US Resume vs CV: Format, Content, Country Rules
A US job application needs a resume, not a CV: a 1-2 page document built around your skills and results, not a translated version of a Korean resume. CV means something different depending on the country, UK and Singapore guidance both push personal details like age and date of birth out of the document, and achievement bullets need the right tense plus the job posting's own keywords before they can pass an ATS screen or a recruiter's first scan.
Building a resume for a US, UK, or Singapore employer means rewriting it for that market's expectations. You decide which document the market expects, cut the fields that market doesn't want, and restate your achievements in the employer's language. refresh.cv is an AI resume builder that compares a job description's requirements and ATS keywords against the real experience evidence already in your resume, then helps you revise toward the posting. The same sequence applies here: pick the right document, strip what doesn't belong, and rewrite your bullets to match the job.
Resume or CV: which document to send
Send a resume if you're applying to a US company. The Oregon State University Career Development Center defines a resume as a 1-2 page summary of your skills, experience, and education, while a CV documents academic and research achievement in far more detail, typically 2-12 pages.
CV means something different outside academic hiring. According to the Georgetown University Cawley Career Education Center, in the US a CV is reserved for academic and research positions, while outside the US the terms CV and resume are often used interchangeably for the same general application document. If a UK employer asks for a CV, assume they mean the general document US employers call a resume. When a posting's intent is unclear, follow the exact term and length guidance the job listing uses.
Why photos, birthdates, and gender get cut
Fields that are standard on a Korean resume, a photo, date of birth, and gender, get removed by default on a US, UK, or Singapore application. UK and Singapore guidance both point to the same reason: hiring decisions should rest on job-relevant skills, not personal characteristics.
- UK: National Careers Service advises against including age, date of birth, marital status, or nationality on a CV.
- Singapore: the TAFEP Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices direct employers to hire based on skills, experience, and job performance, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, or marital status. The Ministry of Manpower's Tripartite Standard on Recruitment Practices states that applications shouldn't request age, date of birth, or gender unless the information is genuinely needed to assess job fit, and the guideline text itself adds that a photo and national service status generally aren't part of the assessment either.
- US and North America: VisualCV's country-by-country guide recommends dropping age, date of birth, gender, nationality, and marital status from a resume to avoid discrimination risk.
If a specific posting or application form explicitly asks for one of these details, follow that instruction instead of the general rule.
Section names and order
A US-market resume uses section names a reader can scan instantly. National Careers Service lists contact details, a short personal statement, education, work experience, and references, with the personal statement placed right under your name and contact information. The order below is a recommended structure for an experienced candidate.
| Section | What goes in it | How it differs from a Korean resume |
|---|---|---|
| Contact Information | Name, email, phone, LinkedIn | No photo, no date of birth, no full home address |
| Summary | 2-3 lines tailored to the target role | Written fresh for the role, kept separate from the cover letter |
| Experience | Most recent first: company, title, dates, achievement bullets | Leads with measurable results |
| Education | School, major, degree, graduation month and year | Early-career candidates can place this above Experience |
| Skills | Tools, languages, and certifications relevant to the posting | Only list what you can actually use |
Tense and numbers in achievement bullets
Verb tense follows whether the work is finished. Jobscan recommends past tense (managed, designed) for completed roles and present tense (manage, design) for responsibilities you're still carrying out at your current job. Drop the subject "I" and start each bullet with the verb.
Write numbers as digits with a percent sign, and state the comparison baseline and time period next to the number. Spell out the month (Mar 2021 - Present) instead of a numeric date format that reads differently across countries. For KRW amounts, label the currency or state your conversion basis.
The example below is hypothetical and meant to show the pattern. Replace the numbers with your own real results before using it.
- Weak: Handled onboarding improvements for new members, contributed to lower churn.
- Stronger: Redesigned the new-member onboarding flow, reducing 30-day churn from 18% to 12% (Jan-Jun 2025).
The rewrite replaces "handled" and "contributed to" with what changed and by how much, and uses the past tense "Redesigned" because the project is finished.
Matching job posting keywords to real experience
The same experience only connects with a reader and an ATS when it's written in the posting's own words. Indeed notes that employers are likely to search an ATS using the same keywords that appear in their job posting, so your resume should reflect that language.
Add a keyword only where you have the experience to back it up. Say a hypothetical posting asks for A/B testing, user research, and SQL. Your resume experience falls into one of three groups:
- Keyword and experience both present. You ran A/B tests and already wrote "A/B testing" on your resume. Strengthen the bullet with results and move it higher in the section.
- Experience present, keyword missing. You did conduct interviews with customers but wrote only "customer calls." Rewrite it in the posting's language, for example "Conducted user research interviews," as long as that's what you actually did.
- Keyword and experience both missing. You've never used SQL. Leave it off the resume.
refresh.cv runs this comparison automatically. It checks your resume against a job's responsibilities, required skills, and ATS keywords, shows which requirements are met and which are missing, and only applies the posting's language where your experience supports it. When your resume can't back up a requirement, it asks for more detail instead of inventing content. It also flags tense inconsistencies and grammar errors. A resume quality score (how well the document itself is written) and a job-specific keyword fit score (how well it matches one posting) are separate measurements, and neither one guarantees that an application will pass a specific employer's screen.
Cover letter length and role
A cover letter expands on whichever part of your resume experience connects most directly to the target role. The University of Michigan's resume and cover letter guide recommends keeping it to one page and going deeper on relevant experience rather than repeating resume bullets. Pick two or three requirements from the posting and show, in sentences, exactly which experience satisfies each one.
US, UK, and Singapore practices at a glance
| Item | US | UK | Singapore |
|---|---|---|---|
| General application document | Resume (CV for academic roles) | CV | Follow the term the posting uses |
| Personal information | Age, date of birth, gender, nationality, marital status recommended out | Age, date of birth, marital status, nationality excluded per guidance | Age, date of birth, gender generally not requested unless job-relevant |
| Key reference point | 1-2 page resume is standard | Contact / statement / education / experience / references structure | Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices set the baseline |
For a UK application, spell consistently in British English (organised, analysed). Specific industries and public-sector application forms can set their own requirements, so always defer to what the posting itself asks for.
To carry existing experience into a new role's language rather than deleting it, see our guide on rewriting a career-change resume without erasing your experience.
Once your resume draft is ready, paste the job posting into refresh.cv to see exactly where the posting's requirements and ATS keywords match your real experience, and where the gaps are.
FAQ
Do I need a CV if a US company's posting asks for one? Only if the role is academic or research-focused. For a standard corporate US posting, send a resume even if the posting uses the word CV loosely; when in doubt, match the length and structure the posting describes.
Is it ever acceptable to include a photo on a resume for these markets? General guidance for the US, UK, and Singapore recommends leaving photos off. Include one only if the application form explicitly requests it.
Should I use the same resume for US, UK, and Singapore applications? Keep the same experience and achievement evidence, but adjust spelling conventions for the UK, confirm which personal fields to drop for each market, and match whichever document name and section order the specific posting expects.
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