CV or resume: which one do you actually need?

The two words describe different documents depending on where you are, and people applying internationally send the wrong one constantly.

In the United States and Canada

A resume is one to two pages, tailored to a specific job, and includes only relevant experience. It is what almost every employer wants.

A CV in this context means an academic document — several pages, listing publications, grants, conference presentations and teaching. It is used for university, research and some medical positions, and nowhere else.

Sending a five-page CV to a US company reads as someone who did not check.

In the UK, Ireland, Australia and most of Asia

CV is simply the ordinary word for a job application document. Two pages, tailored, no publication list unless the role calls for it. It is what a resume is in America, under a different name.

In Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, "CV" is standard and "resume" is often used interchangeably. Nobody will be confused if you use either word locally.

What actually differs between countries

The name matters less than the conventions attached to it:

• Photo. Expected in Germany, France, much of Europe and the Gulf. Actively discouraged in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, where it invites bias claims.
• Personal details. Date of birth, marital status and nationality are normal in parts of Europe, the Gulf and South Asia. They are inappropriate in the US and UK, and some employers there will discard a CV containing them.
• Length. One page in the US, two in the UK and Australia, two to three in South Asia, unlimited for academic and medical CVs everywhere.
• References. Named referees are still common in South Asia and parts of Europe. In the US and UK, "available on request" is assumed and the line is usually cut.

Applying to another country

Follow the conventions of the country you are applying to, not the one you are in. That usually means, for a US or UK application:

• Remove the photo
• Remove date of birth, marital status, religion and father's name
• Cut to one or two pages
• Remove named referees
• Use their spelling conventions — "organized" for the US, "organised" for the UK

None of these are optional niceties. Personal details that are routine at home are grounds for rejection in a jurisdiction where collecting them creates legal exposure for the employer.

What we build

The builder produces a two-page-friendly document with the photo off by default and no personal-details section, which suits most markets. Turn the photo on for European and Gulf applications, and set page size to Letter for the US and Canada.

Keep two versions. It takes a minute and prevents the most avoidable rejection there is.