The bottom line as you construct both your CV and resume is: Have I made my top three skills/strengths relevant to this position clear? Remember this question while you write your documents, including your cover letter.

Key differences: Length and Audience

The two biggest differences between a resume and a CV are the length of the document and the audience for whom they are intended.  A CV for a recent Ph.D. graduate will likely be about 3-5 pages.  That same individual's resume will be 1 page; 2 at the most.  The audience for the CV is academic in nature: a CV is designed for a scholarly audience and is primarily used for academic positions, research grants, fellowships, etc.   (Please note: this article focuses on an American CV; international CV's are different-- read this if you're trying to write a CV for the international market.) 

Resumes, in general, are one page in length and designed to create a professional identity geared toward a more general audience in business, nonprofit, government, etc.

How do you know when to use each document?  Sometimes it's a judgment call, so start with the job description and/or the position advertisement.  Does the employer specifically request a resume or a CV? If the position requires substantial academic training (doctorate) it is more likely to require a CV, even if it's not in an academic setting.  On the other hand, lawyers and other professionals who have the equivalent of doctoral-level training generally use resumes.   Keep in mind the audience for the document.

As you write either document you'll want to think about how to create the most effective presentation of your skills and talents, as well as what factors in your experience and education demonstrate your ability to fulfill the requirements of the job.

Well-written CV's and resumes both need to be relevant to the employer, be organized in such a manner that the reader can find the desired information quickly and easily, be clear in language and presentation, and show a consistent message and format. 

Before we proceed with more details about specific sections of a resume or CV, let's stop to consider what's actually going on in the human resources office or on the search committee.  In both cases, the individuals screening candidates are trying to get the stack of resumes/CV's down to a manageable size.  They are going to make rapid decisions based on hiring criteria, and their goal generally is to eliminate as many candidates as possible in the first round.  This means that any misspelled words or typos, mistakes, irrelevant information, sloppy formatting, are all going to result in elimination.

If you want your resume/CV to stay in the consideration pile, you need to make sure that the information about you that is most relevant to the position you're seeking hits the reader between the eyes.  Don't bury important information in the middle of your document.  Make it easy for an employer to see what your strengths and talents are and connect them to the desired position. 

Both resumes and CV's present information in reverse chronological order: the most recent education and experiences are listed first in their respective sections. Use action verbs to highlight your strengths and accomplishments. Here's a nice guide to active verbs with helpful explanations on creating strong bullet point entries. 

Present your information in an organized hierarchical system-- again, with the most relevant information first.  Use what is called "gapping language" rather than full sentences in both resumes and CV's.  Gapping language refers to the use of sentence fragments which begin with an active verb followed by a noun or a description of sorts. (There is no "I" in a resume or CV.)  For instance, instead of writing, "Last summer I participated in a research study of teenagers, collecting and analyzing the data for an article soon to be published" you might write:

Researched adolescent behavior; interviewed subjects, collected and coded data, and analyzed data using XYZ statistical software.

Prepared data for inclusion in forthcoming article in Psychology Today.

Here are some specific sections of a resume/CV to consider:

HEADING

• This section is the same whether on a resume or CV.

• The heading is simply your name, address, email, and phone.  Do not include any personal information.

EDUCATION SECTION

This is usually the first section in a CV and resume for recent graduates because it's what you are selling to the employer. 

• If several years have passed since you received your degrees, or if your education isn't relevant to the position you're seeking, you can move your education section to the end of your resume. 

• Most CV's list formal education first throughout an individual's career.

• Focus first on the name of the institution, the degree received, the major, and the graduation date on both the resume and the CV. If you haven't received your degree yet, write "Degree expected" and add a date. 

• You can also add Awards or Honors in this section if you don't have enough for a separate section.

CV: 

• You will include your dissertation title (and a short explanation if necessary), the name of your advisor and possibly the members of your committee, depending on the tradition within your field of study.

• If you have received additional training through workshops on teaching methods, seminars, computer training, etc., create a separate section called "Professional Training" and place this section after your Experience, Presentations, and Publications sections. Professional training usually doesn't carry the gravitas of formal education and shouldn't be included in the Education section.  (Again, this is subject to interpretation-- if your professional training directly relates to the position you're seeking, you can include it in your education section-- just keep the formal edcuation at the top of the section.)

Resume: