What's the difference between a CV and a resume?

Pretty much which side of the pond you grew up on.

Some say a CV is also a more lengthy account of all your accomplishments, whereas a resume is a condensed account, usually no more than a page (though thoughts on that are changing).

In the US, a CV is more of an academic resume for people who want to be lecturers or professors at university.

From my experience, in the States, a resume is used as part of an application for a non-academic job, while a CV is used for academic jobs (professorships, teaching at university, etc.) While I have always been told that a resume should not exceed 1 typed page, conventionally, a CV can go on, and on…. They also tend to highlight different types of experiences. CV’s are specialized to include things that are relevant for academic jobs, such as teaching experience, service to university, education (including dissertation topic and advisers).

I agree with @aprilsimnel and @answerjill. A CV is used when your career is knowledge focused, and based upon research and publishing, rather than experience and skills.

No difference in my opinion. In the US the term CV is used regurlarly among medical professionals, maybe also in some other professions that I am not aware of. In Latin America and Europe I think CV is used more commonly. If you are not aware CV stands for curriculum vitae, it is Latin, so Latin root languages are probably more likely to use this term is my guess. Medicine and the sciences, even in English, utilize Latin quite a bit.

Well, in the US, if you’re applying for a barista job at Starbucks, they aren’t going to ask you for your CV, but if you want to be the Chair of the History Department of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, say, a “resume” might be a bit thin on the professional ground. :)

Outside of the US, there doesn’t seem to be a difference in the meaning of those terms.

Also, a CV is much more likely to include a listing of published writings in the U.S. As a systematic terrestrial malacologist looking for a curatorial position in a museum I always had a CV, one that ran about 5 pages, including all of my published research citations. However, my resume for getting office jobs while I was in school was one page long and only included relevant experience, education, and goals.

The term Resume is rarely used in New Zealand. Everyone refers to it as a CV… even at Starbucks!