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Curriculum vitae, or CVs, as these documents are also known, have widespread use overseas, where they are preferred to resumes.

In the United States, however, resumes are most often used. That said, CVs are warranted under the following conditions:

1.

The jobseeker is in an academic field (college or university professor), and is seeking a teaching position.
2.

The candidate is in employed in research, medicine, or a similar discipline and is seeking a residency, fellowship, or admission into a program (i.e. Ph.D.).
3.

The candidate has been published numerous times and has made many presentations, with details of these included in the document.

Differences between CVs and Resumes

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Content: CVs tend to be more comprehensive in the data provided to the hiring authority. This is especially true of CVs used for distribution overseas, where the inclusion of personal information (date of birth, marital status, religious affiliation, nationality, country of birth, etc.) is required.
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Length: Whereas resumes rarely exceed two pages in length, CVs can run from 10 to 15 pages and longer.

When to use a resume or a CV

Again, generally speaking, a resume is preferred over a CV in the United States, unless the hiring authority specifically requests a CV.

Executive resume formats generally have:

1.

A more conservative appearance.
2.

A separate area showcasing Career Accomplishments.
3.

A finished length of two or more pages.

That said, Executive formats can be used by any job seeker, especially those who have career or academic accomplishments and seek a more comprehensive approach to employment history -- if that comprehensive approach is relevant and enhances their candidacy.
Conservative Appearance

Executive Resume format generally employs the Times New Roman font, which is universal on PCs, easy to read, yet elegant in appearance. Designer fonts, which include BlackAdder II, Castellar, and Broadway, are best left for graphic designers, artists, and those in nontraditional industries. The ample use of white space and underscored section headings are aesthetically pleasing and provide visual cues about where one data area ends and another begins.
Career Accomplishments

This is the hallmark of the Executive resume and what hiring managers most want to see. In this economy, when dozens or even hundreds of applicants with essentially the same backgrounds vie for each opening, the only characteristic that will separate a candidate from all the others is what they accomplished in previous positions. In an Executive resume, these achievements are showcased near the top of the first page. What’s more, these accomplishments are generally quantified in terms of percentages, dollar figures, and time periods to specifically indicate what was done.
Finished Length

Executive resumes are usually two or more pages because of the sheer breadth of a candidate’s experience. However, a modern resume should be only as long as it needs to be to contain the data relevant to the current job search. It’s unwise to expand a one-page resume to two pages to meet an arbitrary page length, just as it is to cram a two-page document onto one page, reducing white space and font size to such an extent that the finalized document is hard to read and not aesthetically pleasing.

Unlike resumes being read by a human audience, scannable resumes must be easy to read by computer software. Therefore, it’s essential to stick to basics and avoid formatting headaches.

Your best choice is to:

1. Be certain all type is flush left.
2. Separate sections with white spaces, rather than dashes (--), dots (. . .), or tildes (~~~).
3. Do not use tables.
4. Do not use graphics.
5. Put section headers in ALL CAPS.