Job Resumes

Resume, CV and Curriculum Vitae Formats

The resume, CV or Curriculum Vitae? - That is the question!

A Curriculum Vitae - Latin for "course of life", most often called CV, is used mainly in Europe.

North Americans use CVs in international job search overseas or if they are seeking a faculty, research, clinical or scientific positions, as well as positions in higher education.

In a great degree the North American resumes are equivalent to European CVs.

The major difference between resume and CV is in their lengths, use and format. Usually, the standard CV is between 2 and 8 pages long where the standard resume is between 1 and 2 pages long.

Whereas resumes are a reflection of your main accomplishments only, European CVs are detailed accounts of your education and work experience to date. Outside the U.S., CVs generally include information such as personal data, hobbies and interests, and greater detail about education than would be included on a U.S. resume. Applying for a job abroad differs from country to country. Therefore, if you want your job application to be taken seriously, you must consider national differences correctly.

A CV is similar to a resume in that it provides more details about one’s professional qualifications, experience and education. However, the term "Curriculum Vitae" most often called CV, typically carries a different meaning depending on whether one distribute the CV within the US, Canada or internationally (external to the US or Canada) or is seeking a faculty, academic, research, clinical or scientific position. Outside the US, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and China the CV is used exclusively in a job searching process.

You can turn your updated resume into a CV by adding relevant detailed information and expanding the descriptions of your educational and professional experiences or you can turn your current CV into a resume by shortening some descriptions of your educational and professional experiences.

Generally, most information referring to resumes is applicable to CVs and vice versa. However, you should be aware that there might be subtle conventions associated with the international job application process within different countries .

There are various formats of resume writing: functional resume, chronological resume, keyword resume, creative and targeted resume to name some.

Regardless of the format you choose the focus of your resume and persuade the employer to invite you for an interview. Therefore these pages contain guidelines that will improve the odds of your resume achieving the objective you want - obtaining job interviews.

As you can see from the above table the majority of countries, except the strike-through countries like Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand and the USA use CVs instead of resumes. For China, Japan and New Zealand it is a matter of semantics - the both names, a resume and a CV are being used synonymously.

Remember that your resume must be targeted, scannable and generate hits.

If you have a difficulty with your resume writing, instead of staring at a blank piece of paper, use

• "fill in the blanks" resume writing computer software,
• automated resume builder or
• human resume writing service

We are strongly recommending that you send your resumes together with cover letters.If you have a difficulty with your cover letter writing use one of these:

• "fill in the blanks" computer software or
• human cover letter writing services.

Other Resume Info

Now to finalize your job search, if your cover letter and resume are ready, you may email them through international job search engines to job recruiters and headhunters worldwide.

Start preparing for job interviews and check the job interview tips do's and don'ts. Also, find out why people are not hired for available jobs.

In addition, on job search, visas, work permits, cover letters, CV / Resume, job interview and dress codes pages, you will find very useful tips for many different countries.

Good luck with your resume!

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