Difference Between CV, Resume And Biodata

Yes Resume, CV and Biodata has the same meaning, but there are intricate differences in their presentation or documentation. Although the purpose of these all documents is similar; to apply for a job or get an interview call. Let’s see the differences between them.

Resume: It is a French word, which means summary. As its meaning suggests it gives a summary of all the details of one’s skills, competencies, accomplishments, employment, education and contact details. Resume concentrates on the specific skills customising to the candidate’s target job profile. It is comparatively smaller than CV as it is based on the competencies relevant to the preferred job and industry.

Curriculum Vitae (CV): It’s a Latin word which means a course of life. In comparison with resume CV is a more detailed document. CV gives detail about the candidate not pertaining to the target job profile, but the overall experience and skills gained during his professional / educational career. This document can be 2 – 3 pages. It is a comparatively lengthy document as it has detailed information about candidates’ job responsibilities and competencies.

BioData: It is a short form of biological data. As the term indicates, it is mainly for giving biological (physical) information about the candidate. This kind of term is used by medical practitioners in the hospitals, and jailers in jail. Basically to maintain records of patients and prisoners respectively. As the name suggests this document gives details about individuals’ medical or physical information, therefore no one use this terminology in companies.

Profile or Portfolio: Professionals like artists, fashion designers, textile designers and models or photographers make profile or portfolio. It is used to describe their work with credentials and designs or photographs. It contains loose papers describing ones work and skills. This kind of documents cannot be explained in a single piece of paper. It provides details of one’s work samples, designs, and competencies/ accomplishments. This is more in-depth document compare to resume, CV and biodata as it gives all the actual work done rather than just mentioning it in points. This is a very effective document, but for management or administrative job titles it is difficult to create a profile.

Though whatever is the name, it serves the same purpose of representing an individual in written form. As a recruiter one knows all these terms technically. This document is prima-facie for a candidate hence one should take utmost care while labelling the document.