Hoja de Vida vs. Currículum vs. CV: What's the Difference?

If you're applying for jobs in the Spanish-speaking world, you'll run into three different words for what is broadly the same document: hoja de vida, currículum (or currículum vítae), and CV. They aren't different formats so much as different regional vocabulary — but picking the word a hiring manager actually uses matters, both for how you title your file and for what you type into a search engine when you go looking for a template.

Which term is used where

• Hoja de vida — the standard term in Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, and widely understood in Peru and Bolivia. Literally "life sheet". If you're applying to a Colombian company and you call your document a currículum, you'll be understood perfectly well — but hoja de vida is what the job posting will most likely say.
• Currículum or currículum vítae — the standard in Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Chile, and the more common term across most of the region in formal or academic contexts.
• CV — the abbreviation is understood essentially everywhere Spanish is spoken, and is the safest choice when you don't know which country the reader is in. It's also what most international companies use internally.

None of these describe a different document structure. A hoja de vida and a currículum both contain your contact details, work history, education and skills, in the same reverse-chronological order.

What actually differs by country

The vocabulary is regional; so are a few real conventions, and these matter more than the word on the title line:

• Photo. Common and often expected across much of Latin America and Spain. This is the opposite of US practice, where a photo is normally left off for anti-discrimination reasons — our guide on whether to include a photo covers the US reasoning in full.
• Personal details. Documents in several Latin American countries traditionally include information a US resume would never carry — national ID number, date of birth, marital status, nationality. How much of this to include is increasingly a personal choice rather than a requirement, and many modern employers neither need nor want it.
• Length. The one-page rule that dominates US advice is much weaker elsewhere. Two pages is unremarkable in Spain and most of Latin America, particularly past a few years of experience — see how long a resume should be for where that line actually sits.

Which word should you use?

Match the job posting. If the posting says hoja de vida, name your file that way and use the phrase in your cover letter; if it says currículum, do that instead. When the posting gives you nothing to go on, CV is the safest neutral choice anywhere in the Spanish-speaking world.

For the document itself, the structure barely changes — what changes is whether you include a photo and how much personal data you're comfortable listing. Our Spanish-language guides cover the same ground for readers working in Spanish, and every template here supports a photo or no photo, so the same design works either way.

Frequently asked questions

Is a hoja de vida the same as a resume? Close enough for practical purposes. Both are a short summary of your work history, education and skills. The differences are conventional rather than structural — a hoja de vida is more likely to carry a photo and personal details, and less likely to be held to a strict one-page limit.

Should I write "Hoja de Vida" as a heading at the top of my document? No. Whatever you call the file, the top of the page should be your name — a heading that just labels the document wastes the most valuable space on it.

Does "currículum" need the accents? In correct Spanish, yes: currículum vítae. In practice many people search and write it without accents, and search engines handle both, so it isn't worth worrying about in a filename.

Which term should I use if I'm applying to a company in the US that operates in Latin America? Use whichever language the posting is written in, and match its vocabulary. If the posting is in English, "resume" is the right word regardless of where the company operates.