Resume Versus Curriculum Vitae (CV)
The word “resume” is derived from the French for summary or abstract and when used correctly includes the accent marks. Without the diacriticals, it is the word “resume”which means begin or start again. While often used interchangeably, the term curriculum vitae’s derivation is Latin and in fact means course of life. Both present an individual’s education, qualifications and previous occupations.
The biggest difference is that a resume is more commonly used in the American job market for corporate or non-profit applicants and is more concise. When used in the American market, the CV is for people in the scientific or academic communities showing broader experience including lists of publications and research projects.
Internationally a CV is required as a job application and is a more comprehensive account of one’s life. Depending on the country, it can include education going back to primary school, and employment going back to the first job. Moreover, outside the U.S. questions can be asked about marital status, race, age, gender, religion, etc. – all of which are forbidden questions in the U.S.
What's the purpose of a resume?
For our purposes, we will address the parameters for a resume. To begin with, a resume is a job history device that ideally only lists work history for the last 10 to 12 years. On occasion, if earlier jobs are relevant to the positions being pursued, one can go back 15 years. But it is ill-advised to show history older than that on your resume.
The reason is three-fold: (1) you are treading a slippery slope by showing your age, (2) older skills and technology have been by more recent ones, and (3) you have progressed to more responsible functions which are of more relevance to the potential position and therefore of more interest to the recruiter.
A few important factors to consider
Condense the resume ideally to no more than two pages, but absolutely not more than three. CV’s, on the other hand, can be three to five pages. No one has the time or inclination to read a book. So, because the word “resume” means summary, one must avoid repetition particularly in job descriptions.
Avoid listing tasks, instead focusing on achievement on your resume. If a recruiter wants to know the tasks involved in your job, they will ask their own HR department for a printout. What they want to know from your resume is how you added value to your employer in the course of doing your job for the money they pay you as a salary. In other words, more bang for the buck. This is usually measured in money or percentages. For example, you saved $50,000 dollars by sourcing more competitive vendors or reduced processing time by 30% with more efficient, streamlined procedures.
A resume is first impersonally “read” by a computer algorithm searching for key words. Key words or terms constitute skills, expertise, and quantitative qualifications that are inherent in the job description of the position that the prospective employer is seeking to fill. They are usually articulated in the job vacancy notice and should be synonymous with your body of knowledge and experience. You should not be trying to twist a square peg into a round hole on your resume. To put it succinctly, don’t be trying to sound like you’re qualified if you are not.
Only go after jobs for which you are well suited by experience or, at the very least, training. If the program finds what it is searching for, the resume will be printed and passed along to a recruiter for personal and qualitative examination. At that time, appearance and ease to read will count heavily. Also, once a person is looking over your history on your resume, a cover letter will come into play. The subject of cover letters will be touched upon in a later article.
How one goes about crafting an attention grabbing resume?
Assuming you have the qualifications being sought and reflected in your key words, since a resume is an impressive promotional piece that markets you to a prospective recruiter or hiring manager, to be successful you must capture their attention. A focused, well-constructed resume will serve that purpose.
The first step to creating a compelling resume is to understand which format best suits your needs. There are essentially three basic types of resume formats with a number of variations.
1. Reverse Chronological Format
The most common resume format is reverse chronological which lists your position, place of employment and duration dates in reverse order, listing the most recent first, followed by the immediately previous job and the one before that, so on and so forth, without gaps in employment. Keep in mind you want to stay within the 10-15 year boundaries.
This resume format is used when one wants to demonstrate a running litany of their work history without any particular focus. It also accommodates the individual who has always worked in a similar capacity in the same industry or has a diverse history which qualifies them for a number of different industries without pigeonholing particular functions. For example, a paralegal who has worked at several law firms, or an administrative/executive assistant who has worked in that capacity at a number of different firms in different industries.
2. Functional Format
The second resume format to consider is functional which is also known as the “skills resume” because it summarizes your qualifications, emphasizing experiential skills, education, and achievements, with less focus on the job history.
This is particularly useful if you have always done the same job and want to avoid being repetitiously duplicating job descriptions. For example, a veterinary assistant in a number of private practices or animal hospitals would always: intake pets, get medical history from pet parents, triage and admit emergency conditions, assist with medication and nutrition, and assist veterinarians during procedures.
So mention those functions on your resume once after indicating education/training and body of knowledge. Then list the employers and durations. It can also be used by someone with gaps in their work history or many jobs of short duration who wants to emphasize ability and expertise rather than consistent employment.
This resume format is also warranted if you are making a career change and wish to isolate the functions from previous jobs that will be useful to the new career. These are illustrated in the functional abstract and then list employment, albeit in entirely different professions, but show discipline and employability. So, let’s say you want to migrate to a job as a help desk agent in IT.
Your undergraduate degree is in computer technology but your history has not been in keeping with your education. Rather, you’ve been working as a troubleshooter receptionist at an auto parts company, sales associate in retail, customer service representative for an electronics store.
Your functional expertise is information technology, software applications, and computer troubleshooting as well as telephone etiquette, patience, problem identification and resolution, customer service delivery, and ability to troubleshoot and prevent re-occurrence of original problem by educating the caller.
