When it comes to a CV or a resume, many job seekers think “What’s the difference?” In Australia, most employers would say there is little difference between a resume and CV, and in fact, the terms are used interchangeably. More often than not, you’ll probably be asked to provide a CV before a job interview.

CV stands for Curriculum Vitae (or ‘course of life’ in Latin). It’s commonly agreed that the main difference between a resume and a CV is that a CV may be more detailed and lengthy, whereas a resume is shorter and often tailored to a particular purpose or job role.

Resume vs CV

Your CV will outline your full working history in chronological order (starting from most recent and, as a rule, not going back more than 10 years) and will include your education and/or academic qualifications and achievements (such as any publications, research experience, presentations, awards etc). It’s generally a static document. A resume is more of a summary of your job experience and whatever info may be relevant to the job you’re applying for. It’s more custom made and is normally no more than one or two pages.

A compelling resume will feature the following four standard sections: Objective, Summary, Work History and Education. There should be enough information in the resume to sell the applicant, but no more. The general length is one to two pages.

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In today’s global job market you’ll find that some countries use CV whereas others use resume. For instance, in New Zealand, Ireland and the UK, employers ask for CVs while US and Canadian bosses want you to provide them with a resume. In summary, it’s best to have a CV always prepared if hunting for work.

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Once you have this, it only needs to be updated when you experience a major life event, like achieving a new qualification or some other accomplishment that is worthy of mention. Should you be asked specifically to provide a resume, it’s only a matter of then editing the content — rearranging it, deleting it, adding here and there — to create a document that is tailor made to what you think an employer will be interested in and what’s relevant for that job.

Many people who need help writing their resume don’t have good enough skills in Microsoft Word and that is where our resume writing service can help. We’ll create a resume for you and provide you with the training you need to master Microsoft Word – then you’ll be able to make your own change in future as you need it for different job applications.

Better still you’re better off to get some word processing skills using Microsoft Word and data entry skills using Microsoft Excel because these programs are used in every business. If you’re looking for accounting jobs you’ll find these courses in MYOB, Xero and Quickbooks very handy.

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Digital Resumes, Social Media Profiles and Websites

If you are looking for a job or want to start your own business as a virtual assistant you may also be interested to see how you can use LinkedIn as your online resume and profile. Many independent contractors (or micro businesses) who have good computer skills will use their website as their resume – it’s available all the time, it is very visual and can include a video of the person, and it shows clearly what they’ve done (testimonials from clients) as well as the type of work they do (services pages).

Real estate agents are a clear demonstration of a profession where the resume is often available via their LinkedIn profile or website and one of the biggest reasons to create a digital profile is because you can be discovered by search engines like Google. Read about our guide on becoming a Social Media Marketing Consultant to see how they help real estate agents get discovered but more importantly stand out from their competitors.

If you are looking for work and want the flexibility to work your own hours, close to home and doing something you enjoy you could also take a look at our Work At Home Opportunities. We can help you up skill so that you can be your own boss of a new startup home based business AND provide the support you need to succeed.

Soft Skills for Job Seekers

Technical skills include the use of software programs that make you productive and efficient. You can demonstrate your competence in these software programs by mentioning them in the work you have performed for other companies in your resume. You can also demonstrate these skills with an Beginners to Advanced Certificate for an online training course you’ve completed.

Technical skills demonstrate that you’ll be able to fit easily into the job and take over using this software where the previous employee left off but it’s also important to demonstrate that you have good people skills and these are often referred to as soft skills. Popular softskills that are mentioned as “nice to have’s” include:

• Listening and Communications Skills
• Organising Meetings & Calendars
• Time Management Skills
• Customer Service
• Working With Difficult People
• Working as Part of a Team
• Setting and Achieving Goals
• Being able to work independently

Learn more about softskills and courses to help you improve your soft skills

The Purpose of a Cover Letter

When applying for jobs through a job site like SEEK you get the change to create or upload a Cover Letter with each application. Your cover letter can be a good way of letting employers know which parts of your resume to focus on when reviewing your job application.

Your cover letter gives you an opportunity to personalise your application and demonstrate that you are willing to do some research about the employer during your application process.

Learn more about tips for writing a great cover letter

Stuck in your Career? Get with a Program.

The Career Academy Success Program is the result of over 2 decades of experience in helping people succeed in their careers. The Career Success Program is designed to help you evaluation your values, skills and passions and create a strategy and plan to help you find the job you’re looking for and succeed in your chosen career.

The Career Academy JobSeeker training program takes you on a logical journey of discovering what you’d love to be doing and what you are good at and aligning it with job advertisements and job descriptions.

This training program is available for the normal registration fee or comes FREE with selected online training courses. 

Learn more about the Career Academy Success Program

Best Jobs to Work at Home Remotely

Working at home remotely became popular when Internet download speeds increased massively after about 2012 in Australia. This is also when there was an explosion in cloud-based services and apps that can be installed on your smartphone that enabled you to manage most aspects of running a business.

Large business applications and databases have had the functionality to login remotely and work from anywhere for a while but good broadband and new technology startups made it possible to work from home for most small businesses.

See the jobs which can easily be done using the Internet, working at home

Skills and Aptitude to Include in Your Resume for Work at Home Jobs

Although working from home seems appealing you need to have good computer skills in the software programs that can help you work from home but you also need to have a good place to work that is free from distractions. If your employer or boss doesn’t trust you and wants to keep you close you’ll have difficulty working remotely from home.