The Difference Between Resume, CV, & Biodata

It is said that “nearly everybody would create a decent first impression but an only a small fraction of people will make an excellent permanent impact.” In order to make your first impression last longer, the credentials, namely resume, CV, and Biodata must always be revised so as not to create a misunderstanding about your particulars. Resume vs. CV vs. Biodata, when you’re about to move into the work, all three of these fall into action; maybe it’s the first work or the latest one. These documents hold their place and value in making your career bloom. This is what explains to the interviewer about the things you have done in your life and what you look forward to. Marking the essentials, these are the initiators who determine the height of your career and manage to imbibe the self-introduction and skills you possess on just one piece of paper. Resume formats and Biodata formats only vary by a minuscule margin. Let’s dig deep in each of these fields and look closer at what these three choices offer us:

RESUME:

A resume is a short, precise, and compact document which serves the purpose to provide the recruiter with an overview of the applicant’s work. It is mainly targeted to a specific job. A resume is a one – or two-page description of your job history, critical skills, and credentials, to say things in a precise form. It includes a section defining the skills you possess and might be of some use to impress your recruiter. It can either be in a sequential, well-designed, amalgamation, or business card format. A resume includes the specifics of your qualifications, experience, work assignments, certifications, and skills, both general and personal. Resumes may be in the form of a chronological, interactive, combination, or business card. A one-page resume works well when you apply for the majority of positions in the corporate, public, and non-profit sectors. For some fields and even for jobs that require more extensive experience, a two-page resume is appropriate. The resume is the first experience you receive from the interviewer, which is used to assess candidates for employment. It is more like a bullet list, which includes everything short, concise, and to the point. The most common resume formats are: chronological, functional, and combination resumes. Chronological resumes: A chronological resume is where you mention the inverse chronology of your work history, starting with the new job and going backwards. Functional resumes: A functional resume or better known as a skill-based resume-puts, the most emphasis on your knowledge and abilities. Combination resumes: A combination Resume is one that uses both chronological and functional format elements; that is, it is a hybrid. Typically this involves having a list of skills or core competencies followed by a thorough overview of the profession. Alternatively, a reverse-chronological list of roles plus an extended list of the skills involved can be given. The right way to use depends on what you want to worry about the most about your resume. Things you might want to include in your resume:

• 1. Contact information
• 2. Your objectives
• 3. Education
• 4. Skills
• 5. Work experience

CV:

On the other hand, a CV, full-formed as curriculum vitae, is like an in-depth document describing your career’s whole course. Your qualifications, the job experience you achieved, and other job descriptions, details of the technical skills you possess, hobbies, achievements, and even your strengths and weaknesses. CV is Latin for “course of life” and, as mentioned, gives a complete and detailed account of your professional background. It should be of at least two to three pages and can exceed depending on your work experience and your accomplishments. College freshers or recent graduates benefit from the CV by placing your experiences in chronological order. In your curriculum vitae, you get to clarify in detail the purpose of your career, which, on the other hand, is to resume more suited to the needs of a job you are applying for. The goal of your career may not be exactly the same as the work you are currently doing, but you should demonstrate to your prospective employer how the job you are currently doing can help you achieve your goal. You need to find any skills and abilities you’ve gained throughout your life but bear in mind that they should be important to the business world. When you discuss your achievement in detail, you may do the same. A CV helps the reader to get specific information about you. Choosing the right format of CV is vital for the chances of you receiving the job. There are two main formats: the traditional CV and the skill-based CV.

• Traditional CV: This CV format can best suit you if you have experience and skills which are near related to your job application and want to highlight career progression.
• Skill-based CV: you should use this CV format if you are changing careers and want to show employers how transferable skills learned in other jobs would be essential to the role.

It is advised to combine both the formats and come out with a hybrid for the most exposure. Some sets you may want to include in a CV:

• 1. Contact information
• 2. Research objectives
• 3. Education
• 4. Hobbies and interests
• 5. Awards and achievements
• 6. Skills
• 7. Grants and fellowships
• 8. Conferences
• 9. Non-collegiate activities
• 10. Research experience/ Lab experience
• 11. Memberships
• 12. References
• 13. Well-read languages
• 14. Other field experiences

BIODATA:

Biodata not only throws light on a factual theory but also on your work and life experiences. It contains all your life events from your personal details like name, age, gender, date of birth, caste, citizenship, and marital status to your opinions, values, beliefs, and attitudes mirroring a historical viewpoint. It is considered in terms of government institutions and matrimonial value for a usual approach and thus, making it sometimes fall under a less professional tone. Your Biodata has come out to be a true and accurate way of predicting future success based on the past performance of an applicant. In layman’s terms, it can be said the outmoded version of the CV resume. It might not come in handy to you for job applications as it is advised not to carry such deep and personal information to your recruiter as it can be misused. There turn out to be too significant types of bio-data documents that are considered worldwide, personal and professional. Personal Biodata: It appears a Biodata document is used in marriage proposals as a screening method. It helps the family consider the marriage proposal to explore the context and family history of the prospective partner and assess whether or not the request is a sound one. A matrimonial biodata contains detailed individual details, which is intended to help the recipient decide whether or not the person will be a suitable marriage partner. The Biodata of marriage should highlight the personal characteristics which a potential marriage partner may find attractive. Personal Biodata can include: General Information: Name, names of parents, date of birth, details of the family, caste, history in education, and career. Appearance: height, weight, build, the colour of the hair and eyes, shape of the face, and taint. Attach the best picture of you in this line, too. Contact Records: postal address, e-mail address, landline, cell phone numbers, and information on social media. Lifestyle: Hobbies, interests, principles, views, thoughts, favourite foods, likes/dislikes, smokers/non-smokers, religious / non-religious people, etc. Life / Ambition Goals: Your dreams, and the stuff you would like to do in general. Partner Expectation: Characteristics you are looking to see in a companion, such as age, kind of family, academic background, personality, physical features and so many others.

