Curriculum Vitae vs. Resume: What Is a CV?

A curriculum vitae (Latin for “course of life”)—commonly referred to as a CV—is a job application document that describes the full breadth of your scholarly and professional career. In contrast to its close cousin, the resume, a CV places particular emphasis on academic achievements. These include institutions attended, degrees earned, and honors received. For this reason, a CV is sometimes called an academic resume. A curriculum vitae is most commonly used in academic job searches. These include professorships, fellowships, administrative positions, and research positions. Hiring managers and recruiters in other industries may prefer a standard resume that primarily emphasizes work history and hard skills that match a posted job description. When preparing a CV—particularly an academic CV—job applicants should adhere to a standard CV template with the following sections. 1. __Contact information__: Provide your name, phone number, and email address. 2. __Education__: A typical CV gives heavy emphasis to educational achievements. In this education section, list your undergraduate school, major, and degree earned—plus any graduate schools and degrees earned. If you earned academic honors, include those as well. 3. __Relevant work experience__: If you have professional experience—particularly teaching experience—that qualifies you for a specific job, share that in this section. Lay out your relevant jobs in reverse-chronological order, starting with the most recent job at the top of the page. Include job titles, years of employment, and brief descriptions of the work you performed. 4. __Works published__: Standard CV format includes space to list your publications. This can include books, cited articles, chapters in larger anthologies, and published studies. 5. __Presentations__: List any papers or talks you have given at academic conferences or trade conventions. 6. __Grants__: List any work or research grants you have received. 7. __Research areas of interest__: Share your research experience and the academic topics that interest you going forward. 8. __Personal honors and certifications__: If you have received professional or academic honors not tied to a specific university degree, list those in this section. You may also use this section to list certifications. 9. __Professional references__: Provide two to three personal references who can attest to your work as a scholar or colleague. 10. __Professional affiliations__: If you are a member of a professional association, list these memberships on your CV. 11. __Optional personal objective__: Some job applicants begin their CV with a stated objective for their employment. Others find such statements to be more appropriate for a [cover letter](https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-the-perfect-cover-letter) or a personal statement. Personal information such as date of birth, home address, and marital status do not belong on a CV. Expect to provide those on a job application. A CV and a resume are very similar documents, and sometimes the terms get used interchangeably. However, a CV and a resume serve different purposes and use slightly different formatting. - __Purpose__: A CV is mostly used by job applicants in the world of academia. Nearly all other fields prefer the resume format. - __Emphasis__: A CV emphasizes academic achievement. This includes institutions attended, degrees earned, honors received, papers published, and grants received. A standard resume emphasizes relevant work experience and hard skills. - __Length__: Standard resume format calls for no more than two pages of content. Many strong resumes are only one page long. In a CV, the emphasis is on completeness rather than conciseness. CV writing means including every relevant honor, degree, and publication; resume writing means condensing your career into one to two pages. - __Format__: Use bullet points on resumes to list items succinctly. Use complete sentences on a CV in the name of thoroughness. - __Skills sections__: Most resume templates feature a section for hard skills (such as software knowledge and job-specific talents) and for soft skills (such as personality traits). These sections are much less common in a CV template. Consider the following tips when drafting a CV. 1. __Use proper formatting for ATS__. Many hiring managers and recruiters use an applicant tracking system, or ATS, to manage the many CVs they receive for their job listings. ATS software scans resumes and CVs and attempts to filter them to single out the best possible matches. ATS software functions better with Word documents ending in .doc or .docx, as opposed to PDFs. ATS software sometimes struggles with text found in a header or footer section, so write your entire CV in the main text section of a Word document. 2. __Focus on completeness__. While standard resumes require conciseness, your curriculum vitae can be as long as necessary. Include all relevant degrees, work experience, honors, publications, references, and professional affiliations. 3. __View CV examples before writing your own__. If you aren't sure what a CV should look like, you can view sample CVs on sites like ResumeLab and Algrim.co. Even Google Docs offers CV and resume templates to help you with formatting. Get the [MasterClass Annual Membership](https://www.masterclass.com/) for exclusive access to video lessons taught by business luminaries, including Sara Blakely, Chris Voss, Robin Roberts, Bob Iger, Howard Schultz, Anna Wintour, and more. A curriculum vitae, or CV, is commonly used by job seekers in the field of academia.