Resume and CV: What's the Same and What's the Difference

When applying for a job, an applicant has to prepare many different documents and it is important to clearly understand the features of each of them. We have already given advice on how to write a motivation letter correctly , and today we will tell you how a CV differs from a resume.

What is the difference between a Resume and an Autobiography

Many consider a resume and autobiography to be synonymous, but in fact these are fundamentally different documents: they have different purposes, design rules and the level of detail of the data presented.

Resume and CV

What are these documents and when are they written?

A resume is a document with which a candidate responds to a vacancy and seeks to arouse the employer’s interest. It is compiled during the job search stage. After finding a suitable person for a position, many HR delete resumes from their mail and device memory so as not to accumulate unnecessary information.

Translated from French, the verb "resume" means "to sum up". It should briefly outline the main information that will highlight the strengths of the applicant.

An autobiography is a document that describes the main life milestones of an employee in chronological order.

An autobiography is usually written when the employer’s agreement in principle has already been received and the new employee is being hired. It is kept in the employee's personal file.

Another name for an autobiography is "curriculum vitae" (abbreviated CV), which in Latin means "course of life". In some organizations, it is designed as detailed answers to questions on a special questionnaire.

CV and resume structure: comparison

The main difference between a resume and an autobiography is the content of the documents.

 The purpose of a resume is to show the candidate from the best side, and to do this it is necessary to present information that will demonstrate that he is suitable for the vacancy. That is why it is necessary to indicate under the full name what position the person is applying for, especially if there are several open positions in the organization.

The most important block of the document is professional skills and a description of previous work experience:

• listing knowledge and skills.
• Information about education, including courses and seminars.
• Places of work, length of service, positions. 
• Terms of reference and main achievements.

Typically, job seekers change their resumes slightly for each advertisement.

An autobiography is written when a person has already been hired and there is no need to describe in detail what he did before. But it must contain:

• Information not only about higher but also secondary education.
• Full name of next of kin and their contact information. 
• Information about marital status and presence of children. 
• Information about the presence or absence of a criminal record.  

Design Features

Another difference between a resume and a CV is the design. The former is written in a business style, but in a relatively free form: you can swap the points of the plan, use original design templates. When writing the latter, it is customary to follow a sample, use standard cliches and officialese. 

The resume is sent in electronic format, but the autobiography must be written by hand or printed out as a text file.

How are a resume and an autobiography similar?

Despite the differences between a CV and a resume, they have several things in common:

1. As a rule, these are small documents and take up 1-2 pages.
2. As can be seen from the compilation plan, some of their points are similar (full name of the author, contacts, information about education and place of work).
3. Neither your resume nor your CV should distort facts or provide false information, otherwise you may not be hired or subsequently fired. 

Now you know the difference between an autobiography and a resume, and how to prepare these documents. And if you doubt that you can do it yourself efficiently, contact the student service. Submit a request for a resume or autobiography and be sure that it will be compiled according to all the rules.