You are on your way back home from work. Just like any other day, you are traveling by cab, you open your personal mail on your phone and scroll through. And you suddenly stop as two new emails pop up in your inbox from the companies you have recently applied to.
Excited, you open those emails and read through. While both the companies have scheduled an interview, one has asked to send a ‘resume’ while the other has requested to carry your updated CV.
What is a CV? Are CV and resume the same thing? What’s the difference between CV and resume?
Well, if you often get confused between these terms, you are not alone. So, let’s clear your major confusion first. CV and resume are two different things. And let’s see how they are different.
What is a resume?
People often refer to sample resumes to create their own. . If you have created one, then you’ve probably listed out the points that highlight your professional experience.
The other sections mention your educational background and skills and the personal details, of course.
Resumes are not more than one to two pages long. So what’s the purpose of such a short document? It’s to give recruiters a brief overview of your work history.
The word ‘resume’ in French itself means ‘to sum up’. So those one-two pages should clearly highlight the key facts of your professional experience and should be catered to a particular job application.
Want to confirm what key factors to add to a resume and in what format?
See the short checklist:
- Your name and contact information, including your current job title
- Resume objective or summary
- Work experience
- Education
- Skills
- Additional sections whenever applicable.
In the additional sections, you can mention courses are done, certifications or awards, licenses, or your interests.
What is a CV?
Before you know what a CV is, let’s look at its full form first. CV stands for Curriculum Vitae, which in Latin means ‘course of life’.
As the name suggests, your CV should describe your career in depth. Usually, a CV is two-three pages long, but it can even exceed10 pages depending on your work experience.
So, what does it include? The major sections are your professional experience, education, publications, honors, and other achievements.
Let’s see what you should include while creating your CV.
- Your name and contact information
- Personal profile or statement, or research objective
- Education
- Professional experience
- Fieldwork experience/ research
- Publications
- Awards/ honors
- Memberships/ affirmations
- Extracurricular activities
- Languages and skills
- References
Now, whether you are creating a resume or a CV, what matters the most is presenting the key facts about your career clearly and concisely. If you want to efficiently list your skills, you must hone your writing skills.
Don’t worry, it’s easy to improve these skills and there are several tips and tricks. Let’s see some quick tips to craft a great resume or CV.
Resume and CV: Writing tips
- Highlight relatable information
Although it applies to the resume you can also follow this tip for your CV. The most important is to highlight your education, work experience, and skills relatable to a particular job profile or the industry.
For example, if you are applying for a job in the education field, include only the work experience related to the job profile.
However, for CV, mention your experience in teaching at the top.
- Use the right template
Templates make everything easy! All you have to do is download the right template and fill in your details.
This will ensure a clean and precise resume or CV. Employers will be able to go through your education and work experience more efficiently and quickly.
- Proofread and edit
Never hurry in sending out the document as soon as you’re done. Take a break and come back with a fresh perspective. This will help you find and correct any spelling, grammar, or context-related errors.
Need more help in creating your resume or CV? Why not take an online course that will improve your writing skills? The courses taught by the professionals and industry experts will also give you insider’s tips on creating the perfect resume and CV.
