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Job Ad Questions and AnswersWriting an Impressive Curriculum Vita(e) (CV)Curriculum vita or vitae (CV) literally means “course of your life.” A CV is a comprehensive, formal, professional summary of your educational and academic background, employment, accomplishments, and activities. In addition, it serves as an important job-hunting tool. A CV should capture and stress your strengths; market you, the product; be honest; make a good first impression; and be convincing that you deserve a job interview. All information included in a CV must be defensible and may be a topic of conversation in an interview! CV versus RésuméBoth CVs and résumés introduce you to the reader. Whereas a CV is comprehensive, a résumé is brief. Both promotional documents include information about skills, experience, accomplishments, and education. Both CVs and résumés detail your credentials for obtaining funding or a job interview. A CV can be compared with a videotape that you produced over the years, while a résumé can be likened to a snapshot. In general, a person who has obtained a master’s degree or a doctorate and has published papers uses a CV, especially if applying for a position in a research and development (R&D) organization or for an academic position. FormatYour CV should be concise, accurate, and informative. Update it on a regular basis, at least annually or more frequently if you have education, training, accomplishments, or publications to add. Be sure that there is ample white space by allowing 1-in. margins on all sides. Use a serif font such as Times Roman, Bookman Old Style, or Palatino. Many serif font options are available. Do not make the reader struggle to see the text. A font size of 10 in some fonts can be difficult to read, as it is quite small. The bottom line is to be certain that the text is large enough to be very readable. Choose both the size and the font wisely. Use a consistent style and format with both headings and sub-headings. When describing your accomplishments, using the past tense of active verbs is quite powerful, for example, “invented,” “formulated,” “collaborated,” “interacted,” or “synthesized.” The length of a CV can range from 2 to 10 pages. In general, CVs of young professionals are 2 to 5 pages long. A more experienced person will have a CV ranging from 4 to 7 pages. The maximum length is 10 pages. If your publications list is lengthy, you might consider using an attachment to your CV to detail your publications. It is optional to include the date at the top of the first page. However, if you do so, be certain that you have used the INSERT + DATE function on your computer and checked the box that indicates that the computer will automatically update the date each time you open the document. Otherwise, what is the most recent version of your CV can appear to be outdated. Be aware that it is important to know in what format your CV should be submitted--either as an .rtf document (plain text often required for electronic submission) or a reader friendly document that can be submitted as an e-mail attachment or as a hard copy. If you are applying using an on-line application form, it may require that you submit very plain text with no bold, bullets, underlines, italics, centering, tabs, vertical or horizontal lines, hanging indents, and other formatting options. Check with the organization to which you are applying to determine the preferred format. If you are using a reader friendly format, avoid using underlines, all capital letters, or italics (italics are considered to be weak, but fine for book and journal titles in publications lists). Use bold for emphasis and bullets for lists. To learn how to submit a reader friendly CV to the LANL system, go to Tips for Applying to LANL. Do not staple or fold your CV because doing so will slow down the reader, wasting valuable time that the reader could spend reading your CV. Use page numbers except for page 1 and repeat your name on each page. By using a header or footer, you can easily include your name and the page number. After creating a header or a footer on a PC document, choose FILE + PAGE SETUP + LAYOUT and then check to “Different first page” box so that the header or footer will not appear on page 1. On the Macintosh computer, choose FORMAT + DOCUMENT + LAYOUT and then check “Different first page.” ReferencesList your professional references (three to five, or even as many as six) on a separate page of your CV as either the last page or a standalone document that reflects the same style as your CV. Thus, you can carry your reference document with you to an interview. Ask permission of people who know you professionally to be certain they are willing to serve as references. Contact your references at least once a year to confirm their personal contact information and to update them on your professional activities. In addition, it is a nice touch to send an updated CV to your references annually or at least periodically. When listing information about your references, include the following: name, their title, professional relationship to you (for example, supervisor, group leader, co-worker, customer), e-mail address, telephone number with area code, and complete mailing address, including zip code. Be sure to include a variety of references¾at least one immediate supervisor, a peer, a customer, and your academic advisor or professor. Some Helpful TipsBe certain to define all the acronyms used. Do not submit material beyond what is requested on the job ad. You can certainly take with you to the interview a reprint of two or three recent publications or examples of your work. Recent graduates might consider taking a copy of academic transcripts with them to their interviews. Also, keep copies for you of all the paperwork submitted in case there is any question or lack of information readily available concerning your application materials. If applying for a position in an area somewhat different from your current work, indicate your current research as well as future research interests or long-term goals. If you apply for an academic position, you may be directed to submit a 2 to 4 page statement of past, current, and future research interests as well as information concerning professional involvement with undergraduates, graduate and doctoral students, and postdoctoral researchers. In addition, you may be tasked to provide a statement of teaching interests what you are competent to teach including what is stated in the job ad and course lists without course numbers, especially if you are just finishing a degree. Brief course descriptions are optional. For academic positions, it is advantageous to indicate your potential for service because universities usually expect you to be involved in research, teaching, and service. Possible Sections of a CVBecause there is no definitive protocol for organizing a CV other than including your educational background on the first page, there are many options for possible sections of your CV and for arranging them. Therefore, you have a great deal of flexibility regarding emphasis and detail! Your CV is your document. You can pick and choose what to include! Keep in mind that you probably will have 30 seconds with the reader. Therefore, you must be powerful quickly! The maxim regarding CVs says, “More is more.” For résumés, “More is less.” Ask yourself, “What do I want the reader to know?” Be comprehensive, yet concise! Below is a list of possible CV sections along with a suggested order.
