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You probably searched for the word resume on your way here, if not then you may have searched for Curriculum Vitae, but what's the difference?

Definition - Curriculum Vitae (CV): - A special type of resume traditionally used within the academic community. Earned degrees, teaching and research experience, publications, presentations, and related activities are featured. Unlike a resume, a CV tends to be longer and more informational than promotional in tone. Note: The CV required in theses and dissertations follows a very specific format.

In the United Kingdom, and many other places, the description Curriculum Vitae applies to any resume type document, it's important to understand that in some countries the terms are interchangeable.

The description above explains that usually the CV is usually used by the academic community, but it is not limited to them.

It is usually focused on teaching and research experience; as such it will have a great deal of specific information relating to specialist subject matter.

The amount of detail required usually means that the CV is longer that the resume, but how long?

In truth, the ideal resume should be just a single page in length, it's true to say that there are those that use two pages.

The CV is ideally a two page document, no more.

Basically, anyone who uses more than two pages should make a close examination of the content.

I do recall a 30 year old man who presented me with a 6 page resume and said "I don't understand why I don't get any interviews, my resume tells them everything they need to know".

Imagine being the HR person who is faced with reading 6 pages to decide if this person matches the job requirements. Where would you file the resume or CV of that length?

What's the solution to a long resume or CV? The solution is to change it's format and study the type of job you are applying for, once you have done that you can focus more on what's required and less on what might be interesting.