What Is A CV? [Definition, Element, Writing Tips, and Examples]

During your job search, you may have wondered what a CV (curriculum vitae) is and how it differs from a resume. These two terms often cause confusion, depending on the countries and the position you apply for. Not understanding the difference between CVs and resumes can lead to the common mistake of using the wrong format when applying for a job, which can diminish your chances of being hired.

In this article, we will guide you through the definition of a CV and the key points of creating an ATS-friendly CV. We also provide CV templates for different levels, so make sure to read until the end.

Let's dive into the details of crafting an effective CV to start building one!

What Is A CV?

A CV stands for curriculum vitae, comes from Latin and means "course of life." This translation is fitting because CVs are often associated with academic needs. However, in the professional world, even non-academic job postings sometimes ask applicants to send a curriculum vitae instead of a resume. Companies in Southeast Asia, in particular, usually prefer this type of requirement over asking for a "resume."

The country that makes the bold distinction between a CV and a resume is the United States. This distinction is made to meet the needs of job seekers themselves. CV formats emphasize the depth of work experience, professional skills, and academic history (include your academic accomplishments) compared to resumes. A CV allows you to detail your entire history of education, courses, training, research, and certifications. For this reason, it is often referred to as an academic CV. CVs are mainly used for candidates who are applying for educational positions, not only for careers but also for scholarships and grants.

When an employer asks a candidate to submit a CV, they specifically expect a comprehensive overview of your professional experience and skills. This is very different from a resume, which is usually limited to no more than three pages. Resumes are concise documents highlighting relevant work experience, skills, and achievements tailored to a specific job position. They are designed to be quickly reviewed by recruiters and hiring managers to determine if the candidate is a good fit for the role.

However, in some other countries, the terms CV and resume are used interchangeably, and the expectations for the document content may differ. Here is a list of countries and how they typically refer to these documents:

• United States: Clear distinction between the two. CVs are used for academic purposes, while resumes are used for job applications.
• Canada: Similar to the United States, with CVs for academic roles and resumes for job applications.
• United Kingdom: The term CV is used more commonly for job applications, and it usually refers to a document that combines elements of both a CV and a resume.
• Australia and New Zealand: The term CV is used more frequently than a resume, but the document is similar to a resume in the U.S. context.
• India: The two terms are often used interchangeably, with CVs being slightly longer and more detailed.
• South Africa: CV is the commonly used term, similar to a resume in content and length.
• Europe (General): CV is the preferred term, and the Europass CV format is widely used, combining elements of both a traditional CV and resume.

Understanding these regional differences can help you tailor your job application materials to meet the expectations of employers in different countries.

How to Write an Outstanding CV

Crafting an outstanding academic CV requires a meticulous approach that highlights your scholarly achievements, skills, and professional experience in a clear and organized manner. Here's how to write your cv.

Personal Information

Start with your full name, contact information, and professional title. It's important to be easily reachable, so include your email address, phone number, and any relevant online profiles, such as LinkedIn or an academic website. Ensure this section is clear and easy to find at the top of your CV.

Personal Statement

Write a concise summary that captures your research interests, career goals, and key achievements. This section should be brief (2-3 sentences) but impactful, giving the reader a quick overview of who you are as a scholar and what drives your academic pursuits.

Education

List your educational background in chronological order. Include the degree obtained, institution, location, and dates attended. Highlight any honors or distinctions received. This section should clearly demonstrate your academic progression and qualifications.

Research Experience

Detail your research positions, including the title, institution, dates, and a brief description of your responsibilities and achievements. Focus on specific contributions, methodologies used, and the impact of your work. This section should highlight your research skills and published work.

Teaching Experience

If you are applying for an academic role, a teaching experience section is a must. Make sure to include your teaching roles, courses taught, institution, dates, and a brief description of your responsibilities to highlight your expertise. Don't forget to emphasize on any innovative teaching methods, student evaluations, and contributions to curriculum development.

Publications

List your publications in reverse chronological order. Include the title, journal, volume, pages, and year. Highlight any high-impact journals. This section should reflect your contributions to your field and your ability to communicate your research.

Presentations

Include your presentations at conferences and seminars. List the title, conference name, location, and date. Highlight invited talks or keynote addresses if applicable. This section showcases your ability to disseminate your research and engage with the academic community.

Awards and Honors

List your academic awards and honors also in reverse chronological order. Include the award name, granting institution, and date. This section should highlight your recognition and achievements within the academic community.

Grants and Fellowships

Detail the grants and fellowships you have received. Include the grant name, granting institution, amount, and date. This section demonstrates your ability to secure funding and support for your research.

