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CV Writing Help

CV Writing

The Perfect CV

Employment Gaps

How Your Job History Can Affect Your Career

CVs Versus Resumes

Covering Letters

CV Templates - Advice

Spelling and Grammar

CVs and Resumes Compared

A resume is the document commonly used if applying for employment in the United States while in the UK employers favour the CV format.  Many other countries also prefer the CV format so job hunters looking for employment overseas tend to have both a CV and a resume so that they can tailor their job search accordingly.  However, it is always important to make sure that you know exactly which document is preferred before sending in your application as even some employers in the US prefer the CV as it provides them with more information.

What’s the difference?

Generally, the CV is a longer, more comprehensive document with much more detail than the concise resume format.  While the ideal length for a resume is one side of A4 paper, a CV is usually a maximum of two sides, with some professions, such as medical and IT, requiring more lengthy documents to describe research, publications or technical skills.

CVs

There is usually significantly more information included in a CV and it is important that this is presented in order of priority.  For example, graduates may wish to emphasise their education rather than their career summary so they will present this information first.

Most CVs start with a professional profile where an individual can summarise key skills and attributes.  If the education section follows, this includes details of graduate and post-graduate qualifications and a brief summary of secondary school qualifications.  This section should then be followed by a summary of other skills such as IT proficiency, typing speed and languages spoken.

The career summary should include brief descriptions of duties and achievements and should be listed in reverse chronological order.  Most recent positions generally consist of more information than earlier roles although this may not be the case if previous roles were more related to your current job search.  It is also normal to provide only brief details for positions held more than ten years ago.  Indeed, these can often simply be listed with no description of duties at all.

CVs should summarise personal details at the end, including visa status for overseas applications, and a brief list of hobbies and interests.

Other types of CV

If a CV is specifically requested by an American employer, it is possible for these documents to be considerably lengthy, sometimes covering up to 10 or 20 pages.  These are primarily required for academic or scientific roles and will provide details of research undertaken, articles published and specialist skills.  A CV for emigration purposes is also longer than the standard CV as much more detail is required for both education and career history.

Resumes

The professional profile, possibly one of the most important sections on the CV, is often completely removed in a resume and the education section is probably one of the only sections that follows the same format as the CV.  A resume tends to focus more on specific skills and attributes rather than on the descriptions of duties undertaken within each role, so the career summary is usually in a list format and key skills and achievements are detailed in a separate section.

The key to a successful resume is to make sure that it is concise with no unnecessary detail; for example, it does not usually include interests and activities away from the workplace.  Ideally, it should be targeted towards specific roles and should be written using Americanised spelling.

The CV Centre is experienced in preparing CVs and resumes for a range of scenarios, including international applications.  Having your CV professionally prepared is one way of significantly improving your chances of success.