CVs and Resumes (The Job Market in 2023)

CV or Curriculum Vitae

Loosely translated from Latin as "courses of my life" a Curriculum Vitae encompasses the entirety of one's academic, research, and professional work and accomplishments. CVs are generally used in academic or research career settings to apply for jobs, tenure, and grant and fellowship applications. Unlike a resume, which should never be longer than 2-pages, CVs can be a long as necessary. CVs of many mid- and late-career scholars can be 20 pages or longer. The goal of your CV is to clearly communicate and illustrate your educational background, your research and publication record and creative works for those in the arts, teaching experience, presentations, honors & awards, and funded grants. While these are the standard sections that should be included in every CV, the style can vary depending on your discipline and additional sections may be included. Click on the CV button below for more information and tips on developing your CV, templates, and examples. 

Resumes:

When you apply for a job beyond academia, you will in most cases submit a traditional resume (see below for cases of CV/Resume Hybrids). A traditional resume is a generally 1-2 pages and is a very different document from a CV as you will only list those skills, experiences, and information relevant to the job listing.  Students often find creating resumes to be uncomfortable as many of your scholarly accomplishments included on your CV will not be included on your resume. But keep in mind that hiring managers often only look at your resume for 45 seconds or less, so your resume should be carefully crafted to demonstrate that you have the skills and experience to be a good fit for the job and institution to which you are applying. The resume button below contains more information on how to craft a basic resume, how to tailor your resume to a position opening, resume templates, and examples.

CV/Resume Hybrids: 

In some cases, generally industry, policy, higher education administration, and many governmental positions, you will submit a CV/Resume hybrid. These are often positions that require a Master's degree or Ph.D. While the overall structure of a CV/Resume Hybrid is similar to a resume and highlights your skills as related to the position description, your academic credentials and research/publication record are often also included. Longer than a traditional resume, hybrids are still shorter than a CV (generally 3-5 pages), and highlight your most relevant publications, grants, or other materials that showcase your subject matter expertise as related to the position to which you are applying. If you are applying for jobs with the federal government through USAJOBS.gov please check this resource section for helpful guides and resources on how to format and craft an appropriate resume to their guidelines and learn about how you will be assessed through their process.

Information provided by KU COGA.