Comment by BeetleB | Hacker News Reader

Comment by BeetleB | Hacker News Reader

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> A cover letter is a way to keep you out for not following the instruction of send your cv and a cover letter, nobody is going to read it.

The fact that you say CV makes me thing that either:

1. You're in academia or some kind of research discipline.

2. You are not in the US (we distinguish between resumes and CVs, and CVs are almost unheard of in the engineering sphere here).

My comment about cover letters is US specific. Academic/research jobs should have a cover letter - I agree.

Most engineering positions I apply for do not require a cover letter - it is optional. If it is required, I do write one - but that is extremely rare. And I often do get calls from companies that allowed me to upload one (optionally) - even though I never upload one.

My guess is that the majority of companies that optionally allow you to upload one will never notice if you do.

My guess is that most likely the reason you can upload a cover letter (optionally) is that whoever designed the site is using a generic template - not because they actually want one.

Here in the UK (at least in my experience) we use CV and resume interchangeably

Not American, what is the difference between CV and resume? I always assumed they were synonyms.

Not American either but CVs (Curriculum Vitae, course of life) are much more comprehensive than resumes. If you're a researcher then you'd include a list of all of your published work, presentations, lectures, grants, scholarships, professional associations, etc.

In the US, the CV term tends to be used more in academia and research while resume tends to be used more elsewhere. And, in academia, you're more likely to list the sort of things you mentioned. Though the terms certainly can be used interchangeably. I have a ton of (non-academic) publications as well but, other than a couple books, I'd just include a hyperlink to a pubs page on my website that has a sampling.

In American business, snarkily, CVs are resumes from people who haven't learned how to edit.

US resumes are ideally 1 page with 2 pages (IMHO) being acceptable if one has enough experience.

American CVs spell out everything with a length that scales linearly with experience. Every publication. Every role. Major projects. Awards. Etc. For long-time academics these can run over 10 pages. A recent PhD recipient might use 3-4 pages for a CV.

>> US resumes are ideally 1 page with 2 pages (IMHO) being acceptable if one has enough experience

What if someone has 25 years of experience and held 10 different positions during that time, has a lot of ceritifications and other credentials? How do you fit all that on just two pages?

What is pertinent to the role for which you are applying? Focus on that.

I tend to go back to 2009 and write previous experience available on request. I put writing in a sidebar, probably would do the same as certifications so I doubt you would have anything overflowing the first page. Anyway I am thinking to chop off writing at about 4-5 lines and then write previous writing available on request.

In the rest of the world: CV and resume are interchangeable.

To a lot of people, CV and resume are synonyms.

Not in U.S

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