All about YOU - Be it Resume or CV or Biodata or Profile

I have received an eMail asking me to send my CV to introduce me to the audience in a conference. Sometime back I was  asked to send my Biodata to the organizers of a Career Event. Recently I was requested to provide my Resume for citation of an award to me. A social networking site required me to post my Profile to get myself registered. We come accross and use the words Resume, CV,  Biodata and Profile interchangeably for a document highlighting skills, education, experience and talents to make others known about us. Though they mean almost the same, there is a fine distinction. The documents are named as per the purpose for which they are used. Here are few thoughts and tips:

RESUME

It is a French word meaning "summary", and true to the word meaning, signifies a summary of one's employment, education, and other skills, used in applying for an employment. A resume is suggested to be a shorter, more focused account of  relevant skills and achievements, work experience, professional affiliations, computer skills and education. Prospective employers would like to see a  resume on one side of an A4 sheet.  Resume must highlight the specific skills and areas of strength or industry expertise in keywords customized to target the job profile in question. A resume is better to be broken into bullet points and written in the third person [He / She] to appear objective and formal. The content should aim at providing the reader a balance of responsibilities and accomplishments for each position. This allow the prospective employer to scan through the document visually or electronically,  to see if the career aspirant skills match their expectations and available positions.
CV
Curriculum Vitae is a Latin word meaning "course of life". It is also simply called a vitae or curriculum vita.  A CV is more detailed than a resume, generally 2 to 3 pages, but can run even longer as per the requirement. It can list out  skills, jobs, degrees, and professional affiliations the applicant has acquired, usually in chronological order. A CV may display general talent rather than specific skills for any specific positions. A CV  is   preferred option for fresh graduates, people looking for a career change, those applying for academic positions in a college or university, authors, researchers, professors and other experts in a particular field. Personal information such as age, sex, religion and hobbies  can also be included  in the CV One of the main objectives to prepare and present a CV is  to stand out from the crowd.
BIO DATA

Biodata is the short form for Biographical Data, is the old-fashioned terminology for Resume or CV. The emphasis in a bio data is on personal particulars like date of birth, religion, sex, race, nationality, residence, martial status, and the like. Next comes a chronological listing of education and experience.  Bio-data may also includes applications made in specified formats as required by the recruiting organization.The term bio-data is mostly used while applying to Government jobs, or when applying for research grants and other situations where one has to submit descriptive essays. Biodata is a commonly used psychology term for biographical data. Biodata form is an application form  created by the employer to collect information from job applicants. It may include much of the same information as a resume, but it is organized as per the convenience of the employer.

PROFILE
A profile could be said as a description of things or a source of information about a person. Personal profiles, especially online profiles, are an excellent way to distill information about us into a digestible and interesting format. A profile is a scrapbook of our life in words. The goal is to create a cross-section of our life and self that will generate interest in the reader.  Whether we are creating a profile in order to look for jobs, relationships or as a form of advertisement for

your vocation or business, it must be presented in a structured manner. An outline format is easier to read than a narrative format. Profile may refer to a person's personal feelings, thoughts and   charateristics. Just check whether the content in profile gives a snapshot view of a person's background. Profile is generally used by authors, speakers in meetings & conferences, professionals, CEOs and working executives. Online profiles must be frequently updated to enable web & blog search engines to give fresh look.

Lookup my Profiles with different approaches / purposes:
LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/suryanarayana
Teacher http://www.wiziq.com/surya
EzineArticleshttp://ezinearticles.com/?expert_bio=Suryanarayana_S_V
BlogAdda http://www.blogadda.com/blogs/My_Blog_www_suryanarayana_com-surya342