tutorials:cv
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Table of Contents
Curriculum Vitae
- A brief guide on preparing a curriculum vitae (CV) for your academic career; by Chih-Horng Kuo (chk@gate.sinica.edu.tw)
- Target audience: graduate students and postdocs (in biology)
Considerations
- Critical: similar to the principle of applying for faculty Jobs, the most important steps of preparing a strong CV begin WAY BEFORE you start writing the document.
- As such, it is beneficial for you to start preparing a CV as early in your career as possible. Comparing “what you have” with “what you want to have” on the CV can provide some guidelines for your career development.
- For example, are your “Grants” and “Teaching” sections strong? If not, what can you do as a graduate student or postdoc to strengthen those aspects?
- Key: made the information clear
- Latin for “course of life”; a short summary of a person's career, qualifications, and education
- Who you are now? Who you were before?
- Provide information regarding who/when/where/what/why/how to answer these questions
- For example: for your MS degree; who = you & advisor; when = year started/finished; where = department & university; what = thesis topic; why = motivation & relevance to career path; how = techniques and skills related to thesis
- Obvious gap(s) in record? Better to explain by yourself, rather than let people wonder.
- Career stage and purpose?
- How far back? Depends. For example, do I list high school info? Probably normal for undergrads applying for MS/PhD programs, but not necessary for postdocs applying for faculty positions.
- Length?
- Long form (comprehensive information): maintain an up-to-date copy (with version control); basis of customized versions
- Short form (selected information for highlights): for specific purposes
- Minimum = 1 page. Even for undergraduate students, you should be able to provide materials sufficient for filling one page & tell people who you are.
- Order of components: variable, depends on the purpose
Key Components
- Name
- Contact Information (email, address, phone, etc)
- Education
- Professional Experience
Other Components
- Personal Information (optional; be careful about privacy issue) (gender, date of birth, citizenship, martial status, etc)
- Photo (usually no for academia; discrimination issues; if included, be professional)
- Personal Statement (and/or Research Interests/Statement) (optional; often provided as a separate document, rather than a part of CV; sometimes okay to have a short statement with 1-3 sentences)
- Awards and Honors
- Publications
- Representatives or a full list?
- If only the representatives, provide a link to the full list (ORCID, Google Scholar, WOS, personal website, etc)
- Highlights?
- Citation statistics?
- Presentations
- Seminars and conferences; in separate sections
- Domestic or international; in separate (sub-)sections
- Oral or poster? label clearly or put in separate sub-sections
- Invited? Highlight!
- Grants
- Teaching Experience
- Service
- Reviewers/editors for journals
- Activities that can demonstrate service and leadership
- Student representative
- Volunteer
- Professional Organization (memberships in domestic/international societies)
- Skills (Certifications) (more common for resume)
- Language
- Computer/programming
- Research-related
- Think about the purpose of preparing this CV. Would listing these help? How to make the information relevant?
- References: people who may write recommendation letters for you. Make sure to obtain their permission first!
Related
- Biosketch (NIH format)
- Resume (more for industry)
tutorials/cv.1668433069.txt.gz · Last modified: 2022/11/14 21:37 by chkuo