Professional Affiliations

List your memberships in professional organizations. Include the organization name and your role if applicable. This section shows your engagement with professional communities and ongoing professional development.

5 Tips for Writing Your CV

1) Pay close attention to the design and layout of your CV

Have you ever considered making your CV as flashy as possible to attract attention? If so, it's best to put that idea aside and put yourself in the shoes of the first person who will see your resume.

A CV doesn't need a complicated design. In fact, the cleaner and simpler it is, the better recruiters will judge it. Therefore, a clean and simple design and layout is the way to go.

You can start by:

• Ensuring that all text is justify-aligned.
• Ensuring that the use of fonts is consistent throughout each section. The most commonly used fonts are Arial, Times New Roman, and Calibri in font size 12.
• Be careful when using color in your CV. It's better to use bold colors to highlight information.
• The layout used must be consistent in each section.
• Use the header feature to highlight your name. A mistake beginners make is to use the header for the word 'CV' or 'resume,' which is not necessary.
• Make sure that there is not too much white space in each sentence.

To make sure your CV’s design and layout are consistent and organized, you can use the preview feature in the Print section to see the entire CV.

2) Include numbers to highlight the experience / academic background 

As with the resume, the use of numbers in CVs also helps recruiters. Numbers serve to highlight your accomplishments and also reinforce your academic background. 

• Use numbers in the summary section of your CV, for example, by mentioning the number of publications, total academic experience, and so on.
• In addition to numbers, you can use statistics to support the information in your CV.
• Don't go overboard with numbers or statistics to keep your CV readable by recruiters.

3) How you write your academic CV matters

An academic career can vary from teaching to being a resource person for newspapers, magazines, or discussions. But clearly, all of these jobs are not far removed from the world of writing. 

Just like a scientist who presents his ideas or findings through writing, academics gain credibility in the same way. So if the CV of someone with an academic background is written in a chaotic manner, recruiters will certainly question his or her competence.

When creatng your CV, keep the following points in mind:

• Use consistent grammar to reduce distractions in conveying information, clarify communication in your resume, enhance the recruiter's understanding of your position, and demonstrate your professionalism.
• Carefully choose the words you use to reinforce and detail your experience. You can use action verbs to avoid passive and weak word choices.
• Combining action verbs with quantifiable results to maximize their impact would be even better.
• To make it easier to read, use bullet points to highlight information.

4) Stop using repetitive words

Imagine a hiring manager reading your CV and suddenly frowning because he or she feels that the information you provide is repetitive. The reason is that you use too many of the same words in each paragraph.

In addition to distracting the reader who is trying to digest information about your background, repetitive words only make you look like an unprofessional academic.

Doesn't an academic have to read a lot, from books to newspapers to journals, in order to gain new knowledge? The use of repetitive words in no way reflects the activities that should underpin the way an academic works.

There is no other way to increase your vocabulary than to read more, start actively using a thesaurus, and of course, check out the CV online examples at Cake!

5) Tailor your CV document to the job description

Tailor your resume by highlighting your experience based on the specific job listing. For example, if you are applying to be a lecturer at Campus A, focus on emphasizing your teaching experience, course development, and student engagement. You might include detailed descriptions of the courses you've taught, innovative teaching methods you've implemented, and positive feedback or evaluations from students.

For instance, you could highlight a successful curriculum you designed for a course on Molecular Biology that received outstanding reviews from both students and peers. Additionally, you might mention any workshops or seminars you conducted to enhance student learning.

3 Academic CV Examples

Academic CV example for Undergraduate Fresh Grad Pursuing Master's Degree

Academic CV example for a graduate student with extensive working experience who has a master's degree and now needs a CV to apply for a PhD

Academic CV example for someone who has both a master's degree and a PhD and now is looking for a job at a university

Common FAQs about CV

1) When to use a CV? / Who should use a CV?

The next question is when is the right time to use a CV instead of a resume? What kind of candidates are best suited to use a CV? The answer to this question is that it all depends on the context.

1. Companies may ask applicants to send a CV instead of a resume, even if the job offered is not education-related. In this case, candidates with any background are welcome to use a CV. 
2. Use a CV if you are applying for a scholarship to pursue a Master's or Ph.D. degree.
3. Your CV will meet the needs of those applying for positions as researchers, scientists, teachers, and lecturers.
4. In international conferences, especially those related to academic matters, both the appointed speakers and the audience are also required to send CVs for the needs of the event committee.
5. However, if you are still unsure whether the employer wants a shorter resume or a longer CV, it is acceptable to ask before submitting if they'd prefer a comprehensive CV or a resume consisting of highlighted information.

2) What should a CV include?

