CV Dos and Don’ts

by Dr. Patrick Brandt, Director of Career Development and Training, UNC-CH (LinkedIn)

A Curriculum Vitae is a work of art

Your CV represents years of your hard work and accomplishment; it conveys your interests and values; it is designed to appeal visually; and it’s intended to elicit a positive response. Just like a piece of art, though, there are no hard and fast rules governing how CVs should be constructed. And just like a painting hanging on a museum wall, two people who read your CV are likely to have different reactions to the overall package and the individual elements of your CV. Your task is to craft a CV that accurately and efficiently describes who you are and why you’re the best at whatever you do.

Here are some guidelines to help you develop an effective CV. The advice is based on conversations with tenure track research professors, books and articles by career experts, as well as my own experience being in your shoes not that long ago.

Things that will make your CV rise to the top:

1.  Put your publications toward the front of the CV. This is what almost all postdoc employers look for to determine whether to offer you an interview. Don’t hide your publication list behind teaching experience, presentations, professional affiliations, service, etc

2.  Use indentation and bulleted lists to demarcate the start, middle and end of a heading or section

3.  Describe your awards and honors with numbers, dollar amounts, and other specific details

4.  If you are emailing your CV, send it in PDF format

5.  Put the dates along the right hand side of the paper. The left hand side of the page is where people scanning your CV look first. Dates are not as important as degree names, research titles, names of awards, honor, fellowships, etc

6.  In the Research Experience category, include the PI’s name and a brief description (or a bulleted list) that explains your accomplishments during each experience. Focus on achievements, not duties.

7.  Limit a CV that will be used for a postdoc application to 2-3 pages and include only the most relevant information. If you have lots of presentations or abstracts consider calling that section “Selected Presentations” and just include the most impressive ones.

8.  Use bold font for your name in publications and presentations citations to show your order in the author list.

9.  Don’t forget to state that you are a PhD candidate in XXXX department in the Education section. It’s a good idea to include an anticipated degree date, too.

10.  Use consistent heading and subheading styles throughout the CV.

11.  Always list accomplishments, experience, honors, publications, etc in reverse chronological order

12.  Include submitted, in review, or in press manuscripts in the publications section. For comments on manuscripts in preparation see tip number 7 below.

Think twice before including these 7 elements in your CV:

1.  An objective statement. This is only used in a resume not a CV. Even in resumes, it is not always recommended. Hybrid CV/resumes don’t usually go over well with academics.

2.  Personal information. Leave pictures, marital/family status, birth date, etc off your CV

3.  The word “I”. CVs are written with an implied I. For example, say “Investigated the role of PCNA in long patch base excision repair”, not “I investigated the role…”

4.  Undefined abbreviations

5.  Pre-college activities or non scientific hobbies or endeavors

6.  Skills or Techniques section. As a rising scientist you want to use your CV to show that you have answered research questions not just learned techniques. If you learned a highly technical skill and want to highlight that fact, mention the technique in your research description (see #6 above).

7.  Manuscripts “in preparation” are a pet peeve of many PIs. Most grad students, however, can get away with it especially if the don’t yet have a first author paper. If you decide to add manuscripts in preparation to your CV there’s really no point to saying where you plan to submit it. (For example, “Manuscript in preparation for Nature submission” probably won’t go over well.) On a related note, manuscripts in preparation should undeniably be mentioned in your cover letter!