The resume and CV are both documents that list educational accomplishments, work experience, skills, and professional activities. The resume is the more common of the two documents, used by most organizations in the private and public sectors, as well as the non-profit world. The CV, or curriculum vitae, is almost exclusively the domain of scholarly or academic employment, though it can also be relevant when applying for some research, government, and academic administrative positions. The most noticeable difference in format between the two documents is length: the CV has no page limit, but the resume should be restricted to one page (for PhDs a 1.5-2 page resume may also be acceptable). The next most noticeable difference between the two documents is in the level of detail. CVs contain comprehensive lists with full bibliographic information for published papers, conference presentations, and other professional activities; this information is usually too detailed for a resume, which should instead include concise statements, such as, “Published 3 peer-reviewed papers in competitive scholarly journals.” The most substantial difference between a resume and CV is perspective. CVs are focused on the individual, the job seeker, and her individual accomplishments. The focus of resumes should be on the fit between the job seeker and the job, highlighting general skills demonstrated by research, teaching, etc. with less focus on expertise and content details of research. This difference is further elaborated in the Inside Higher Ed article "Sharing Success in New Ways," which gives the following advice about resume-writing:
- Do "not get bogged down in the content details (e.g. Baroque symphony, astronomy, or Canadian First Nations government). Instead draw attention to the more meta-level aspects of your work (e.g., student success, grant writing, growth in programs)." In general, focus on transferable skills, e.g., "effective writing, public communication, awareness of student needs, program development, corporate organization, data analysis, and many others."
- "It is [...] important to quantify your contributions. [...] There are many avenues to do this: specify amounts of time you spent on a project, indicate numbers of students effected by your work, highlight relevant efforts that contributed to the department’s mission, provide concrete measures of success, and explicitly frame direct responsibilities within an initiative. [...] remember to select and frame your numbers in ways that will indicate your transferable skills. 'Developed an engaging bridge program for the math department for 125 community college transfer students annually; a program with a 95 percent completion rate and contributed to a 20 percent increase of higher at-risk students declaring a math or science major' is much easier to transfer into another position than, 'Taught a summer semester introduction to calculus course for two years.'"
- Resume Writing Guide for PhDs [PDF - MSU PhD Career Services]
