you’ve received.

On the other hand, the companies or organizations that usually request curriculum vitae have less competition than you’d see in industrial sectors. 

Using a CV to apply for work is recommended if you:

• Work in an academic position
• Work outside of the United States and Canada

If the position you’d like to apply for makes it so that either of these situations applies to you, then submitting a CV is definitely a better option than a resume.

Since academic information and research are given more emphasis in a CV, you should use this when applying for any academic roles.

Writing a CV for a Job Outside the U.S.

You may also be planning to work abroad. 

In that case, you’ll likely only see CVs mentioned in job descriptions. Just remember to check what is expected from a CV in the country you are applying for jobs in, as it might vary.

These are typical areas where you’ll need to submit a curriculum vitae:

• United Kingdom
• The European Union
• New Zealand 
• Asian Countries (China, Japan, Singapore, etc.)

Different countries like the UK or areas like the European Union, have their own unique CV format.

You should follow the common formatting used in those countries to create your CV. Look for examples online from trusted employment resources, such as the UK government’s National Career Service pages.

What Should Be Included in a North American CV?

As we mentioned, in North America a CV is typically longer than a standard resume. 

If you have a resume but need to turn it into a CV, you’ll need to add more information, especially related to your academic accomplishments. 

However, it’s important to remember, just because it will likely end up longer you shouldn’t overdo it. 

To help you out, we’ll break down each section of a CV in detail and explain what should be included.

1. Contact Information

This is pretty basic information, including your preferred methods of contact. 

It’s best to have your professional or cell phone number. Also, list your email address (make sure it is professional in nature, preferably including your name). 

Some recruiters don’t leave voicemails, so providing them an email to follow up with in case you don’t answer is important.

2. Your Summary

Your summary statement will be a short introductory paragraph that outlines the value you can bring to the job you are applying to. It should briefly mention your accomplishments and experience.

Try to keep it to 2 or 3 sentences.

3. Education

The education section should go into full detail about your academic credentials. That means listing all of your college degrees and relevant courses completed. 

Include your bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and any doctorates if you have them. 

Also, include your GPA and any honors if they are noteworthy, for example, if your GPA was over 3.6 you should add it.

4. Academic Achievements

This is a broad topic, but you would actually break them down into their own sections for formatting purposes. Academic achievements include:

• Details of publications you have written or contributed to
• Books you have written
• Cowriting
• Awards and accolades
• Grants 
• Conferences you attended and spoke at, if applicable

5. Professional and Academic Experiences

Experiences in the academic world are broad as well. If you have any teaching or post-graduate experience it can be useful to add information. 

You can break up the different areas like this:

• Teaching
• Lab
• Research
• Post Graduate Work

This section should be the biggest. While you want the whole thing to be written well, be sure to give 1000% effort to these sections!

6. Languages and Skills

As speaking another language is considered an important skill, you can list any that you speak within the same skills section. 

Listing languages is especially important when you’re applying for a job in a country with a different native language. Keep in mind if you go to Europe, it will be helpful to list any of your secondary languages in CEFR format. 

The skills you present here should include your technical abilities as well as soft skills. These could be related to research methods, computing and IT, management, leadership, problem-solving, data analysis, etc.

What to Include in Your Resume

What you include on your resume will be shorter than on a CVs, as the goal will be to sum up everything on 1 or 2 pages. 

The most important things to list could vary depending on the job, so keep that in mind when updating or creating a new resume for a job.

• Contact Information: Like the curriculum vitae, you’ll want to list your mobile or professional phone number. Also, list your professional email. 
• Resume Summary: Nowadays resume objectives are going out of style. Stick to a summary to briefly mention your work history and accomplishments.
• Work Experience: This will be the bulk of the resume, where your relevant professional history.
• Education, Skills, and Accolades: If you have experience you won’t need to go into as much detail in this section as a CV would. However, you should still list your most important academic information.

Our full resume writing guide can give you more information how to fill in each of these sections, and you can check out our resume examples for more specific sector-specific information.

Keep in mind, if you’re an entry level applicant, or have worked in a different field, you can focus more on your skills, especially any that you can use in your new sector. 

Key Points

While CVs and resumes focus on different details, the objective is the same: To land you the job you want quickly.

When working on your application, remember that:

• CVs in the U.S. are more appropriate for academic job openings
• Resumes focus more on your work history 
• Resumes are more common in the U.S. 
• CVs are typical internationally, but each country may have their own preferred format 
• Using tools like resume templates or a builder can make the process smoother

Now that you know the difference and how to write a professional version of both you can draft a stunning resume at home or abroad and in any sector!

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