In my line of work and experience, I come across different kinds of application documents that people submit as job applications. However, most people do not know that a CV is, in fact, different from a resume. Recently, I got a client who requested for a European format CV. I had to sit down and critically analyse the difference between the two and furthermore show how both documents are used worldwide.
What is a CV?
A CV (Curriculum Vitae, which means course of life in Latin) is an in-depth document that can be laid out over two or more pages. It contains a high-level of detail about your achievements, a great deal more than just a career biography. The CV covers your education as well as any other accomplishments like publications, awards and honours, among others. The document tends to be organised chronologically and should make it easy to get an overview of an individual’s full working career.
A CV is static and doesn’t change especially when applying for the same kind of position in your particular line of work. I usually recommend that you keep tailoring the CV according to the position being applied for and should always seek for keywords in that particular application. If you take the time to tailor your CV, the HR or recruiter will take the time to notice it.
What is a resume?
A resume, or résumé, is a concise document typically not longer than one page as the intended reader will not dwell on your document for very long. The goal of a résumé is to make an individual stand out from the competition. A résumé doesn’t have to be chronological, doesn’t have to cover your whole career, doesn’t need to have all your information and is a highly customizable document according to the job you are applying for. A résumé is a brief summary of your skills and experience over one or two pages, a CV is more detailed and can stretch beyond two pages.
So where is the difference?
The major three differences between CVs and resumes are: length, purpose and layout. I would say the main difference between a resume and a CV is that a CV is intended to be a full record of your career history and a résumé is a brief, targeted list of skills and achievements. A CV is the preferred document of choice in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. Resumes are often used only when a candidate is applying for a job as a result of a reference – this happens often when a candidate has been referred to a particular job as a result of networking.
Resumes can also be used during internal recruitment within organizations when an employee is seeking to be promoted to another position. A resume is the preferred application document in the US and Canada. Americans and Canadians would only use a CV when applying for a job abroad or if searching for an academic or research oriented position. In the UK, Ireland and New Zealand, a CV is used in all contexts and resumes aren’t used at all.
The CV prevails in mainland Europe and there is even a European Union CV format which we have currently just started doing for people who want to send applications abroad. In Germany, the CV is more commonly known as a Lebenslauf (true to the Latin origins) and is the document of choice for jobseekers. In Australia, India and South Africa, the terms resume and CV are used interchangeably.
The term resume is used more for jobs in the private sector and CV is more commonplace when applying for public service positions. It’s not that hard to convert your document to any of the required styles when seeking employment and if you hit a brick wall, just ask me for help.
Gloria Michelle Otieno is the Director, Recours Four Kenya Consultants Limited. Email: [email protected]
