A CV is not a longer resume. It is a different document with a different job: to lay out your full academic and professional record so a hiring committee can judge the whole of it. This guide covers when you need one, what belongs in it, and how to build a clean multi-page PDF for free.
The short version: enter your full history, add the academic sections you need, and export. The free CV maker handles the long-form layout on your device, with no account and no watermark.
When you need a CV instead of a resume
Reach for a CV when the role expects a complete history rather than a tailored highlight reel. That usually means:
- Academic posts — lectureships, postdocs, research positions
- Grant and fellowship applications
- Clinical and medical roles
- Many roles outside the US and Canada, where “CV” is simply the word for what others call a resume
The distinction matters because the expectations differ. A resume hides everything that does not serve a single application. A CV is supposed to be exhaustive: every publication, every talk, every grant. Trimming a CV the way you trim a resume can read as gaps. If you are still unsure which you need, see resume vs CV: the real difference.
The sections a CV expects
A CV carries more than a resume, and the order leans toward your academic identity:
- Header. Name, contact details, and your current position or affiliation.
- Profile or research statement. A short paragraph framing your focus and contribution. Longer and more substantive than a resume summary.
- Education. Degrees in reverse order, with institution, dates, and often your thesis or dissertation title.
- Appointments and experience. Academic and professional positions held.
- Publications. Often the centerpiece. Group by type — journal articles, book chapters, conference papers — and use a consistent citation format throughout.
- Grants and funding, teaching, talks, awards. Add the sections that apply to your field. A teaching-heavy role wants a full teaching section; a research role leads with publications and grants.
- References. Many fields still list named referees on the CV itself rather than holding them back.
You will not use every section, and that is fine. Include the ones your field weighs, and order them so the strongest evidence for the specific role comes first.
Keep formatting consistent across pages
A multi-page document lives or dies on consistency. Publication entries that switch citation styles halfway down, or headings that drift in size between pages, signal carelessness to exactly the people trained to notice it. Pick one citation format and hold it. Keep heading levels uniform. Let dates align in a single column so a reader can scan your timeline without hunting.
How to make your CV
Step 1: Enter your profile and history
Open the CV maker and add your profile statement, full education and work history, and the research, teaching, or publication sections your field needs. The preview builds beside you as you type.
Step 2: Arrange your sections
A CV is longer than a resume by design, so add as many entries as your history holds and order the sections to suit the role. A research post leads with publications; a teaching post leads with teaching.
Step 3: Download your CV
Export a tidy multi-page PDF with selectable text. Free, no watermark, no account, and nothing uploaded along the way.
Common CV mistakes
- Treating it like a long resume. Tailoring and trimming belong to resumes. A CV that hides publications or roles can look like it has gaps.
- Inconsistent citations. Mixing formats in the publication list is the fastest way to look unpolished to an academic reader.
- No structure to a long document. Without clear sections and consistent headings, a multi-page CV becomes hard to navigate. Group like with like.
- Forgetting it still gets parsed. Clinical and industry roles often screen CVs through software, so keep it to a single clean column with real text. See how to make a resume ATS-friendly — the same parsing rules apply.
Applying for a non-academic job alongside? You may want a tailored one-pager too. The resume builder shares the same editor and exports the shorter format.