In my last post, I distinguished between different aspects of business and academic writing, and I’m going to continue that theme this week by mentioning some differences between the CV and the résumé.
Define your terms
A French word meaning “summary”, the résumé is probably what you think it is: contact information, a summary of your credentials for a particular job, and a list of references. The CV is an abbreviation for the Latin curriculum vitae, or “course of my life”. In general, it’s like a more elaborate résumé, detailing especially academic credentials, information related to your publications, and service to your field.
Matters of function…
It’s best to think of the résumé as a sort of pre-interview. Almost no one gets hired (who wasn’t already going to be hired) on the basis of submitting a résumé, but plenty of people will make it to a job interview based on their résumés. Moreover, interviewers will often ask questions based on specific details in your résumé. So, if you happen to be applying for a very competitive job, adopt the strategy of including a quirky detail or description of your work that will invite a question from an interviewer. It’s a much better way of standing out than using cream-colored résumé paper.
As the translation suggests, the CV can be longer, more detailed, and perhaps more circuitous than the résumé. You want to give your readers not only ‘the sense’ of your commitment and interest to the job you’ve applied to, but far more importantly, enough detail to show them that you’re qualified for the position. For jobs that require CVs, in academia, medicine, and law, your work and credentialing process tends to be vocational rather than professional, which is to say that it involves years of training for a type of work that is also a way of life. The CV not only shows that you’re appropriately credentialed and motivated, but also that you’re a ‘good fit’ for the way of life entailed by the job.
…and style
Résumés tend to be shorter than CVs. They should fit on a single sheet (front and back), may involve special formatting or typesetting, and should make you seem, at a glance, fully qualified for the job. Consequently, and perhaps most importantly, the résumé should do no harm to your application. If there are aspects of a job you’re less familiar with or a credential you’re still working on, save it for the interview. CVs, on the other hand, should be as complete as possible: leave out nothing that you think might be relevant. Not that you should highlight your weaknesses, but information in the CV should be complete enough that, if you have weaknesses, they’ll be evident to your reader.
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