The Resume & CV Glossary | Resume Encyclopedia
Explore a Resume & CV Glossary covering ATS, resumes, CVs, skills, achievements, parsing, Boolean search, job matching, executive CVs, academic CVs and Europass.
The Resume & CV Glossary is an encyclopedia-style reference to terminology used in resumes, CVs, recruitment, applicant tracking systems, professional profiles and career applications. It distinguishes related terms that are often used interchangeably but can have different meanings, purposes or contexts.
The glossary is designed as a growing reference index. Each term can be expanded into its own detailed encyclopedia entry, creating a connected knowledge base for job seekers, recruiters, career professionals and students.
1. Resume & CV Fundamentals
Resume: A concise career document presenting relevant experience, education, skills and professional evidence for an employment application.
CV (Curriculum Vitae): A career document whose expected content, length and purpose vary by country, profession and application context.
Curriculum Vitae: The full Latin term from which the abbreviation CV is derived, meaning a record of a person's course or development through life and work.
Professional Profile: A short introduction summarising a person's professional background, capabilities and career direction.
Career Objective: A statement describing the type of position, occupation or career direction a candidate is seeking.
Professional Summary: A concise opening account of relevant experience, expertise and career evidence.
Career Summary: A condensed overview of professional experience and progression.
Executive Resume: A resume prepared for senior professionals and executives, generally emphasising leadership scope, organisational responsibility and measurable business contribution.
Academic CV: A curriculum vitae used in academic, research or teaching contexts, often containing detailed information about research, publications, teaching and scholarly activity.
International CV: A CV prepared for employment applications across countries or regions, taking relevant local conventions into account.
Targeted Resume: A resume adapted to a particular occupation, vacancy, employer or career direction.
Master Resume: A comprehensive career record containing information that can be selected and adapted for different applications.
2. Resume Formats & Structures
Chronological Resume: A resume structure that presents employment history in chronological sequence, commonly with the latest position first.
Functional Resume: A format that gives greater prominence to skills and capabilities than to conventional employment chronology.
Combination Resume: A format combining a skills-focused presentation with chronological employment information.
One-Page Resume: A resume restricted to one page to present relevant information in a compact format.
Two-Page Resume: A resume extending across two pages when additional relevant career information requires more space.
Digital Resume: A resume created for electronic submission, viewing, storage or distribution.
Plain-Text Resume: A resume presented primarily as unformatted text for systems or environments with limited formatting support.
Resume Template: A pre-designed document structure used as a starting point for preparing a resume.
Resume Layout: The arrangement of sections, headings, text and visual elements within a resume.
Document Hierarchy: The organisation of headings and content so that the relative importance of information is clear to the reader.
3. Resume Content & Evidence
Employment History: A record of previous employment, normally including organisations, positions and dates.
Work Experience: Professional or occupational experience gained through employment or relevant practical activity.
Career History: A broader record of professional development across roles, organisations and periods of employment.
Job Title: The formal or commonly recognised designation of a position.
Job Duty: A task or activity forming part of a person's expected responsibilities.
Responsibility: An area of work, accountability or obligation associated with a position.
Accomplishment: A result or contribution achieved through a person's work.
Achievement: A completed result demonstrating what a person accomplished in a particular professional context.
Quantified Achievement: An achievement supported by measurable evidence such as revenue, cost, volume, time, percentage, productivity or team size.
Performance Result: An observable outcome associated with a person's work or contribution.
Career Progression: Development in responsibility, expertise, seniority or professional scope over time.
Promotion: Advancement to a position involving increased responsibility, authority or scope.
Career Gap: A period without conventional employment or without employment being presented in a career history.
4. Skills, Competencies & Capabilities
Skill: An ability developed through learning, training or experience that enables a person to perform an activity.
Technical Skill: A specialised ability associated with a particular occupation, technology, process or technical discipline.
Soft Skill: An interpersonal, behavioural or self-management ability used across professional situations.
Transferable Skill: A capability that can be applied effectively across different roles, industries or work environments.
Competency: A demonstrated combination of knowledge, ability and behaviour relevant to performing a task or role.
Core Competency: A capability that represents an important area of professional contribution.
Functional Competency: A capability associated with performing a particular business or occupational function.
Domain Knowledge: Knowledge developed within a specific industry, profession, subject or specialist field.
Specialised Skill: A capability requiring focused knowledge or training within a particular area.
Technical Competency: Demonstrated capability in a technical process, system, tool or professional discipline.
5. ATS & Resume Technology
ATS (Applicant Tracking System): Software used by employers and recruiters to manage applications and recruitment processes.
ATS Parsing: The extraction and interpretation of information from an application document by an applicant tracking system.
Resume Parsing: The conversion of resume content into structured information such as employment, education and skills.
Parser: Software that interprets document content and assigns extracted information to structured fields.
Structured Candidate Data: Candidate information organised into fields that can be stored, searched or processed by recruitment software.
Keyword: A significant word or phrase associated with a profession, position, skill, qualification, technology or recruitment requirement.
Keyword Matching: Comparison of candidate terminology with terminology associated with a job or recruitment requirement.
