CV vs. resume: which document should you send?

Read past the upload button

Check the country, the kind of position and any instructions about sections, page limits or a supplied form. If the portal says “CV/resume” and the posting asks for a one-page resume, submit the one-page version.

Penn Career Services describes the US distinction between a targeted resume and a fuller academic CV. Oxford’s guide explains both the standard UK job CV and the academic CV. Here is how those conventions play out in three fictional adverts.

How the same project reads in two documents

Maya, a fictional student, worked on a campus travel survey. She checked responses for duplicates, documented the cleaning rules and prepared a chart for a departmental poster session. She co-presented the poster with another student. The project produced no published paper.

For a US operations analyst vacancy that asks for data-quality experience, she could use this resume bullet: “Checked travel survey responses for duplicates and documented the cleaning rules so the project team could repeat the checks.”

For a research assistantship requesting an academic CV, she could list “Campus Travel Survey · Student researcher, spring 2025” under Research Experience, then describe her cleaning work. Under Presentations she could add “Maya Chen and Alex Li. Campus Travel Patterns. Departmental student poster session, May 2025. Joint poster presentation.”

The job application gives the reader a task they can picture. The academic version also lets the reader identify the work, Maya’s role and where it was presented. A departmental poster belongs under presentations. Calling it a journal paper would change the facts.

What if the advert just says “send a CV”?

Look at what the application asks for elsewhere. A request for publications, teaching experience or conference presentations points toward an academic record. For an ordinary UK vacancy, start with experience relevant to the advertised duties. A research role in industry can go either way.

If the distinction still matters, ask one short question before the deadline. “For the research analyst opening, would you prefer a brief resume focused on project work or a CV with a separate list of presentations?”

Choose the sections before you adjust the length

Keep project dates, duties, titles and presentation details in your master record. For a job application, select the parts that demonstrate the skills in the advert. For an academic application, use the requested headings and keep authorship, venue and publication status accurate. A first academic CV can be short.

Open the finished file once before uploading it. Check that the first page answers the advert, the requested sections are there and the file meets any page and format limits.