38 tips on writing an academic CV

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Many academic job vacancies have fairly basic application forms, so the main way you will get an interview is by having a very good academic CV, says Emma Baker, careers advisor for the graduate school at King’s College London. Baker outlined a number of tips for writing academic CVs at the 2011 Naturejobs Career Expo, held last week in London. Have a read and let us know what you think – if you have any to add, please leave a comment below.

Length

You may have heard that your CV shouldn’t be more than two pages long, but Baker says that doesn’t apply to academic CVs. “[Academia] seems to be the only field where you can make it as long as you want it to be,” she says. However, you’ll need to think carefully about the structure you use to make sure the length doesn’t put a potential employer off reading it.

Structure

The most important information should be on the first half of the first page, says Baker, and the very first thing should be your name, not the words ‘curriculum vitae’. Your contact details should be at the top of the first page and should include a professional-looking email address – avoid using an inappropriately worded personal account. Also be aware that your current work email address will most likely expire once you leave, so it may not be the best one to use. Baker adds that it’s no longer necessary to list your postal address on your CV, as most applications are done by email and the job application form probably asks for that information.

Baker says she sees a lot of CVs that start by saying something like: “I’m a passionate, hard-working individual with a PhD and I’m good at working in teams.” Avoid generic terms like this – you want to stand out from the crowd. Concentrate on your ‘unique selling points’.

Consider the use of appendices for lists of publications and other large sections.

Content: the basics

The three main sections that should form the bulk of your academic CV are:

  • Research
  • Teaching
  • Administration

Generally speaking, content in each section should be in reverse chronological order, with the most recent thing first.

Research

Baker recommends including the following in your section about research:

  • A description of your PhD or postdoc – this could be a brief overview with a more detailed account listed in the appendices
  • Consider writing a research statement about your current area of research or the area you want to move into
  • Your publications – you can include papers that aren’t published yet if you indicate what stage they are at

You may also want to include a concise list of the specific lab techniques that you have used.

In the research section, include details of any funding you have received – if you haven’t secured a research grant or fellowship yet, consider including travel or conference grants. “Academics want to know that you have the capability of attracting funding and going through the process involved in creating a funding bid,” says Baker. Give details of the process that you went through and the amount you received.

Don’t forget to include details of any conferences you’ve presented at, and make it clear whether you did a poster or oral presentation.

Teaching

Baker says people often overlook information about teaching on their CV and don’t give enough detail. Explain what level of teaching you have done, for example undergraduate or postgraduate, and what kind of teaching it was, for example a lecture or a seminar.

Administration

“However you look at going into an academic post, [admin] will probably form part of an academic career,” says Baker. Examples of admin experience you could mention include organising symposiums or mini-conferences.

Tailoring your content

The best way to customise the content of your CV for each job vacancy is to make it match the person specification. “Make sure you’ve got evidence for every single point on the person specification in your CV, because it should be the criteria that [the employer uses] when deciding who they want to interview,” says Baker.

Check the department’s website to see what kind of research they are currently involved in and what techniques you need to be aware of. Use your network of contacts to get information about the department to help tailor your CV.

Formatting

“Don’t be afraid to use bullet points,” says Baker. If you do use them, try to limit the number of bullet points to five per section, and order them so the most relevant point is at the top. If you have more than five points to include, consider breaking the section down into sub-sections.

Use a consistent style for headings and subheadings so it’s clear which content belongs together. Getting this wrong is “a really common mistake”, says Baker, and it’s one of the first things she looks at in a CV. Employers also place great importance on spelling and grammar, so make sure you ask someone to proofread your CV.

Finally, if you’re not sure which international format you should use for your CV, ask the employer. “Universities are global now, so a lot of them will be used to receiving CVs in different formats,” says Baker, adding that the difference between CVs across countries is becoming less pronounced.

Have your say

Do you have any comments or further advice to share? Let us know your thoughts below.

147 thoughts on “38 tips on writing an academic CV”

  1. 

    First, a comment on:

    Nature Community Guideline 9, headed “No libel or other abuse”, which is sloppily written and partly redundant. It says:

    “You must not make or encourage comments which are:

    • defamatory, false or misleading;

    • insulting, threatening or abusive;

    • obscene or of a sexual nature;

    • offensive, racist, sexist, homophobic or discriminatory against any religions or other groups.”

