Resume vs CV vs Biodata: What's the Difference?

The short answer

• Resume: 1 to 2 pages. Focus is on skills and results. You tailor it for each job.
• CV: 2 pages or more, with no fixed limit. Focus is on your full academic and professional record. You add to it over time rather than cut it.
• Biodata: usually 1 page. Focus is on personal information, with brief education and work details. Often a fill-in form.

The names get used loosely. Plenty of local job posts say "send your CV" when a normal resume is what they expect. The sections below explain how to tell which one you need.

What a resume is

A resume is a selective document. You choose the experience, skills and results that match one job, and you leave the rest out. Its sections are contact details, summary, work experience, education and skills, with optional certifications.

It is the standard for private-sector hiring: corporate offices, BPO companies, retail, banks, startups, and remote work for overseas clients.

Short, specific and written to be scanned quickly. If you need help building one from scratch, start with how to write a resume.

What a CV is

A curriculum vitae is a complete record. It keeps growing as your career does, and nothing relevant is cut for length. Besides work history and education, a CV usually includes:

• Research and publications
• Conference presentations and lectures given
• Teaching experience and subjects handled
• Grants, fellowships and scholarships
• Professional licenses and memberships
• Thesis or dissertation titles and advisers

A true CV is typically requested for academic and research positions, medical and scientific roles, graduate school and scholarship applications, and some senior or international posts.

In the UK, much of Europe, the Middle East and other regions, "CV" is simply the everyday word for what Filipinos call a resume. If an overseas employer or recruitment agency asks for your CV for a non-academic job, they almost always mean a concise one to two page document.

What a biodata is

Biodata is short for biographical data. In the Philippines it usually means the one-page form sold in bookstores and sari-sari stores, which you fill in by hand and attach a photo to. It asks for:

• Name, address and contact number
• Date and place of birth, age, sex, civil status, religion, citizenship
• Height and weight
• Parents' and spouse's names and occupations
• Schools attended, by level
• Previous employers, briefly
• Character references
• Signature, and sometimes a thumbmark or community tax certificate number

A biodata tells an employer who you are. It says very little about how well you work, which is why most professional employers no longer use it for screening.

When each one is asked for

• Resume: office and corporate jobs, BPO and call center roles, sales, IT, freelancing and virtual assistant work, most online applications.
• CV: teaching and research posts at colleges and universities, medical residency and fellowship, scholarships, graduate programs, and employers abroad who use the word for a resume.
• Biodata: some small businesses, factory, store, driver, security and household roles, and some manpower agencies. Certain employers still ask for it as a quick personal information sheet alongside other requirements.

Government positions are a separate case. Agencies generally use their own standard personal information form rather than a free-form resume, so check the vacancy notice for the exact documents to submit.

Practices vary by employer. When a post is unclear, follow its exact instructions, and ask the recruiter if you are still unsure.

What to send when the job post says "CV"

1. If the job is academic, research or medical, send a full CV.
2. If it is any other kind of job, send a resume of one to two pages. You can name the file CV to match the post.
3. If the post asks for a biodata, submit one, and attach a resume as well if you have relevant experience. It gives the employer more to go on.

Either way, use a clean layout and a format that is easy to read. Our guide to resume format in the Philippines covers length, photo and file type, and the CV maker gives you a structured layout to fill in.

Turning a biodata into a resume

If a biodata is all you have, you already have the raw material. Drop the personal block, keep your contact details, and expand the work and school lines into evidence of what you can do.

Then add a short summary at the top and a skills section at the bottom. If you are starting your first job hunt, the guide to a resume with no experience shows what to use in place of work history.