CV Guide
A well-presented curriculum vitae (CV) allows you to concisely demonstrate your academic and professional achievements and skills to potential employers. A CV must be organised and easily readable in a very short time, but must contain all the information about your achievements.
The two primary types of CVs utilised by postdoctoral researchers when planning their next career move are research based CVs and skills-based CVs. These differ in their content and layout. Several things should be kept in mind when preparing both types of CVs.
- Your name should be the largest thing at the top of the first page.
- Don't write 'CV' or 'Curriculum vitae' on it. Employers know what they are reading!
- Make sure that there is plenty of white space to ensure readability. Use bullet points and headings throughout to clearly mark out sections.
- Use a clear font that is easy to read, 'Arial' or another Sans Serif font works well. At a minimum the font size should be 11 pt.
- Make sure you have at least 2 cm margins on all sides.
- Ensure it is easy to skim read. Often potential employers spend as little as 2 min looking at a CV!
CVs for Research Roles
Your CV should have the following sections:
Page One
Your name
- This should be the largest thing on the page.
Personal Details
- List your contact details (address, email, phone). Only list details you want to be contacted on! For research roles you should use your work address.
- ORCID ID - If you dont have one yet, register now.
- Webpages, blogs, twitter - if they are up to date!
Research Vision or Research Interests
- 3-4 lines that describe your area of research. Why it interests you, why you love it and where you want it to go.
Research Experience
- Describe your current role including job title and any past research roles. You don't need to put your line manager (PI) on your CV. Include a brief description of the work performed.
- If the job description for the job you are applying for is similar make sure that this matches!
- Emphasise here the skills that are listed in the job description.
Funding
- Include a list of all funding you have obtained - start and end dates, funder etc.
- Include any conference/travel awards and low value funding awarded.
Page Two
Education
- PhD title and viva date (if known). Again you don't need to list your PI.
Publication Summary
- There is not enough room on a 2 page CV to list all your publications, instead you should provide a summary. e.g. x peer reviewed papers, x as first author, x citations, h-index of x, x book chapters.
- Only include articles in press/accepted. Do not include any publications under review or in preparation.
- You should also include in brackets after your h-index what service you used to generate it (e.g. Scopus or Google Scholar), and when it was generated.
Presentations Summary
- Again, a list is required here to save space. e.g. x peer reviewed conference abstracts. x invited presentations at x international meetings. x poster presentations.
- You should try to have some invited presentations on your CV. If you don't have any, ask someone to invite you to give a talk at a meeting or another institution!
Teaching and Supervision
- If you have done demonstrating or presented tutorials or lectures you should include the module code of the subject.
- If you have not supervised anyone officially, e.g. PhD students in the lab, you should describe this as supervising. Supervision includes directing work, assessing, evaluating and giving feedback. These are all skills you have demonstrated by supervising students in the lab - make sure you highlight them!
Other
- Editorial responsibilities
- Committee memberships
- Professional associations
- Awards/prizes
- Peer review
- Consultancy
Note that no hobbies are listed (only include these if you have room), and don't put your date of birth on the CV, marital status or salary expectations.
Skills Based CVs
Page One
Your name
- This should be the largest thing on the page.
Contact Details
- List your contact details (address, email, phone). Only list details you want to be contacted on!
Career Profile
A short 3-4 line summary covering:
- Why the role you are applying for is great for you.
- What you are going to bring to the role.
- If you are making a change in career explain why here.
Skills Profile
A list of key skills and competencies. Highlight the competencies in the advertised job description and match them to ones you have evidence for in your CV. Use the following headings:
- Leadership/management
- Communication
- Problem solving
- Team work
- Project management
Page Two
Work experience
- List all relevant jobs.
Education
- You may need to provide details of A-levels, and all other educational qualifications above.
Qualifications
- Professional qualifications
Projects
- List any projects you have been involved in and your responsibilities. Highlight the following: budgeting, negotiating, problem solving skills.
Key Skills
- A bullet point list of 6 or less of your key skills (match these to the job description).
IT Skills
- Only if a job advert asks for it.
- Specific software only - not Microsoft Office!
Training
- List any formal training you have done for work. If you have identified this as a need and pushed for it, then make it known in your CV!
Do not list referees on a CV - employers will ask for this separately on an application form.
Note that in a CV you must provide evidence for many things, including your skills. You should craft a single sentence in each case that identifies the problem, what you did, and what the result was. You may like to use the C.A.R. approach.
Challenge - What CHALLENGE existed in the workplace?
Action - What ACTION did you take to resolve the problem?
Result - What were the beneficial RESULTS of your action?