Professional Biodata

Every so often, a recruiting firm will recommend someone’s one-page Biodata as a means of checking credentials, and this particularly holds account of professional writing positions. A company would ask the potential technical writer to submit a one-page bio-data as their write sample to see what your ability level is in terminology and presenting the information. Bio-data is focused so that professional skills, ability sets, and accomplishments are highlighted, and personal data are held to a minimum, bio-data plays the role of a summary in some instances. For the large part, if you are looking for a job with either a Western hemisphere-based organization, Biodata is more prudent to have a fair, solid resume at your disposal. Some firms have self-explanatory instructions on how to organise the biodata format. They will even in some cases support you with their own professionally printed document to fill in during the recruitment process. If a set format guideline is not available, you can use any according to your free will, general-purpose biodata templates. If you are designing Biodata for work applications, you may like the parts which are given below to include: Purpose: Let the client know the ultimate purpose of your profession/life and why they should accept you for the position. Personal Details: Includes basic details comprising your name, mailing address, date of birth, gender, parental names, religion, etc. Hobbies, interests, talents, abilities, qualities, and everything else that will help the recipient understand who you are and what you want to do in life. Experience: List your career background in chronological order, as well as the qualifications acquired, the distinctions won, and other professional achievements. Educational background: List your academic profile and accomplishments in chronological order, in particular those critical to what you apply for. Points to mention in a biodata:

• 1. Name, address, Country / State
• 2. Sex, marital status, DOB
• 3. Religion, height, caste requirement
• 4. Educational history
• 5. Homeland history
• 6. Job past & status
• 7. Earnings
• 8. Competency lists
• 9. Goods & Hobbies
• 10. Wishes for partners
• 11. Vision & Expectations

So as it turns out to be, the main difference between the three documents is the amount of information you are providing about yourself to the person on the recruiting chair.

COMPARISON CHART

Let’s dive into some more differences to make it understandable were to use the particular documents There use when applying for an internship, job etc.When applying for any fellowship, academic position etc. Apply for government institution related jobs.

TERMS OF COMPARISION	RESUME	CV	BIODATA
Explanation	A brief, precise document comprising the information regarding your education, work experiences, and competencies. The aim of a resume is to provide a brief outlook of the candidate’s work history to the employment services. A decent resume should be oriented towards a particular job and should not exceed one to two pages in length.	A curriculum vitae includes a detailed description of your overall achievement in life-like, like qualifications, skills, achievements etc.	In addition to the educational and professional experience, a biodata focuses on personal information. It usually includes comprehensive personal details such as birth date, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, marital status, residence, names of parents, names of children and siblings, spoken languages, etc.
Length	Does not exceed more than 5 pages.	It has to be of at least 3-4 pages and can be more according to your needs.	It is a paragraph summary elaborating who you are and can be of any length.
Type	To the point	All-inclusive	To the point
References	No need to include	Should be included	It may or may not be included.
References	No need to include	Should be included	It may or may not be included.
Educational Qualification	Mention it after writing about your experience in work.	Mention educational qualification in the starting, after mentioning your aim.	If writing in paragraphs, mention in between personal information.
Focuses on	Your contribution to the organisation you were working with previously.	Your expertise in a specific field and how you might make a difference with it.	Put out all your personal details.

Things to keep in mind when applying for the job

The document format that you provide to an organisation works for an employer as a description of both your personal and professional profiles. It’s like a glimpse into your personality and offers insight into what kind of person you are to the reader. From those documents, the receiver will search for answers such as: Is the applicant suited for the role well?

• Is the candidate going to have the professional and interpersonal characteristics to match together with another group member?
• Will this candidate hold the special characteristics required to succeed?
• Do they have the potential to improve and expand their knowledge and skills?

Given the above points, it is evident that these documents play a vital role in your life. With the help of the chart, we have come to know, Biodata vs. resume format is very different. What is all included in CV vs. resume vs. Biodata is differentiated from each other by the reason for which they are used? The comparison chart made it clear what the difference between Biodata and resume is or what the difference between resume and curriculum vitae is and thus, erasing the mystery. Therefore, if you are applying for a position, make a note of the requirements that you fit into and accompany the respective document, CV, resume or Biodata and take a leap in your career path.