CV vs resume: what is the difference?

Two words, two meanings

"Curriculum vitae" is Latin for "the course of life". "Résumé" is French for "summary". Those original meanings still explain the American distinction: a CV records the whole course of an academic career, while a resume summarises the parts of your working life that matter for one job.

The confusion comes from the fact that most of the English-speaking world never adopted the American split. In Britain, Ireland, India, Nigeria, Kenya and most of Europe, people say "CV" for the short document Americans call a resume. So a Londoner's "two-page CV" and a New Yorker's "two-page resume" are, for practical purposes, the same thing with slightly different habits.

CV vs resume at a glance

This table compares the North American resume, the job-application CV used in most other countries, and the academic CV used by universities and research bodies everywhere.

Which word is used where

Usage is not fixed by law, and big international employers often use both words. The table describes what you will usually see in job ads. When in doubt, mirror the word the employer uses.

This is general information, not legal advice. Practices vary between employers: follow the job ad.

The academic CV

An academic CV is the one document that genuinely differs everywhere. Universities, research institutes, medical schools and funding bodies use it to judge your record as a researcher and teacher, so completeness matters more than brevity. Nobody expects a professor to fit thirty years of papers on two pages.

What goes in an academic CV

• Contact details and current post: name, title, department, institution, email, and an ORCID iD if you have one.
• Research interests: two or three lines, not a full statement.
• Education: PhD first, with thesis title and supervisor, then earlier degrees.
• Academic appointments: posts, fellowships and visiting positions, most recent first.
• Publications: grouped by type (peer-reviewed articles, books, chapters, conference papers, preprints) in one consistent citation style, with your name in bold.
• Grants, funding and awards: funder, amount if you are comfortable sharing it, your role and the years.
• Teaching: courses taught, level, your role (lecturer, tutor, teaching assistant) and any teaching qualifications.
• Supervision: research students supervised and their outcomes.
• Conferences and invited talks: title, event, place and date.
• Service: peer review, editorial boards, committees, outreach.
• Referees: often listed at the end, with permission.

The order shifts with the job. A teaching-focused post should put teaching higher; a research fellowship should lead with publications and grants. The Quill template suits academic CVs: its serif headings and quiet layout read well over many pages, and it supports publications, courses and awards sections. Open Quill in the builder to start.

When to use which

Work through these questions in order and stop at the first one that applies.

1. Does the application say what it wants? If it asks for a resume, a CV, Europass or an online form, do exactly that.
2. Is it a university, research or academic medical post? Send a full academic CV, wherever it is.
3. Is the job in the US or Canada? Send a resume: one page for early-career, two at most for experienced candidates, no photo.
4. Is the job anywhere else? Send a CV of one to two A4 pages that follows local habits for photos and personal details. Our CV format guide explains them by region.
5. Is it a graduate school application? Programmes often ask for a "CV" even in the US. They usually mean a short academic-style CV: education, research, projects, relevant work and skills, typically one to two pages.

Turning a CV into a resume (and back)

From a UK or international CV to a US resume

• Remove personal details and the photo. No date of birth, nationality, marital status or photo. Keep your city, state or country, phone, email and LinkedIn.
• Cut to fit. One page if you have under about ten years of experience. Drop jobs older than 10 to 15 years or reduce them to one line.
• Rename the profile. "Personal profile" becomes "Summary", and it should be two to three lines.
• Remove references. US employers ask for them later.
• Switch to American spelling and conventions: "organized", "analyzed", GPA rather than degree class (or explain your degree class briefly).
• Lead every bullet with a strong verb and a result. American recruiters expect numbers where you have them.

From a US resume to an international CV

• Check local norms for photos and personal details. Add them only where they are expected.
• Allow a second page if it helps you show relevant experience. Don't pad it.
• Add languages with a level (many European employers use the CEFR scale, A1 to C2).
• Use British spelling for the UK, Ireland, Africa and India, and the local language where the ad is in that language.

From a job CV to an academic CV

Start from your education and research, not your most recent job. Add every publication, presentation and grant. Industry jobs stay, but move further down and shrink to the parts that relate to your research or teaching.

In CompleteCV you keep the same content when you switch templates, so you can create one version, download it as a free PDF, then edit and download another without starting again. Section headings can be switched between UK and US English and several other languages in the Customize tab.

Common mistakes

• Sending a five-page CV to a US company. A resume is a short summary by design.
• Squeezing an academic record onto one page. Hiring committees want the full list.
• Adding a photo because a template has a space for one. Hide it for the US, Canada, UK and Ireland.
• Mixing conventions: American spelling on a UK CV, or "References available on request" on a US resume.