What is the Difference Between a CV and a Resume?

Table of Contents (TOC):

• Differences Between CV And Resume
• Which Is Better For Fresher: CV Or Resume?
• Common Skills And Certifications You Can Add To Your CV And Resume
  • Soft Skills
  • Technical Skills
• Conclusion
• Bonus Points

When you graduate from school or college, the first thing you do is create a resume or a CV. This is an important step to get your foot in the door of the job market and land yourself an interview. But what is the difference between a CV and a resume? And which one do you need as a fresher?

In this article, we will discuss the differences between a CV and a resume and guide you through making the perfect resume/CV for a job.

Differences Between CV And Resume

Here are the differences between a CV and a Resume:

So the major difference between a CV and resume is its formatting and its purpose. A CV is ideal for those entering the academic industry. You can include your research experience, academic achievements, publications, as well as your grants and fellowships. A resume, on the other hand, is ideal for all other types of job applications. 

Remember this, a resume needs to be precise and to the point. You should include your contact information, work experience, skills, and education. If you still have space left you can add your achievements, certifications, language proficiency, hobbies, and interests.

A good CV/resume is relevant to the occupation and does not contain your personal information.

Which Is Better For Fresher: CV Or Resume?

If you are a fresher wondering ‘Should I use a CV or resume?’ The best advice is to check the job description and understand the role you are applying for. If it is a corporate job role, you can create your resume and add information about your education and skills. If you have done any internships, you can also add those to your resume. As a fresher, these resume writing tips and tricks can help you make your resume perfect.

But as a fresher, if you are applying for a research or academic position, then you will need to create a CV. In this case, you will need to add information about your educational background, research experience, work you may have done, and any other relevant information the job application demands.

Common Skills And Certifications You Can Add To Your CV And Resume

Soft Skills

Your soft skills, sometimes also referred to as people skills, will be relevant to you in almost any job. Here are some examples of soft skills that you can include in your resume:

• Communication skills
• Customer service
• Problem-solving skills
• Time management
• Leadership skills

Some of these skills, like customer service and problem solving, will develop with experience, but other skills like communication and leadership can be taught and learned. You can explore short courses that help you gain these skills and get a professional certificate to add to your resume.

You can explore our website and try the Basics of Business Communication course to help you improve your communication skills. In just 4-6 hours you can learn about the various modes of communication in businesses and how to effectively communicate with your team members, clients, leaders, and more.

If you want to improve your leadership skills you can explore our Basics of Motivation and Leadership course. This is also a 4-6 hours free short course that will help you learn leadership approaches and ways to motivate your team.

Both of these courses offer you the opportunity to get a professional certificate from Cambridge International Qualifications, UK. This will especially look great on your resume.

Technical Skills

While soft skills are transferable to any job and industry, technical skills need to be more industry-specific. Yet there are still some technical skills that can be relevant to most professionals. Those technical skills are as follows:

• Digital Marketing
• Microsoft Power BI
• Microsoft Excel
• Email Management
• Research skills

Having the right skills and certifications to add to your resume/CV can improve your chances of landing the interview and getting one step closer to the job. You can explore UniAthena’s Basics of Digital Marketing course and learn the tools for free. 

Similarly, if you want to learn MS Power BI this Basics of Microsoft Power BI course will help you learn interactive data visualization using the Power BI application. You will learn how to transform large data sets into dashboards and insights for free.

Both these courses can also be completed in 4-6 hours and you can get your certification from CIQ, UK.

Conclusion

Now that you have an understanding of the difference between a CV and a resume, you can create the appropriate CV/resume for your job application. Remember to highlight your skills and experience (if any) and keep the document to the point.

Bonus Points:

• If you have a lot of experience or achievements to add to your resume, you can make your resume 2 pages long. But it’s best to try to keep it short and up to 1 page.
• One of the major differences between a CV and a resume is that a CV is achievement-focused and a resume is skill-focused.