Job Matching: Comparison of candidate information with defined requirements associated with a position.
Candidate Matching: Identification or comparison of candidates according to specified recruitment criteria.
Semantic Matching: Matching based on meaning, relationships or contextual similarity rather than exact word repetition alone.
6. Recruiter Search & Recruitment Terminology
Recruiter Search: A search performed by a recruiter within a professional network, candidate database or recruitment platform.
Boolean Search: A search method using operators such as AND, OR and NOT to combine, broaden or exclude search terms.
Search String: A structured combination of keywords, phrases and search operators used to retrieve relevant results.
Candidate Database: A searchable collection of candidate information maintained by a recruiter, employer or recruitment platform.
Resume Database: A searchable collection of resumes available to an employer, recruiter or recruitment service.
Job Description: A document describing the responsibilities, requirements, qualifications and other conditions associated with a position.
Selection Criteria: Requirements or characteristics used to assess candidates for a particular position.
Candidate Profile: A structured representation of a candidate's professional information and attributes.
Recruitment Workflow: The sequence of activities used to manage applications and candidates during a hiring process.
7. Education & Professional Credentials
Education: Formal study completed through a recognised educational institution or programme.
Degree: An academic qualification awarded by a recognised higher-education institution.
Diploma: A qualification awarded after completion of an academic, vocational or professional programme.
Qualification: A recognised academic, professional or vocational attainment.
Certification: A credential confirming that specified requirements have been met.
Professional Certification: Certification associated with a particular profession, occupational field or technical discipline.
Credential: Evidence of a qualification, certification, licence, membership or recognised professional attainment.
Licence: Official authorisation to practise an occupation or perform a regulated activity where applicable.
8. Resume Sections
Contact Information: Details used to communicate with a candidate, such as telephone number, email address and relevant professional profile.
Resume Headline: A short statement positioned prominently near the candidate's name to identify professional identity or target role.
Professional Title: A title describing a person's occupational identity, specialisation or professional area.
Skills Section: A section listing relevant professional, technical or transferable capabilities.
Experience Section: The section presenting relevant employment and professional contributions.
Education Section: The section presenting academic qualifications and educational history.
Certification Section: A section listing relevant professional certifications and credentials.
Publication Section: A section used mainly in academic, research or specialist CVs to document published work.
Reference Section: A section providing professional references or indicating their availability when appropriate.
9. International & European CV Terminology
Europass CV: A standardised European CV format associated with the Europass framework for presenting education, skills and professional experience.
European CV: A CV prepared according to conventions relevant to a European country, institution or employment context. Requirements can differ between countries.
International Resume: A resume adapted for an employment application involving an international employer, location or labour market.
Country-Specific CV: A CV adapted to the documented expectations and conventions of a particular national employment market.
Global Career Profile: A professional profile presenting experience and capabilities for an international employment context.
10. Resume Presentation & Language
Action Verb: A verb describing an activity, contribution or result, such as managed, analysed, developed or implemented.
Career Narrative: The logical presentation of professional development through the information contained in a career document.
Professional Identity: The occupational identity communicated through a person's experience, expertise, qualifications and career direction.
Relevance: The degree to which information in a resume relates to the intended position or career purpose.
Readability: The ease with which a reader can locate, process and understand information in a document.
White Space: Unoccupied visual space used to separate content and improve document readability.
Resume Length: The number of pages occupied by a resume.
Formatting: The visual and structural treatment of text, headings, spacing and document elements.
File Format: The digital format in which a resume is saved, such as PDF or DOCX.
11. Related Career Documents
Cover Letter: A document accompanying an application that explains the candidate's interest and relevance to a particular opportunity.
LinkedIn Profile: An online professional profile containing information about a person's experience, skills, education and professional activities.
Portfolio: A collection of work samples demonstrating professional capability or creative output.
Statement of Purpose: A formal statement describing a person's academic or professional purpose, commonly used in education-related applications.
Personal Statement: A written account presenting relevant background, motivation, interests or suitability for a specific purpose.
Reference Letter: A written recommendation or professional assessment provided by another person.
How the 500+ Glossary Is Organised
The complete glossary is intended to expand into a structured reference system covering:
Resume & CV fundamentals
Resume formats and structures
Resume sections
Employment and career history
Achievements and measurable results
Skills and competencies
ATS and resume parsing
Keywords and terminology
Boolean and recruiter search
Job and candidate matching
Recruitment systems and databases
Job descriptions and selection criteria
Education and qualifications
Certifications and professional credentials
Executive resumes and CVs
Academic CVs
International CVs
European and Europass terminology
LinkedIn and digital professional profiles
Resume formatting and document presentation
Using This Glossary
The terms in this reference should not be treated as interchangeable simply because they appear in the same career document. A responsibility is not an achievement, a competency is not necessarily a skill, ATS parsing is not the same process as keyword matching, and a CV does not have one universal format worldwide.
Each glossary term can therefore be developed into a separate encyclopedia page containing its definition, context, examples and distinctions from commonly confused terminology.
The glossary serves as the terminology index for a broader Resume & CV Encyclopedia, bringing together the language used to create, understand, process, search and evaluate professional career documents.