Whether you are looking for a job, a life partner, or making a profile on a social networking site on the internet, you need to share some personal and professional details, educational and work experiences etc to let others have an opinion about you. It is like a tool that lets a person scream about himself to the world. Though they serve similar purposes, a bio data and a resume are different in many manners, and this article attempts to highlight these differences.
Resume
Resume is a French word that means summary. This implies that one’s resume should be a summary of his skill sets in education and employment while giving a few personal details, as well. This also means that the length of a resume should not exceed 2-3 pages.
Ideally, a resume is not meant to contain all of a candidate’s educational and work related skills, but it should contain and talk about only those skills that are relevant to the particular job in which the applicant is interested. The focus in a resume is on most recent work experiences and responsibilities handled in various job positions. On the other hand, previous job experiences are talked in short only.
Resume is written in third person so that it appears formal. Bulleting is done to highlight important points to attract the attention of the reader.
Bio-data
Biodata is a short term for biographical data and is used in the Indian subcontinent mostly. It is a term that was used for CV and resume earlier while today it is reserved for matrimonial advertisements where emphasis is kept on personal details of a person. This information includes name, sex, age, address, religion, caste, marital status, and so on.
Bio-data also contains information like PAN number, passport number, driving license number, etc apart from height, weight, hobbies and photo. This means that Biodata is more of a personal sketch and not an indicator of future behavior as to what an employer can expect from an applicant.
What is the difference between Biodata and Resume?
• Resume focuses more on educational and work experiences while Biodata focuses more on biographical information
• Resume lets a prospective employer select an individual for a particular job while Biodata is more useful for government and matrimonial services as it includes more personal details
• Biodata is used in southeast Asian countries while Resume is used all over the world