In last week’s column, I provided strategies for academic professionals — teachers and administrators — who want a new position for next fall. Now it’s time to look at the curriculum vitae (CV).
The difference between CVs and resumes
Most people think the difference between a CV and a resume is length. In truth, length is just an outcome of the actual differences between the two documents. Since a CV provides all the events of someone’s professional and academic life, 10-15 page documents are common — especially for mid-career academics who have been prolific authors and presenters.
It’s also common for the information to be presented very plainly, often without the benefit of job descriptions, personal detail or even the use of bold type for the headings. It’s a just-the-facts approach, with all the facts given equal weight.
By contrast, a resume for the same mid-career professional might range from two to four pages. The difference in length comes from strategic editing. Rather than asking the reader to identify the important information, the writer decides which points are most relevant and highlights that data. Everything else is either eliminated or reduced to very few words.
Choosing between a resume and a CV
Which is better for today’s academic — a resume or a CV? The answer depends on your situation. Teachers in undergraduate school systems commonly use resumes while those teaching in post-secondary institutions are expected to turn in CVs. Administrators in either setting commonly use a CV.
If you lean toward a CV, consider borrowing a few elements from the resume world. For example, since committees hire the person as well as the credential, a summary at the beginning of the page is a good way to introduce yourself.
Adding detail to your experience section also will help the committee develop a fuller picture of you. So instead of simply listing a teaching role, provide three or four sentences describing your actual work, the types of students you taught, extra activities, etc.
More experienced academics can borrow elements from the resume as well, but for different reasons. For these professionals, the issue is one of directing focus to the most important details, while letting other details shift to the background.
Building your own CV
Although there are dozens of potential categories in a CV, following are some of the main ones to consider using, including some borrowed from resumes.
Professional summary
Often a short narrative of three to four sentences, the summary usually begins with an overview sentence, moves into more specific detail, and ends with something a little warmer or personal. If you choose to use a summary, don’t worry about fitting a formula. Just answer this question for yourself: How would you want someone to summarize you when describing you to a hiring committee?
Education
Just write each training experience, most recent first. For recent graduates, this section will appear near the top, perhaps just after the summary. More seasoned workers will do better to drop the education to the end of the document.
_____ Experience (Administrative, Research, Teaching, etc.)
“Experience” may encompass one or several categories, depending on your professional background. Be sure to provide enough description to show the scope of your work.
Workplace leadership
If you’ve had a number of leadership experiences, it can make sense to highlight them. Entries here might include committees, mentorship programs, etc.
Professional activities
This is just what it sounds like: a listing of such activities as publications, presentations, conference attendance and professional memberships. Depending on the number of entries, you might use the primary category of professional activities, followed by subheads. Or you can jettison the professional activities heading in favor of a main category for each activity. At some point, however, you might consider annexing the bulk of this information to an addendum, to keep your document from becoming too cumbersome.
Community involvement
If you have interesting or significant experience in the community, it will add a dimension to your candidacy.
Additional information
This could also be named personal interests, but if you have facts left over that you want to include, additional information is more flexible. For example, you could include items such as:
-fluent in Arabic and English
-previous career in law
-personal interest in studying botany
A last word on building your CV
It’s easy to get overwhelmed when writing a CV. A good process is to dive in, do your best, then hand it off to someone who can help you polish the final product. If you’re not handy with formatting documents, hiring a professional editor or resume writer may be a good choice, particularly at the polishing stage.
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