CV vs resume — what's actually different (UK vs US, 2026)

A CV (curriculum vitae) is a comprehensive document of your professional and academic history, used primarily in the UK, Europe, Australia, and India. A resume is a concise, role-tailored summary of your experience, used predominantly in the US and Canada. The short version: in the UK you send a CV; in the US you send a resume. The documents look similar but differ in expected length, personal detail conventions, section structure, and spelling. Getting this wrong when applying across markets can quietly signal to recruiters that you have not read the context carefully.

Length

In the UK, a two-page CV is the accepted standard for candidates with more than two or three years of experience. UK recruiters and hiring managers expect two pages, and many will notice if a strong candidate has tried to compress ten years of experience onto one page — it suggests either inexperience with UK conventions or that the candidate does not have much to show.

In the US, the one-page resume is a strong cultural norm, particularly in tech, finance, and most corporate environments. A two-page resume is acceptable for senior candidates with fifteen or more years of directly relevant experience, but anything longer is generally viewed as a failure to edit. US hiring managers and ATS systems are calibrated to the one-page norm. If your US resume runs to two pages, you are likely including experience that does not need to be there.

The underlying logic differs. A UK CV is meant to be a relatively complete record, which is why two pages is standard. A US resume is meant to be a curated argument for why you are right for this specific role, which is why brevity is valued.

For candidates applying across both markets, the practical approach is to maintain two documents: a full two-page UK CV and a condensed one-page US resume. The content overlaps substantially; the trimming for the US version should preserve the highest-impact bullets and remove the ones that are context-specific to earlier roles.

Personal details

This is where the legal context diverges significantly.

In the UK, it is common (though not required) to include your LinkedIn URL, your city of residence, and your nationality or visa status if it is relevant to your right to work. Including a phone number and email is expected. Including your full home address is increasingly uncommon and unnecessary — city or region is sufficient.

Photographs on a UK CV are not standard and are actively discouraged by most UK diversity and inclusion guidance. Including one will not necessarily harm you, but it adds no value and some recruiters and hiring managers will view it as unusual.

Date of birth is not expected on a UK CV and is rarely included. Employers in the UK are prohibited from making hiring decisions on the basis of age under the Equality Act 2010, and including your DOB can put recruiters in an awkward position.

In the US, the conventions are stricter and the legal context is more specific. US recruiters are trained not to request or consider: photographs, date of birth, nationality, marital status, religion, or any other characteristic that could expose the employer to discrimination claims under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines. Including any of these on a US resume will often cause the recruiter to redact or ignore them, and in some organisations can trigger a process flag.

For US resumes: name, email, phone, LinkedIn URL, city and state. Nothing else. No photograph, no nationality, no date of birth.

Sections and ordering

The structural differences between a UK CV and a US resume are partly cosmetic and partly substantive.

Both documents typically lead with contact information, a summary, and then professional experience in reverse chronological order. The differences appear in what comes after, and in what gets its own section.

UK CVs often include a "Personal Interests" or "Hobbies" section at the end. UK recruiters have mixed views on this: some find it humanising, others find it filler. If you include it, keep it brief and make it specific — "recreational chess" says more than "socialising."

US resumes rarely include a personal interests section. The space is better used for an additional bullet under a relevant role or a skills entry.

Professional references: both UK and US conventions have shifted away from listing referees on the CV or resume. "References available on request" is now understood to be implied and does not need to appear. Including it wastes space.

Volunteer work and community involvement appears more prominently on UK CVs. On a US resume, it is typically included only if it is directly relevant to the role or demonstrates leadership experience.

Education placement differs by career stage. Early-career candidates in both markets conventionally put education near the top, after the summary. Experienced candidates in both markets move education to the bottom. This is a shared convention.

One section that is structured differently: skills. UK CVs often have a simple list. US resumes frequently include a more detailed skills section organised by category (e.g., "Languages: Python, Go, SQL | Tools: AWS, Terraform, Datadog"). This is not a rule, but US hiring managers and ATS systems are accustomed to seeing categorised skills.

Language and spelling

This matters more than candidates expect. A UK CV submitted to a US employer with British spellings and Anglicisms is a subtle signal that you have not adapted the document for the US market. The same is true in reverse.

Key spelling differences:

Beyond spelling, there are vocabulary differences. "CV" itself: in a US context, writing "CV" in your document header reads oddly. US resumes use "Resume" or simply the candidate's name. Replacing "CV" with "Resume" is a small but meaningful signal of market awareness.

Job title conventions also differ. "Director" in the UK is a senior but relatively common title. In the US, "Director" implies a higher seniority band and is often roughly equivalent to a UK "Head of" or senior management role. Be aware that your UK title may carry different weight in the US context.

"Modules" for university courses becomes "courses" or "coursework" in US English. "Maths" becomes "math." "University" is standard in both, though US applicants sometimes specify "college." "Sixth form" has no US equivalent — write "secondary education" or simply the relevant grades.

When a UK applicant should send a US-style resume (and vice versa)

The rule is straightforward: match the convention of the market you are applying to, not the market you are based in.

If you are a UK-based candidate applying to a US company's London office, check their job listing and any guidance on their careers page. US-headquartered companies hiring in the UK sometimes explicitly request a resume (US-style), sometimes expect a UK CV, and sometimes do not specify. When not specified, a two-page UK CV tailored in the US style — with US spelling, no personal details, and a concise tone — is usually the safest choice. It reads correctly to both audiences.

If you are applying directly to a US-headquartered company's US office, send a one-page resume with US conventions, full stop. The recruiter will be US-based and calibrated to US expectations.

US-based candidates applying to UK companies should switch to UK conventions: two-page CV, British spelling, and be prepared for the UK interview format, which often includes competency-based questions structured around the STAR method.

For candidates regularly applying across both markets, the cleanest approach is to maintain both formats and select the right one per application. This is where a tool like RecastCV is useful — you can maintain your full experience in a master CV and generate a one-page US resume or a two-page UK CV from the same source material, tailored to the specific role in each case.

For UK-specific formatting guidance, the UK CV format guide covers the structural conventions in more detail. For the counterpart guide on how to tailor either document to a specific job description, the CV tailoring framework walks through the process step by step.