CV vs resume: what's the difference, and which one to send

A job posting in London asks for your CV. One in Austin asks for your resume. One in Dubai asks for a CV with a photo. Are these three different documents?

Mostly, no. The word changes from country to country, and so do a handful of conventions around the document: how long it runs, what paper size it's set up for, how words are spelled and which personal details belong on it. Get those right and the same experience reads as local to the person screening it.

The short answer

• In the US and Canada, a resume is the short document you send for most jobs. A CV (curriculum vitae) means a long academic record: publications, grants, teaching, conferences.
• In the UK, Ireland and most of Europe, CV is the everyday word for the same short document Americans call a resume. There's no separate "resume".
• In Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, both words are used, often interchangeably. Resume is very common.
• In the Gulf (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar), CV is the usual word.

So if a UK posting asks for a CV, it wants what an American would call a resume. If a US university asks for a CV, it wants the long academic version. Outside academia, you rarely need two different documents, just the right conventions for each place.

What actually changes between markets

1. Length

Expectations differ more than people think:

These are common practice, not rules. Academic CVs are the exception everywhere: they grow with your record. Whatever the market, length comes from tightening wording, not from dropping the experience the role is asking about.

2. Paper size

The US and Canada use Letter (8.5 × 11 inches). Almost everywhere else uses A4 (210 × 297 mm). On screen it barely shows. The moment someone prints your file or opens it in a word processor, a mismatch shows up as odd margins or a stray line on a new page. It's a small signal, but it costs nothing to get right.

3. Spelling

Use the spelling the employer uses: organize, optimize, color, center for US companies, organise, optimise, colour, centre for UK, Irish, Australian and New Zealand ones. Two exceptions matter more than consistency:

• Names stay as they are. Job titles, company names, products and tools keep their own spelling. A "Program Manager" in a UK company is still a "Program Manager" if that's the official title.
• Phrases from the job posting stay as written. If a UK employer's posting says "data visualization", using the same spelling helps anyone (or any software) searching for that phrase find it.

4. Personal details

This is where conventions differ the most:

• US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand: leave out your photo, date of birth or age, marital status, religion and nationality. Many employers prefer not to see them because of anti-discrimination rules. City and country are enough for your address.
• Europe: photos are optional on the Europass CV and practice varies by country; they're still common in places like Germany and Spain. Leaving one out is rarely a problem.
• Singapore: sources disagree. Some say a photo is optional, others say it's common. A professional photo is your call.
• Gulf: nationality and visa status are commonly included, and photos are common too.

Two lines are worth keeping almost everywhere: a work authorization or visa line ("Authorized to work in the UK", "Requires sponsorship") and, for remote roles, your time zone. They answer a recruiter's first practical question before it's asked.

5. What doesn't change

The parts that make a resume work are the same in every market:

• results, with honest numbers, rather than a list of duties
• the language of the specific job posting, used only for experience you actually have
• a plain, single-column layout that applicant tracking systems can read
• nothing you couldn't explain for two minutes in an interview

If the posting asks for a photo

Most applicant tracking systems read text, not images, and many templates that hold a photo also use columns or text boxes that come out scrambled. If you're applying somewhere that expects a photo, keep the resume itself plain and add a small, professional headshot only if the employer asks. Never let the photo push the layout into columns.

Which one should you send?

1. Look at the posting. Use the word it uses. If it says CV, call your file a CV.
2. Check where the employer is, not where you are. A remote role at a US company follows US conventions even if you apply from Manila or Lisbon.
3. If the posting is fully remote and names no country, use neutral conventions: no personal details beyond city and country, 1–2 pages, and the spelling the posting itself uses.
4. Only send an academic CV when the role is academic or research, or the posting asks for publications.

How this works in CVDada

When you tailor a resume in CVDada, you pick the target market on the job description step. It's filled in from the job's location when the posting names one, and you can change it:

• The tailored file follows that market's conventions: CV or resume, A4 or Letter, length guidance and spelling. Names, tools and phrases from the posting keep their own spelling.
• Personal details like a photo or date of birth are left out where that's the norm. CVDada never adds personal details, and the files are always text-only.
• A line on the result page says exactly what changed, for example: "Formatted for the UK and Ireland: CV, A4, UK spelling, about 2 pages, no photo or date of birth."
• Your ATS score still measures the match with the job description only, so it doesn't change with the market.

It formats for conventions. It doesn't claim to know what a particular recruiter in a particular country prefers. That part is still you, reading the posting.

The short version

• Resume (US, Canada) and CV (UK, Europe, Gulf) usually mean the same short document. In the US, a CV is the academic version.
• Match the employer's length, paper size and spelling.
• Leave out personal details unless the market expects them, and keep a work authorization line.
• Keep the layout plain and the content honest everywhere.

Try CVDada free to tailor your resume for the market you're applying to, or compare plans.