Your career documents are the first impression you make to a hiring manager. These professionals have only a few seconds to skim your application – six seconds is the average time window. So, you don’t have much time to make an impact! Choosing the wrong type for your industry could result in losing your dream job opportunity. Learn the difference between a professional curriculum vitae and a resume, and when to submit each.

The Professional Curriculum Vitae

CV stands for curriculum vitae, which loosely translates to “the course of my life” in Latin. As the term implies, a professional curriculum vitae provides a complete and comprehensive history of your career. It’s most often used in academic and medical fields, though they may be the norm in certain countries outside the United States. If you’re wondering, “how do I write my CV?” make sure your information is presented in thoughtful and complete detail. A CV contains the full extent of your accomplishments, qualifications, research, extracurricular activities, and job history. When you create a curriculum vitae instead of a resume, there’s no preferred length – a CV is as long as it needs to be to tell the course of your life, or in this case, your career.

You might want to do a curriculum vitae instead of a professional resume if you’re applying to a career in academia or medicine. You should also consider a CV for jobs outside the U.S. For example, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and New Zealand use a CV as the norm. Submitting a resume there would be red flag, indicating that you didn’t do your research before applying. Many countries in the European Union also use a CV format; you can even download formats by country.

The Resume

A resume is the standard for most industries in the United States. It is a targeted snapshot of career history and achievements to help secure a job. While a CV is as long as it needs to be, a professional resume is generally limited to two pages. However, executive positions may require three pages or more. Recent graduates usually do well with a resume format that’s no longer than a page.

You should tailor a resume for every job that you apply for, although this isn’t necessarily the case for a CV. While there is some  customization with a CV, you’re not revamping it for every new position.

A good resume format should be easy to read. Let a hiring manager know what experience and qualifications make you an ideal candidate for a position! Be succinct and to the point, with optimized keywords for an applicant tracking system.

If you’re unsure whether to submit a professional curriculum vitae, Spring Forward Resumes can help! We specialize in tailoring your resume for a job search or piecing together a complete work history for your CV. For more information on our services, please contact us.