Career readiness

Résumé or CV: What’s the difference?

Although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, a résumé and a CV are different documents used for different purposes.

A résumé is a one- (or two-) page summary of your skills, experience, and education, usually used to apply for employment in the United States.  A résumé is brief and concise, and highlights the information most relevant to the job for which you’re applying.

A curriculum vitae (CV) is longer (at least two pages) and provides a more detailed summary of your educational and academic backgrounds, as well as teaching and research experience, publications, presentations, awards, honors, affiliations, and other details. In Europe, the Middle East, Africa, or Asia, employers may expect to receive a CV for job applications. In the U.S., a CV is used primarily when applying for academic or research positions. It is also applicable when applying for fellowships or grants.

Résumé overview

Basic résumé example

Formatting basics

• Limit to one page with most relevant items at the top.
  
  • Use a smaller font size (11-12) and thinner margins (.5”) to fit content.
• It’s better to write résumés from scratch than to use a template.
  
  • Templates can be hard to edit and résumés should be updated frequently. Templates are also hard for Applicant Tracking Systems to read.
• Utilize bold, CAPITALIZATION, and italics to make it easier to read. 
• Start with a Qualifications section with three to six bullet points focused on the value you bring to a potential employer. 
• Consider splitting your experiences into two sections: Relevant Experience (related to the position to which you’re applying) and Additional Experience (other paid positions, volunteer roles, projects, and extras not directly related).

How to share your experiences

• Include experiences of all kinds — paid positions, volunteer roles, extracurricular projects classwork, and more.
• Focus on the following to show the employer how you are qualified for the position for which they’re hiring:

1. What did you do? Be specific. Highlight skills that you want to bring to the new role. 
2. How did you use these skills? Be sure to use strong action verbs to paint a clear picture. (See 185 verb examples in Deeper dive section below!) 
3. What was the result of using these skills or what impact did you make? Use specific numbers if you can, and be sure to give yourself credit for your hard work! 

Sample experience bullet points:

OK	Helped with volunteers at local library book sale.
BETTER	Recruited and trained 15 volunteers at local library book sale.
BEST	Recruited and trained 15 volunteers at local library book sale, cutting the average customer queue time by 10%.

 

OK	Active member of Haven, a club for LGBTQ+ students that sponsors community events.
BETTER	Volunteered at events as a member of Haven, a club for LGBTQ+ students that sponsors community events.
BEST	Coordinated four open mic nights that raised $500 for local charities as a member of Haven […]

 

OK	Successfully completed a class project using coding and design tools for iPad environment.
BETTER	Designed and implemented coding and design tools for iPad environment.
BEST	Designed and implemented multiple MVCs for iPad environment using Objective-C.

Deeper dive: How to build an excellent résumé

How to tailor your résumé to a specific job

Master résumé = pantry

First, we recommend that everyone keep a master résumé as a Word document in your files. Store all your experiences from work, volunteer, and significant coursework here. Think of this like the pantry in your kitchen where you keep all your ingredients (e.g., flour, sugar, oil, etc.). This document will get long — and you don’t need to share this résumé with any employers (or even print it!).

Specific résumé = recipe

Then, when you’re applying to a specific position, think of your résumé as a recipe to get that position. On this résumé, include only the experiences and skills that the position asks for. (To extend the kitchen metaphor, a certain position might want flour and oil but no sugar, so you’ll leave that off.)

Example: job description with tailored résumé

Is your résumé too short?

• Consider adding Project Work: Have you taken courses in which you worked in a team to provide a presentation or other deliverable at the end, that’s relevant to the position you’re applying for? Give yourself an appropriate title (e.g., Project Manager, Data Analyst, or Lead Designer) and list what you did in bullet points. The organization is SPU. This can be included in your Relevant Experience section!
• Consider adding Relevant Coursework: What courses have you taken that are relevant to the position you’re applying for? Consider adding a list at the bottom of your Education section.

Is your résumé too long?

• Shorten your contact information by including your number, email, and/or LinkedIn URL all on one line. Separate content with tabs or | lines.
• Check your formatting to narrow your margins (1/2 inch). Avoid “orphans” and “widows,” where a single word takes up an entire line. Use “+” to indicate “more than,” as in 200+ customers.
• Leave off bullet descriptions for your Additional Experience section to devote the most attention to your Related Experience section
• If you have a Volunteer Experience section, it may simply list the agencies or groups with which you’re involved, without bulleted descriptions of your work. Long lists of agencies may be broken into even columns, tabbed apart, so that six lines become three.