1. Personal Information: This is basic information such as your name, email address, LinkedIn, GitHub, and so on. You can write this personal information the same way as the resume format.
2. Professional summary: A brief statement of your experience, skills, and accomplishments.
3. Education: A list of your education from highest to lowest. Don't forget to include information such as the name of the institution, the degree you earned, and the date you graduated.
4. Work Experience: A detailed, chronological list of your work experience. For each job, be sure to include the job title, the name of the institution or company, and the dates of employment.
5. Certifications and Licenses: Certifications and licenses are a form of validation of your competence. This information is useful for additional consideration by the institution to which you are applying.
6. Awards and Honors: Awards and honors are achievements bestowed upon you by third parties. They can make your CV stand out.
7. Volunteer Experience: This section is great for graduate students pursuing a master's degree; a list of volunteer experiences can be useful when looking for scholarships.
8. Projects: Project experience is slightly different from work experience. A project is a job with a short duration (a few months), with a working system that is not as fixed as when you work for a company.
9. Publications: The credibility of academics is measured by the number of publications and citations. Publications here are not limited to journals but also include newspapers, magazines, and websites whose credibility can be taken into account. 
10. Professional affiliations and memberships: Belonging to a professional organization shows your commitment to your profession. Don't hesitate to include them in your CV.
11. Languages: English is the most common means of communication in academia. An academic needs to be able to communicate with other academics from around the world. So, the more languages you can speak, the better.
12. Hobbies and Interests: This information can be included in the CV if you are a recent graduate to see how active the candidate is outside of work. However, this section is not required at the Master's or Ph.D. level.

3) How long should a CV be?

There is no hard and fast rule on how long a CV should be, but some experts suggest that 10 pages is sufficient. It's also a good idea to limit the information you include to the last 15 years of experience.

However, if the CV is being used to apply to fields outside of academia, it's best to keep it to no more than 3 pages. Such companies usually use AI engines to filter out suitable applications. A CV that is too long will only put you at a disadvantage.

On the other hand, if you are applying for a scholarship, a research position, or even a teaching position, your CV should be comprehensive and include all the details. Logically, the number of applicants in academia will not be as high as in the corporate world, because the requirements are very specific.

4) Should I Put Keywords in My CV?

The most frequently asked question is whether keywords are required on a CV. According to Scholarship Canada, it turns out that you still need to include keywords in your CV, just as you would for a resume. The use of keywords is especially important if you are applying for a scholarship with hundreds or thousands of applicants.

The same source also provides a list of the 7 most popular scholarship resume keywords:

• Leadership
• Volunteer
• School of Community Involvement
• Academic Achievement
• Athletic Achievement
• Financial need
• Extracurricular activities

Meanwhile, you can minimize keywords for teaching positions (teachers, lecturers) and researchers because the competition is usually only in the tens. This is because these positions are very specific, allowing recruiters to read resumes one by one.

Educational and research institutions tend to reduce the use of AI in the hiring process. So, whether your resume needs keywords or not, adjust them according to the estimated number of competitors and also the type of position you are seeking.

5) What else should I prepare besides my CV?

First, you will need to prepare a motivation letter, which is often called a personal statement. The purpose of this letter is to convince the hiring manager or selection committee that you are the best candidate worthy of selection.

There is no specific formula for writing a motivation letter. You just need to ensure that important information, such as work experience and a list of accomplishments, is included in the letter.

To strengthen your cover letter, you will also need to include a letter of recommendation or referral from an influential person who is close to you and understands your accomplishments.

If you are a recent graduate applying for a master's scholarship, you may request a letter of recommendation from your professor.

Key takeaways

1. In some countries, especially in Southeast Asia and parts of Europe, CVs and resumes are often used interchangeably. In fact, a CV is intended for academic purposes, such as applying to be a teacher or lecturer, seeking scholarships, applying for grants, and filling a position as a researcher.
2. A CV has more sections than a resume. Sections in a CV consist of personal information, professional summary, education, work experience, certifications and licenses, awards and honors, volunteer experience (for recent graduates), projects, publications, professional affiliations and memberships, languages, hobbies, and interests (for recent graduates).
3. The CV must be carefully written in a simple design and layout. Applicants should avoid the use of colors, unusual fonts, and grammatical inconsistencies.
4. There is no limit to the number of pages in a CV, although most applicants will include only the last 15 years. The point of a CV is to present information about your professional activities comprehensively.

We hope that by now, you will have the answer and all the information you need for the question, "What is a CV?". In addition to providing online CV samples, Cake also has hundreds of articles that can help you in the world of work. Join us now!

— Originally written by Erika Rizqi —