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Resume versus Curriculum Vitae

What is the difference between a Resume and a Curriculum Vitae?

A Resume is normally a concise one-page summary that describes an individual's education, employment history, awards, biographical information, and other accomplishments. It is intended to focus and highlight just the main strengths of the individual, and demonstrate fitness for the particular post.

On the other hand, a Curriculum Vitae (CV) is more detailed, meant to describe each and every job, training course and accomplishment in full. Thus, CV's tend to be longer, more informative, yet more tedious for the person screening them, while resumes are more brief and easier to scan through but could be too general for the employers needs.
Normally, employers seeking individuals for higher education positions prefer a CV over a resume due to the fact that it tends to be more comprehensive.

Building an effective Resume

A job resume is meant to make an individual stand out from other applicants. Thus, it has to be concise, original, specific and related to the post in question. It is in the applicant's interest to change the Resume from one job application to another to tailor it to the needs of the specific post. All resumes should contain this following basic information that can be adapted accordingly:

Name (includes your full name and surname)

Address (your permanent address plus any other temporary residence stating the dates you will be in each)

Contact Phone Number (your mobile phone number plus your number in each address)

Professional/Career Objective/Goal (this should be related to the post you are applying for and should include skills which you have acquired)

Educational Attainment / Qualifications (the schools/universities you went to, along with the dates and the qualifications obtained from each)

Other significant courses (any extra courses that you might have taken, or seminars you have attended)

Work Experience (includes Job title, Dates worked, Places worked plus any skills obtained from each job)

Other skills / Extra curricular activities (includes things like: active membership in organizations, clubs, charity fund raising etc)

References (includes the names, phone number and your connection with persons who can vouch for you.)

IMPORTANT

The resume should be kept as clean and plain as possible to give off a professional semblance. Fancy decorative paper or fonts should be avoided. The resume is not the place to be flashy.

The resume should be proofread and kept as up to date as possible.

Although it is in ones interest to have a winning resume, exaggerating is not tolerated and results in the opposite of the desired effect.

Building an effective Curriculum Vitae

A Curriculum Vitae needs to encompass all aspects of each element listed below in detail. It needs to be more then just a career biography. Thus, it is suggested that the EU format of the CV is followed, whatever the continent. This is suggested, because the European Curriculum Vitae is superior to the traditional CV because it is designed in such a way so as to give a holistic overview of the individual other then just qualifications and work experience. In fact, the European Curriculum Vitae format covers the

Personal Information

Work Experience

Education and Training

Personal Skills and Competencies

Other Skills and Competencies (acquired outside formal training)

Besides being holistic, this format also enables EU citizens to have a standardized way of presenting a comprehensive overview of their skills and qualifications, which will in turn help to encourage worker and student mobility within the EU states.
The European Curriculum Vitae format is available in a downloadable format (complete with examples and instruction guides) in 25 different languages (EU and EEA). Since this CV format was launched in 2002, it has been downloaded by more then 600 000 individuals.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EUROPEAN CV EXAMPLE WITH INSTRUCTIONS

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