    The words “sexist, homophobic” in the fourth bullet are surely already covered by “of a sexual nature” in the preceding bullet. Moreover, if words are to be retained which contain a specific admonition against homophobia, then surely, in fairness, heterophobia, which is not uncommonly expressed with more or less subtlety against heterosexuals or the heterosexual community at large by hostile homosexuals or their defenders must also be specified.

    Also in the fourth bullet, “other groups” is much too vague as a catch-all. What does “other groups” include: left-handers; librarians; libertarians; lorry drivers? And the total omission of several other egregious contemporary grounds for discrimination (eg, national origin, age; obesity; physical or mental disability) is surprising.

    The fourth bullet would be better rephrased as follows:

    “Personally offensive; racist; ageist; homophobic; heterophobic; xenophobic; or which discriminate against anybody with regard to their religion, national or regional origin, apparent fitness or disability, perceived social class or economic status.”

    Second. Turning now to your tips on CV-writing, some of these seem to confuse the purposes and composition of CVs and résumés, which documents need to be clearly defined and distinguished. (My CV is 8 pages long, 6 of those pages being a list of scientific publications, reports, presentations and such. Essentially, those 6 pages are a huge appendix to a résumé-length chronological document summarising education, employment and experience. That’s what makes it a curriculum vitae. It does not contain any statement about my goals or aspirations (which may or may not belong in a résumé), previous salaries, fees, grants or other payments, which should be of no interest or business of a scientific interviewer. But my résumé does bring out without harping on it that I’ve had experience in all three of scientific research, teaching and administration.)

    I agree that the less personal information put on the front of a CV or résumé the better (I’ve even received résumés bearing applicants’ telephone numbers, nick-names, and – astonishing in America – Social Security account number, which I immediately advise deleting. But I don’t agree that “it’s no longer necessary to list your postal address on your CV [or résumé]” – because, notwithstanding the best efforts of the late and lamented Steve Jobs, the whole world does not yet communicate electronically; and there is sometimes a need to exchange supplementary or legally signed documentation.

    It hardly seems necessary to say:  “You may be applying for several positions at once, so keep a copy of the job adverts and your applications for reference. It’s often a long time between the time you apply and the time you hear back… You don’t want to look like you don’t remember [what you’ve applied for]." “A long time” is a relative amount. Both as an applicant and as an interviewer I believe in prompt follow-ups by e-mail and, if necessary, by ‘phone or letter – usually within a matter of days or 2-3 weeks at most – to make sure that applications have been received and not rejected or that applicants are still interested and that their circumstances have not changed. Moreover, I’m a great believer in the old-fashioned courtesy of “thank you” letters, for people’s time regardless of the outcome of the application/interview.

    JCG

     

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  3. When one have worked only mainly in lab and trying to make a change to out of the lab within the science- how do they go about writing their CV as its highly technical?

    Many thanks

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  4. Thanks for sharing this helpful information and can be beneficial for every one in this cooperate world. You have shared great information that how one used to make his own by own and described well about each point that what should be included their after adding a heading in your resume format. But I have not written my CV by my own. I have got written my CV from https://www.thecvexperts.com/ a month ago, And I also found this type of services very much helpful if some buddy is busy and can not able to made his CV by his own.

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  5. will it be appropriate to include the applicants photo in the CV when applying for postdoc? Or else adding picture gives a wrong impression to the employer. need advice in this regard .

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    • Hi Priynka,
      It depends entirely on what type of role you are applying for (industry or academia) and in which country the job will be. More often than not, I would assume that you shouldn’t put a photo on a CV, unless specifically asked/required as part of the application.
      What is often advised is that when you set up a LinkedIn account (an online version of your CV), you should add a professional photo to your profile. When you apply for a job, if the employer is interested in your application, they will search for you online and one of the first things they will see is most likely going to be any social media accounts.
      Best of luck!
      Julie

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  6. I am wondering whether it is appropriate to include completion of online courses on a CV? It is potentially relevant knowledge but the course was free so am I wondering whether it should be included and if so how?

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    • If the course does not provide any certification, then I would suggest leaving it from your CV. Reading informational, non-fiction books also provides knowledge, but you don’t include a list of books on there too.
      Best of luck!

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  7. will it be appropriate to include the applicants photo on the right hand corner in the CV when applying for job?

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  8. This point is valid both to the overall order of your resume, as well as to the individual sections. Most of the times your previous work experience will be the most important part of the resume, so put it at the top. When describing your experiences or skills, list the most important ones first.

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