Already in this series, I’ve discussed the difference between a statement of purpose and a personal statement; another similar question I get from students is the difference between a resume and CV. For the Heller application, we allow you to either upload your resume or your curriculum vitae, and in fact, these documents will often contain a lot of the same information, but the small differences might have a significant difference on how you choose to structure these documents. Today I’ll be taking you through the anatomy of both, and talk a little about which might be best for you, depending on your situation.
Resume:
Chances are, you already have a resume, as they’re more commonly for job applications. Your resume should, at a minimum, contain your work experience, including key responsibilities and achievements in each role, and your education. Many students also include sections for their skills, awards, publications, and licenses and certifications, if they’re relevant. Typically, work experience and education will come first on your resume (though not necessarily in that order), followed by these additional sections, but as a rule, you’ll want to keep your resume under two pages at most.
In terms of what not to include in your resume, you’ll notice that in that last paragraph, I used the phrase if it’s relevant. This is key, but an often over-looked piece of advice. Many students, in an effort to beef up their resume, will include every piece of information possible, including their babysitting job when they were twelve and which high school they went to. When it comes to the work experience you do list, I recommend that when listing your job responsibilities and achievements, you try to tailor them to the program to which you’re applying. Try to connect the dots for us between your skills-your career objectives-the program to which you’re applying, as much as possible.
A few more things to leave off your resume: although this differs across cultures, in the U.S., you shouldn’t include your picture on your resume, physical characteristics, or personal data aside from your name and contact information. That means you don’t need to list your date of birth, race, religion, or marital status on your resume; in the U.S., making hiring or (in our case) admissions decisions based on any of these characteristics can be considered discrimination, so employers and institutions in the U.S. prefer that you don’t include it.
C.V.:
C.V. is short for curriculum vitae, or “course of life”; as the name suggests, these are typically longer than a resume, and are focused largely on your academic achievements. You should still include your education and work experience (although in a C.V., you’ll generally put the education section first). But in addition to these sections, you could also include your publications, any teaching experiences, conferences you’ve presented at, relevant coursework, certificates you’ve earned, languages, research interests, and any fellowships you received.
A good way to think about the difference between a C.V. and a resume is that a resume is typically meant to highlight your experience and your C.V. is meant to highlight your credentials. With that in mind, I’d like to close with a quick guide on which might be best to use in your application.
A resume might be best if… You have significant accomplishments in the workplace that you’d like to highlight, your primary field isn’t academia, you’ve been out of school for a significant amount of time, and/or you’re not applying to a PhD program (a resume, in other words, might be the more appropriate choice for most applicants)
A C.V. might be best if… You’re applying to a PhD program, your primary accomplishments have been in the field of academia, and/or you’re a recent graduate without much work experience.