Career Services Office
Tips for Writing CVs
A good preliminary step before writing a CV is to review and list your entire educational and professional history. Include everything that may possibly be contained on your CV, and then separate it into categories such as those listed below.
Keeping Track
In order to keep track of all relevant professional information, it is recommended that you electronically maintain a master copy of your CV. Keep this master version up to date with new accomplishments as they occur. Use this master as the starting point for the creation of new CVs, and never delete anything. You will probably want to customize your CV for different job postings and fellowship opportunities, rearranging, including, or excluding different sections to highlight various strengths.
Tailor Your CV to Your Audience
Your CV should always include all of your basic information, but the manner in which this information is presented may vary based upon the institutions or departments to which you are applying. Keep in mind that you are generally competing against dozens of candidates for a single job, and your CV may receive only a cursory glance in the first round of evaluation. Be certain that your most important and complimentary information is presented early in the CV. Because academic institutions vary in their missions and objectives, you should tailor the order of presentation to different audiences. For example, it is probably best to highlight your teaching experience and commitment when applying to a small baccalaureate college. CVs submitted to doctoral/research universities should probably emphasize your research, publications, presentations, and awards.
Customize the material within your CV to best display your credentials. Your CV may also be enhanced by including another reference or by emphasizing a different area of specialization for a particular position. Furthermore, you may choose to add additional sections if relevant to a specific position. For example, a candidate with both teaching and administrative experience might wish to include a section entitled "Administrative Experience" when applying for a faculty position with specific administrative components.
Length
Although you should always try to be as concise as possible, the length of a CV varies by discipline, and you should consult your department for specific guidelines. For most ABDs and recent PhDs, two to three pages is standard, while the CVs of more experienced candidates will generally be longer.
Layout and Organization of the CV
It is extremely important that your CV is clear, easy-to-read, and captures your readers' attention at first glance. Use language that is concise and unambiguous, and a format that helps the reader easily assimilate the information. The first page of your CV should accentuate your most important and relevant qualifications. Longer entries tend to call more attention to themselves than shorter items, and material near the top of the page tends to stand out more than information at the bottom. Since the eye scans a page from left to right, the left-hand column usually gets the greatest visual emphasis and should be used for important items such as names of institutions. In general, place the name of the position, title, award, or institution on the left side of the page and associated dates or years on the right. Remember that the position, not the date, is the most important information to convey.
Establish a consistent format for displaying your entries, utilizing bold type and italics for emphasis. Leave enough white space on your page to allow your CV to be easily read. Use no more than two conservative fonts that are easy to read and that are not smaller than 10-point. Carefully proofread your CV and have other colleagues review it. A single typographical or spelling error may eliminate you from consideration. Use high quality paper in white or cream and submit only single-sided laser quality copies. Do not staple the pages of your CV. In order to avoid confusion if your pages become separated, include both your name and the page number on each sheet following page one. You can easily use a header or footer to place this information in a corner or at the bottom of the page.
Information should always be listed in reverse chronological order within each section of your CV.
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