What Is a CV? CV vs. Résumé, and When to Use Each

TL;DR — CV stands for curriculum vitae, Latin for "course of life." What it means depends on where you are. In the US, a CV is a long, complete record of an academic or research career, used for faculty jobs, research positions, graduate school, fellowships and medicine, and it has no page limit. In the UK, Ireland and much of Europe, "CV" is simply the everyday word for what Americans call a résumé; in the UK, it's usually kept to two pages. If you're applying for a typical US job, send a résumé.

A CV, short for curriculum vitae, is a document that summarizes your education, qualifications and work history for an employer or an institution. In the United States it means something specific: a full, detailed record of an academic career, including every publication, presentation, grant and course taught. In the UK and much of the rest of the world, "CV" is the ordinary name for the short document you send with any job application, the one Americans call a résumé.

That double meaning is why "CV" causes so much confusion. This guide explains where the term comes from, what it means country by country, how a US academic CV differs from a résumé, what goes in one, how long it should be, and which document to send when.

What does CV stand for?

CV is the abbreviation of curriculum vitae, a Latin phrase built from curriculum, "course," and vitae, "of life," so roughly "course of life". The University of New Mexico's career office glosses it the same way, as "life's course". The plural is curricula vitae, which the Cambridge Dictionary lists alongside the singular. In US universities you'll also hear a CV called a "vita."

Cambridge's two definitions of CV capture the split neatly. Its main entry, marked mainly UK, describes a short written description of your education, qualifications, previous jobs and sometimes personal interests, sent to an employer when you're trying to get a job, and notes that US English usually says résumé. Its US sense is narrower: a written description of the previous work of someone looking for a job at a college or university.

What "CV" means in different countries

A few notes on the evidence behind that table:

• US and Canada. UK graduate careers service Prospects notes that in the USA and Canada, CVs are called résumés. Canada's Job Bank uses "résumé" throughout and advises keeping it to two pages.
• UK. Prospects recommends that a CV be no longer than two A4 pages, with three acceptable for senior roles or extensive experience and academic CVs running slightly longer. The government-backed National Careers Service defines a CV as a summary of your skills, achievements and experience that you use to apply for jobs.
• Australia. The Australian Government's Study Australia guide for international students treats the two as one document: your resume, also known as a CV.

The safest rule anywhere is to follow the wording of the posting. If a US job ad for a non-academic role asks for a "CV," it usually means a résumé, but if you're unsure, ask the recruiter. The UNC Writing Center gives the same advice: check the application instructions, or contact the employer, to find out which document they want.

CV vs. résumé: a side-by-side comparison

In the US, the two documents share a purpose, summarizing your qualifications, but almost nothing else. UNM's career office lays out three versions: the résumé, the academic CV, and an in-between "industry CV."

The UNC Writing Center describes the CV as a fairly detailed overview of your accomplishments, especially those relevant to academia, and calls it a living document that needs frequent updating. A résumé, by contrast, is usually altered for each application. UNC also notes the length gap widens over a career: an early-stage graduate student's CV might run two or three pages, while a senior researcher's can reach double digits.

What goes in an academic CV

There's no single required order, and you don't need every section. Use the ones that fit your field and career stage. The sections that appear most often, drawing on the UNM CV guide and the UNC Writing Center:

• Contact information
• Education — degrees, institutions and dates, with your thesis or dissertation title and often your advisor
• Research interests or current research
• Publications — listed in your field's citation style, as you would in a bibliography. UNM suggests putting your own name in bold, especially when you aren't first author
• Presentations — conference talks and posters
• Grants, fellowships, honors and awards
• Teaching experience — courses taught or assisted, with your role
• Research experience — labs, projects and methods
• Professional experience — relevant jobs outside teaching and research
• Service — committees, peer review, department and university service
• Professional memberships and affiliations
• Languages, skills, certifications and licensure
• References — UNM notes that academic CVs traditionally include them

Formatting is deliberately plain. UNM recommends a simple document with one-inch margins, a 12-point font such as Times New Roman, and headings set apart only with alignment and bold. Its most useful tip: look up the CVs of professors in your field, many of which are posted on department websites, and use them as a guide to your discipline's conventions. Don't be discouraged by their length; nobody expects a student's CV to look like a full professor's.