Do not include marital status, children, health, spouse’s work, birth
date, birthplace, ethnicity, or religious affiliation. Descriptions of Specific SectionsYou may write Curriculum Vitae (or Curriculum Vita) at the top of the first page if you wish. Applicant Information or Personal Contact Information Objective (optional)An objective is optional. However, it is very important to include an objective if you are changing fields. The objective can be as short as a sentence or as long as a brief paragraph indicating the type of position you are targeting. State your objective logically and clearly. Be certain that your objective matches the position or the program to which you are applying. Objective: A research position in applied mathematics Background (optional)A background statement offers an opportunity to provide additional information not requested or appropriate elsewhere. If you would like to clarify your citizenship, an extended residence outside the United States, or unique work or education, a background statement is quite appropriate. In the statement, do not address your age, marital status, gender, religion, political affiliation, race, or ethnicity. Summary of Qualifications (optional) Educational Background Ph.D. in biochemistry, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, expected date of graduation: 2005 1997 1993 1990 Certificates or Licenses Awards and Honors (both academic and professional) Patents and Inventions Grants and Fellowships Employment Experience Make each entry important by including your skills and accomplishments. Be sure to include work relating to the targeted job or career path. You can choose to emphasize some entries more than others. Detail significant experiences; summarize less important ones. Write out the Laboratory’s organizations’ names if applying externally. In general, the Laboratory’s acronyms are meaningless outside the Laboratory. Use the past tense of action verbs to tell of your accomplishments (for example, “designed,” “developed,” “initiated,” “implemented,” “documented,” etc.). If you submit a reader friendly CV, bullets can be quite effective when describing your accomplishments. Do not fall into the “trap” of describing your duties. Include abilities and skills as well as knowledge gained. Quantify when possible and appropriate using dollar signs ($), abbreviations for dollar amounts (K, M, and B), and percentage signs (%). Feel free to include internships, volunteer work, summer or seasonal jobs, and part-time jobs. Include consulting activities here. In other words, include any employment that is relevant to your work goals. Significance is the key! Ask yourself if the experience is significant to your goal. 1997-99 Research Experience. Include both substance and techniques as well as the title of each project, activities, publications generated, names and titles of professors or supervisors, and dates. Teaching Experience. Address assistantships, field placements, and administration. Include your job title(s), class size(s), undergraduate or graduate level(s), course preparation involvement, grading, name(s) and location(s) of the institution(s), and your title(s), and date(s). Laboratory Experience. You could include equipment used, outcomes, and dates. Supervision Experience. Write about your independent supervision of students. You may wish to include level of students, dissertation topics, supervision committees on which you served, and relevant dates. Mentoring Experience. Include the subject matter you mentored, the number of mentees, the setting (university, high school, or corporate), and the dates. Instrumentation Experience. Address the state-of-the art instruments, computer hardware, photographic equipment, and audiovisual equipment you used. The names of the instruments used can be listed in columns, a tabbed format, or a table. Include descriptions of state-of-the-art instrumentation. Academic and Professional Interests Publications Create separate sections, if appropriate, for various kinds of publications, such as authored books, co-authored books, book chapters, monographs, peer-reviewed articles, conference proceedings, invited papers, work in press, work in progress, creative writing outside your field, etc. List unpublished materials only if they are being considered for publication! The order and format of your publications will, no doubt, be governed by your professional organization. Generally, publication lists include the following information: author(s), title, publisher, place of publication, name of periodical, volume, issue number, date, and page(s). Other possible strategies for listing your publications would be Partial Publication Listing, Selected Listing, or Recent Publications with a note indicating that a complete listing is available upon request. Presentations: Professional Affilitations When listing professional affiliations, include the name of the organization, offices held if relevant, committee participation, appointed positions, and relevant dates. If your participation produced results, indicate your achievements. Computer Proficiency Languages Creative Activities Volunteer or Service Activities Special Skills Credit and Non-Credit Continuing Education Travel Civic or Political Activities Interests Citizenship (optional) Also, if you are a foreign national studying and/or working in the United States, you might want to share some information about your green card, visa, or citizenship status. References Some folks have placement credentials available through their university and could direct the reader to a specific address to obtain such information. The statement “References available upon request” seems rather unnecessary at this point because anyone who is serious about securing a job should have references ready to be shared. Cover LetterLimit cover letters to one page unless you are detailing matching requirements or required, desired, and education elements as you would do when responding to a Laboratory job ad, for example. In such cases, do not be concerned about the length of your cover letter. However, be certain that your responses to the job ad elements are concise and interesting. Each response should be limited to a line or two and start with the past tense of an active verb as suggested in the Employment Experience section of your CV. Do not ramble! Summarize! ResourcesBooksThe Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Perfect Resume, by Susan Ireland, Chapter 15 Developing a Professional VITA or RESUME by Carl McDaniels Prepare Your Curriculum Vitae by Acy L. Jackson Web Sites Concerning How Much to Reveal on Your CV Comprehensive Site with Links for Teachers General Web Site with Examples Good Web Site with a Sample CV University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health’s Career Center Site Writing a Curriculum Vitae at about.com
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