Curriculum Vitae or Résumé
There
is a difference and it is a distinct one:
A résumé (usually one or two pages) is a tightly focused summary of personal,
education, and experience qualifications intended to demonstrate fitness for a
particular position. A résumé promotes an individual's strongest
qualifications, as they relate to the specific or general purpose for which the
material is provided.
A curriculum vitae (generally three or more pages) is a comprehensive
biographical statement emphasising academic and professional qualifications and
activities.
As a rule it is a good idea to have both a c.v. and a résumé so that if the need arises you can send the right
one.
What
is a C.V.?
A
Curriculum Vitae or Résumé
is a history of your life and career and it should be well presented in a clear
and concise way without too many embellishments. At
best a flashy looking c.v. is just a flashy looking c.v. A c.v. doesn’t get
marks for its flash headings, clever use of colour or font variety. At its worst
a flashy c.v. is quite simply very bad, if it is for example full of tables,
indents and heavily formatted text it represents a nightmare for a recruitment
consultant. What you have to remember is that most reputable recruitment
consultancies will first and foremost need to put your details into their own
database and then reproduce a new c.v. from that information. (Professional
recruitment consultancies will send all c.v.’s to their corporate clients in
the same format). If you have contacted a consultancy with a view to attaining
their help in your search for a new career, the last thing you want to do is
present them with an immediate problem in the form of your c.v.
Of
course there are times when you will be sending your c.v. direct to a
prospective employer. In this case the recommendations above are even more
important. A prospective employer will not be treating your c.v. as a basic
document to use for re-presentation in a better format, they will just look at
it, and, like as not, reject it. If your c.v. looks disorderly and over
embellished, chances are you will be too and so you will fall at the very first
hurdle.
What is its purpose?
The
purpose of your c.v. is both simple and complex. On a direct and simple level
all your c.v. has to do is get you a new job. Of course this isn’t an easy
task nor a simple one. There are many things your c.v. can do for you and many
things it can do to harm your chances. Remember the task of your c.v. is to get
you an interview, not a job. It’s up to you to get the job by demonstrating
your suitability for the role when you attend the interview.
Take
great care when creating your c.v. – your career may depend on it!
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