CV vs resume: what's the difference, and which one should you send?

A resume sums up your work experience, skills and education as they relate to one job, in one or two pages. A CV, from the Latin curriculum vitae, “course of life,” lists everything you've done in academia: every degree, research project, course taught, publication, presentation and grant, with no page limit.

Princeton's Center for Career Development draws the line clearly: in the U.S., a CV is an exhaustive academic summary used to apply for roles in academia, scientific research and medicine; in Europe, Ireland and New Zealand, the term CV means the same as a resume in the U.S. So the CV vs resume question has two answers, depending on the country.

The references row surprises people: Princeton's guide says to always include them on an academic CV and not to include them on a resume. See references on a resume for how to handle them when you send a resume.

A resume is a strategic, targeted summary of the skills, achievements and experience that relate to the job you're applying for. CareerOneStop, the Department of Labor's career site, recommends keeping it to 1 to 2 pages and putting your qualifications near the top, because a person typically scans a resume for 15 to 20 seconds. Most employers also run resumes through an applicant tracking system (ATS), so the words of the posting matter.

• Contact details and job title: name, city and state, phone, email, LinkedIn.
• Summary: three or four sentences on who you are and what you bring. See our resume summary examples.
• Work experience: most recent first, with bullets that show results.
• Education, then skills, certifications and languages.

Not sure how much to include? Our guide on how long a resume should be covers one page vs two by experience level.

A CV is a detailed record of your academic activities and accomplishments. Princeton lists what it includes: degrees, teaching experience, research, awards and honors, professional associations and licenses, publications, presentations and other achievements. Capella University adds that a CV is usually at least two pages and has no set limit: it should be as long as your education and career require.

• Contact information
• Education, with dissertation or thesis title and advisor
• Research experience and interests
• Teaching experience: courses, level, your role
• Publications and presentations, in your field's citation style
• Grants, fellowships, honors and awards
• Professional service and memberships
• References, with full contact details

A CV is a living document: you add each new paper, course or grant as it happens, and you reorder sections to stress research or teaching depending on the position.

Read the posting first. Capella notes that employers normally state which document they want. When they don't, the field decides:

• Send a CV for faculty and lecturer positions, postdocs, research scientist roles at universities and institutes, fellowships and grants, and many graduate school applications.
• Send a resume for business, nonprofit, government and most healthcare, tech and trade jobs. Princeton advises a resume for industry positions where a Ph.D. isn't required, because recruiters typically don't have time to read a CV.
• Federal jobs take a resume, and a short one: since September 27, 2025, OPM limits resumes to two pages. Professional publications can still appear when relevant.
• Research jobs in industry: Princeton notes an academic CV is likely fine when the people hiring share your background, such as a research institute or an industry research team.

In the UK, Ireland, much of Europe and New Zealand, people say CV for the document Americans call a resume: a short, targeted summary for a job. Princeton's guide makes the same point. A British recruiter asking for your CV usually wants something close to your U.S. resume, adapted to local spelling and habits.

Local conventions differ beyond the name. Some countries expect a photo, a date of birth or a different length; a U.S. resume leaves out the photo, date of birth, nationality and marital status. Follow the instructions of the posting and the norms of the country where the job is, not the label on the document.

1. Start from the job posting, not from your CV: list the skills and qualifications it asks for.
2. Write a summary that names the target job and your strongest results, in plain language.
3. Turn research and teaching into experience: one bullet per transferable skill (project management, data analysis, presenting to non-experts, supervising students), with a number when you have one.
4. Select publications: Princeton suggests keeping only those relevant to the work, and minimizing or folding honors into the education section.
5. Cut to one or two pages: one page for consulting, finance or tech, Princeton recommends; two pages are fine when the job requires a Ph.D.
6. Remove references and replace academic jargon with the words of the posting.

• Move education to the top and add your thesis or dissertation title and advisor.
• Add full sections for research, teaching, publications, presentations, grants and honors, each in reverse chronological order.
• Drop the page limit, but not the clarity: consistent headings, the same citation style throughout, no dense paragraphs.
• Add references, typically faculty members who know your work, with their permission.
• Replace the sales tone of a resume summary with a short statement of your research interests, if your field uses one.

• Sending a 6-page CV to a corporate job: the recruiter reads the first page and moves on. Turn it into a resume first.
• Sending a 1-page resume to a faculty search: the committee looks for your full publication and teaching record and can't find it.
• Mixing the two: a resume with a full publication list, or a CV with a sales-style summary and no citations. Pick the document, then follow its rules.
• Listing references on a resume: they belong on a CV, or on a separate list you send when an employer asks.
• Adding a photo or date of birth for a U.S. job because a template from another country had one. U.S. employers don't expect them on either document.
• Ignoring the posting's wording: if it asks for a CV, a cover letter and three references, send exactly that, named the way it asks.

The Kandiq resume builder makes resumes: contact details, summary, experience, education, skills, software, languages, certifications and interests, in one or two pages. It isn't built for a full academic CV: there's no publications or teaching section in the editor. In Kandiq's UK English version, the same document is called a CV, because that's the word British employers use.

The Kandiq resume checker reads your resume the way a U.S. employer expects it: it flags a document that runs past two pages and personal details such as date of birth or nationality, which don't belong on a U.S. resume.