Medical CVs

US medicine uses CVs too. The American Academy of Family Physicians describes a medical student's CV as a structured record of education, training, accomplishments and experiences, with sections for education, honors and awards, professional memberships and leadership, employment, extracurricular and volunteer work, publications and presentations, and interests. It notes that a CV isn't a standard ERAS residency-application document, since programs can generate a CV-style report from your ERAS application, but keeping your own still helps: it speeds up the application, meets some programs' requirements, and prepares you for interviews. The AAFP recommends reverse-chronological order, a simple design, and updating it every few months or after major milestones.

How long should a CV be?

• US academic CV: as long as your record. UNM puts it at two or more pages with no page limit.
• US industry CV: two to three pages, per UNM.
• UK or Irish CV: no more than two A4 pages for most applicants, per Prospects.
• US résumé, for comparison: one page is standard, according to USC's career center, with two pages acceptable at ten or more years of experience.

Length should come from content, never padding. A first-year PhD student's two-page CV is complete if it lists everything relevant.

The Europass CV

Europass is a European Union service for presenting your skills and qualifications. According to the EU's job-mobility portal EURES, it is free for everyone: you record your skills, qualifications, work experience and achievements in one profile, then create different versions of your CV and cover letter from it for applications. You can also share your Europass profile with EURES so employers and employment services can see it.

When to use one: if a posting or program asks for a Europass CV, build it there. If you're applying within the EU and the posting doesn't specify a format, follow the employer's instructions and the conventions of that country.

What personal details go on a CV

This is where countries differ most, so check the norms where you're applying.

• UK: The National Careers Service says to leave out your age, date of birth, marital status and nationality. Prospects adds that a photo should be left off unless you're applying for acting or modelling work.
• US: Leave off photos, birth dates and similar details on both CVs and résumés. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says employers should not ask for an applicant's photograph, and USC advises minimizing personal details such as birth date, photo, height and country of origin.
• Canada: Job Bank advises against including a photo, which it says is not the norm in Canada, as well as age, marital status and your Social Insurance Number.
• Australia: The Study Australia guide advises international students to include their visa status.

CV or résumé: which does a US applicant need?

• Most jobs: a résumé. Private companies, nonprofits and most government employers want a one- or two-page résumé. Our guide to what a résumé is covers the basics, and how to write a résumé walks through it section by section.
• Federal jobs: a two-page résumé. The Office of Personnel Management has limited résumés for federal jobs under Title 5 to two pages since September 27, 2025. For positions that require a CV, typically in medical and research fields, agencies may ask you to submit it separately, as an "other document."
• Academic jobs, graduate school and fellowships: an academic CV. UNM lists graduate school, research fellowships and faculty jobs as the places an academic CV is recommended.
• Residency: a medical CV, kept alongside your ERAS application.
• A PhD moving into industry: an industry CV or a résumé. UNM describes the industry CV as a résumé-CV hybrid used by graduate-degree holders seeking nonacademic positions. If the posting says "résumé," send a résumé and keep your publications to the few that matter for the job.
• Applying in the UK or Europe: a local-style CV. That means a document closer to a US résumé than to an academic CV, laid out on A4 paper and following that country's conventions on length and personal details. In the UK, keep it to two pages.

If you need to turn a long CV into a résumé, start from the job posting: keep the experience that maps to what it asks for, translate academic work into results an employer recognizes (a research project becomes data analysis, project management and writing), and cut the publication list to a line or two. Olive's résumé builder can help with the conversion: upload your CV, tailor it to a specific job, and export it to DOCX or PDF.

Sources

• Cambridge Dictionary — CV and curriculum vitae
• Wiktionary — curriculum vitae (etymology and regional senses)
• University of New Mexico Career Services — CV Guide
• The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — Curricula Vitae (CVs) versus Resumes
• American Academy of Family Physicians — How to write a strong medical student CV
• Prospects (Jisc) — How to write a CV
• National Careers Service (UK) — CV sections
• Job Bank, Government of Canada — How to write a good résumé
• Study Australia, Australian Government — The international student's guide to writing a great resume
• EURES, European Union — Europass
• U.S. Office of Personnel Management — Agency Guidance on the Two-Page Limit on Resume Length
• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Prohibited Employment Policies/Practices
• University of Southern California Career Center — Resume Format Guidelines