Resume vs. CV: What’s the Difference?

A resume is a selective, persuasive document. You choose what to include for each job and leave out what doesn’t help. It is used for almost every job in the US private sector, nonprofits and most of the public sector.

• Length: one page, two for longer careers.
• Content: summary, work experience with results, education, skills.
• Tailored: you adjust it for each application.
• No photo, date of birth or personal details beyond contact information.

An academic CV is a complete record of your scholarly career. You use it for faculty positions, postdoctoral and research roles, graduate school, fellowships and many grant applications. It is not trimmed to a page count: it grows over your whole career.

• Education first, including dissertation title and advisor.
• Publications, in a consistent citation style, separated into peer-reviewed articles, books, chapters and works in progress.
• Conference presentations and invited talks.
• Teaching experience, with course names and your role.
• Grants, fellowships and awards.
• Research experience, service to the department or profession, and professional memberships.
• References, often with full contact details, when the application asks for them.

Medical and scientific fields often use a CV as well, for residencies, research posts and some clinical roles. If a posting asks for a CV and the job is not academic or scientific, it usually just means a resume.

Outside North America, “CV” is the everyday word for the document Americans call a resume. A UK or Irish CV is typically up to two pages, starts with a personal statement and lists work history in reverse-chronological order, much like a US resume, without a photo.

Elsewhere in Europe the name is the same, but local customs vary: a photo is common in some countries, and personal details such as nationality may appear. The European Union also offers the Europass CV, a standard template some employers and public institutions accept or request.

Australia and New Zealand use both “resume” and “CV” for the same document, which tends to run a little longer than a US resume.

• Purpose: a resume sells you for one job; an academic CV documents your full scholarly record.
• Length: a resume is one to two pages; an academic CV has no fixed limit.
• Tailoring: a resume changes for each job; a CV is updated as your record grows, with small changes in emphasis.
• Main section: experience and results on a resume; publications, research and teaching on an academic CV.
• Used for: most jobs in the US versus academia, research and some medical posts.

1. Follow the posting. If it names a document, send that one.
2. US job outside academia and research: a resume, even if the form field is labeled “CV”.
3. Faculty, research, postdoc, fellowship or graduate school application: an academic CV.
4. Job in the UK, Ireland or Europe: a local-style CV, which in practice is a two-page resume adapted to that country’s customs.

Moving from academia to industry? Turn your CV into a resume: cut publications to a short “Selected Publications” line or remove them, rewrite research as projects with results, and add the skills industry postings ask for.