3. Hybrid Format
The third resume format is a hybrid which is a combination of chronological and functional. It takes the best features of both formats and gives you the opportunity to showcase your accomplishments and skills up front and then provide a detailed employment background that validates the statements in the summary and showcases noteworthy achievements on your resume.
In which format should one write the resume?
If you are applying for a municipal, state or federal government position, a CV is the preferred format because it combines the aspects of a chronological resume and application. Specifically, it incorporates employer’s address, supervisors’ names and contact information, salary and hours for each position. Likewise, if you are pursuing a teaching or science-based position a CV is appropriate.
The next step in your resume preparation pertains to layout. Remember, a resume is not a poster cosmetically adorned with decorative borders, diverse fonts and graphic icons. It should employ a straightforward symmetrical style utilizing white space and not compressed into a tight busy style.
You should use a minimum of fancy fonts that might not be common to the recipient’s printer and therefore end up looking entirely different than your intention. Stick to widely held serif (curvy) or sans serif (angular) fonts such as Times Roman, Ariel or Helvetica. Stifle the urge to use a lot of different fonts for emphasis or fancy do-dads. Instead, economically use bold, underlining or italics within the same font for emphasis.
At the top of the page you should center your Name. On the next line accurately list and double check your personal email address (no work email), LinkedIn address (if warranted), phone number by which you can be most easily reached, usually your mobile/cell number. There is no need to also list a home phone and we advise against listing your work number unless you are pursuing a promotion at the same company. If you are looking for a new job at a new employer, listing your current work number or work email is dangerous since you should not be conducting a job search on your current employer’s time. Technically, that is theft of services and if they find out they can fire you. Oh, and be aware that companies do troll phones and emails on their job site, so to be safe don’t do anything on the job that could be embarrassing or result in termination.
A recent trend has been to omit your residential address for privacy reasons. However, you may list a mailing address such as a post office box in case they want to send you physical brochures, pamphlets or paperwork by mail not email.
What to list in the Summary
Next, you should begin with the heading “Summary” or similar term followed by a list of qualifications, aptitudes and special skills that give the reader a thumbnail sketch of who you are and what you can do.
The next heading is either Education (if within in the last five years or anticipated shortly) or Experience wherein you provide employment information. List college degrees or partial college attendance and your major. Also list any academic honors such as Dean’s List, Valedictorian, etc. An international CV can require high school or elementary school. If education is more than five years old or you did not attend college you can list your high school or GED and that category moves to the end of the resume.
If you had professional awards or honors such as Top Regional Sales Agent Five Years Running, you can create a heading “Distinctions” and list them because this category near the beginning of your resume will induce the recruiter to keep reading. Who wouldn’t want to know more about this candidate.
Now you are ready to elaborate on your Experience. It is important to mention the use of bulleted sentences as opposed to narrative paragraphs in job description. Recruiters skim read, so they prefer bulleted sentences because paragraphs require concentrated reading to glean important details.
Description should be achievement oriented!
While on the subject of job descriptions, you should be less task-oriented and more achievement- oriented. It’s more important to tell the recruiter how you grew the business in dollars or percentages than day-to-day minutiae. For example, if you are pursuing a sales position and want to stand out as a force to be reckoned with express how you grew the revenue year over year in $ or % figures. The recruiter’s attention will be grabbed when you say “Increased sales by 20% each year” or “Doubled the client based within the first two years.”
Also, unless you are pursuing a job in acting, modeling, hostessing or some other position where your facial appearance is important, do not include photographs. They can be used against you. You should win or lose the position based on merit, not how you look. A photo might be allowable on a LinkedIn profile, but not on the resume.
Recruiters will pass-on a poorly written and full of errors resume
Finally, you have reached the point of re-writing the content of your resume. In the interest of holding the recruiter’s attention, remember that they will not give credence to a poorly written account of your background.
If your thoughts are not expressed clearly and logically or rife with errors, they will assume you are scatterbrained, not detail oriented or observant, and your writing reflects how your job performance will be substandard. They want someone who takes pride in their work.
In resume writing, personal pronouns are not used. Instead, first person verbs start the sentence. So, do not write “I researched and resolved problems” – instead it should read “Researched and resolved problems.” Also, I cannot over-stress the importance of proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. With respect to verb tenses, your current job should be in present tense and all other prior jobs should be in past tense.
Don’t overuse the same verbs, particularly in sequence. Try and alternate verbs with meaningful action synonyms. Further, suppress the use of the passive phrases such as “Able to identify issues” or “Responsible for identifying customer concerns.” Instead, take active ownership and start the sentence with the verb… so, write “Identified customer concerns.” The phrase “Able to” implies you have not actually performed the action, just have the capability; and “Responsible for” just takes up unnecessary space.
Check, double and triple check before submitting your resume!
Revisiting accuracy, double check contact information particularly phone numbers and email addresses for obvious reasons. Moreover, if you are making reference to dollar amounts or percentages make sure they are correct. You can be certain a recruiter may want to confirm figures you lay claim to and will be turned off by inflating numbers in an effort to aggrandize your importance. If you are not absolutely certain of a number, simply say “Demonstrably increased…” or “Significantly reduced…” which will give you time to research the actual number which you can mention in conversation during an interview.
One final thought. If all of the foregoing is overwhelming because your English skills are shaky or you are uncertain how to put it all together to showcase you in the best light – turn to a professional writing service, preferably one that is experienced in resume preparation.