By Felix Chiu
BGE Career Strategy & Professional Development
7 Tips for Writing a Successful CV
- Curriculum vitaes (CVs) should be an overview of your academic/professional career. Include all relevant information to the job and position you are applying for. Possible sections to include: education, research, professional experience, awards, publications, presentations, grants, teaching experience, scientific techniques, professional memberships, community outreach, and university involvement.
- CVs generally do not have any length restrictions and very few format restrictions.
- While you are not restricted to using a particular format for your CV, a simple and easy to follow format is highly suggested. Make it clear where one accomplishment ends and the next one begins. Order accomplishments in a way that makes sense: break them down into relevant subcategories (education, teaching experience, etc.), and within those subcategories order them in reverse chronological order.
- Remain consistent with how you display your information throughout the document. Changing the placement of the date or location halfway through your CV can get confusing to the reader.
- Present all publications with an official citation (like one you would reference in a research paper), and remain consistent in reference style/format.
- Be descriptive of your experiences, but be concise. The CV should summarize your accomplishments, not describe them in detail.
- Eliminate all spelling and grammatical errors!
If you are having trouble getting started:
- Take a look at your most recent resume. Your CV is almost a modified version of your resume; many of the same experiences will still be very relevant. Identify the most relevant experiences, and convert them into a CV format.
- See this resource: Tips for a Successful CV
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