Are you unsure of how to write a resume? For many folks, this is an extremely important part of job search in the academic field and writing an effective curriculum vitae (CV) can be quite difficult to do. If you’re unsure of what to say in your CV, don’t fret! Here’s a free guide to help you sort it all out! Our professional resume writing guide will teach you to write your own resume as if it has been done by a professional. We offer examples, help with your writing, format examples, we offer support to write a cover letter and all other sections. We also offer a great range of cover letter examples, as well as sample resume writing at the top level. We are the most experienced and trusted team to give you the best resources and information to writing the best resume and cover letter so you secure the best job available. Good Luck!
A Look At The Curriculum Vitae: What Is It
The curriculum vitae is basically an overview of the various accomplishments you’ve had in your life in the academic field. People in the United States generally use a CV when they’re looking for employment in the academic field. It’s regarded as a living document that reflects the career of the teacher/scholar and must be updated on a regular basis.
Curriculum Vitae vs. Resumes: How Do They Differ
The length is the biggest difference between a resume and curriculum vitae. Entry-level resumes are typically just one page. CVs can run more than three pages. Keep in mind that length is not a determinate of success. You want to provide the prospective employer with all your relevant information in a concise manner as much as you can.
The goal behind a CV is to present yourself in a scholarly way whereas a resume is designed to show you a professional light. If you’re looking for employment as a publishing scholar, teacher or researcher, you would your CV to highlight those abilities you have in that discipline.
What Information Should You Provide In The CV
You might be wondering what you need to include in your curriculum vitae. The following information should be provided:
- Name
- Contact information
- Education overview
- Academic/related employment
- Department/community service
- Research projects
If you have a reference list, you can attach as part of the CV or another page entirely. If you’ve got a dossier that contains confidential references, be sure you note that on the CV for the prospective employer to consider.
What should you place first on the CV? This will depend on two things:
1 – The job you’re applying for
2 – Your background
Usually the first thing a recent graduate will place on their CV is the education, listing in reverse chronological order. In this area, the title and short description of dissertation is included in this part. Once done, you’ll need to figure what requirements are needed by the jobs you’re interested in and where lies your strengths. When you’re trying to figure what’s next after your educational credentials, it’s important to remember that whatever comes early on in your CV will have more emphasis placed on it. Place your important data on first.
If you’re putting an application in for a research university position, publications, conference presentations and research projects are extremely important. If you’re applying for a teaching position at a community college or liberal arts college, you’ll want to show off your teaching background.
Whatever the position, you want to ensure that the qualifications you highlight are relevant to the job you’re after.
Is There A Typical Format?
When you’re working on a curriculum vitae, you should know that there isn’t a standard form. Thus, there will be different emphasis in every discipline, and a great CV will emphasize the most important points in the discipline and adapts to the standard conventions.
How are you able to learn what the conventions are? The best place to begin is locating a lot of samples of CVs people in your disciplined have shared. You can also talk with your fellow grad students and the department faculty to see if they’ll share their CV with you. Consider using the Internet to locate CV samples.
The Curriculum Vitae Handbook authored by Gerald Roe and Rebecca Anthony is one resource to consider when you need examples. Remember though, these are just examples and should not be used in every instance. Rather, use them as a strategy to implement your own information in an effective manner. The formatting you lay will be distinguishable from others because of differences in strengths and experiences. Thus, adapting the CV to your specific situation is necessary.
Work Description Entries: How Should You Write These
Parallelism and gapping are the two common strategies applied to both CVs and resumes. What are they?
Gapping – This is when persons use incomplete sentences to present information, clearly and precisely. For you might write:
- Graded all papers.
- Regularly held student conferences.
- Planned out course activities and lesson.
You would not write anything with “I” in it. With incomplete sentences, you reduce the jargon.
Parallelism – This is extremely important for a strong CV. For the most part, you want to keep the phrase and sentence structure consistent all through the document. If you use one verb phrase in one paragraph of CV, you should use that same verb phrase throughout the whole document.
One dissimilarity between a resume’s and a CV’s work description is the bullets, which are commonly seen in resumes and don’t generally show up in CVs. Using bullets will depend on how it affects the look of your CV. If you’ve got a number of descriptive work statements that vary in length, bullets are ideal to separating them. If you’ve got a short list of descriptions, using bullets can leave plenty of white space.
How Are You Able To Improve Your Resume or CV?
If you want some help with writing your curriculum vitae, one of the best sources is Purdue’s Writing Lab. It enables students to work with graduate instructors to develop a well-written CV. Of course, other universities offer similar help through their writing center.
You can also show the dissertation chair your CV to get their feedback. There are several departments that have job placement or search committees that can give you some chance to meet the faculty members of the department for intensive editing of your CV.
You should make use of any resource that’s available to you to get the best possible CV.
How To Effectively Write A Resume That Stands Out Positively To Employers
When you’re applying for a job, you might be asked for your resume. What is this resume? It’s just a brief document that provides a summary of your experiences, education and job history… all of which are qualifications to the job you are applying for. Your resume, as well as your cover letter, are speaking for you and are designed to get your “foot” in the door and get an interview with the employer.
According to research, there’s an average of 10 interviews completed by a job is offered. Thus, if you want to be successful, you need to have the perfect resume. This means you need your resume to be convincing and user-centered.
What Should Your Resume Look Like
A basic resume is just a short summary of experience between one and three pages long. Resumes are not like papers and letters and they can be used using bullet lists instead of long sentences and paragraphs. The resume is created in a way to be read over quickly. Before you try writing your own resume, it’s best to find examples in various formats to review.
When you’re writing your resume, you want to keep it basic but tailored to fit you and the expectations and needs of the company and position you are applying for.
- The first step in creating the best possible resume (one that’ll get more than just a quick glance), you need to get as much information as possible about the company and its goal.
- The second step is to get information on the folks who will read your resume: potential boss, human resource managers, decision makers, etc.
- The third step is to obtain information about the job position and everything is requires.
When you understand the company, its audience and the position you’re applying for, you can tailor it to your experience and training to meet the company’s needs and expectations.
What Should Your Resume Include?
A resume has several must-have sections to a resume:
- Objective
- Work experience
- Education
- Contact information
1 – Objective
The objective sections needs to be brief but concise. You also want it to be user-centered, which are tailored to a particular job and position. This means you’ll need to state the business’ name and the title you are going after. It’ll also lay out how you will assist the business in attaining the goals it has. It’s important to create a user-centered objective that doesn’t portray your own self-interest of furthering your career.
Right Objective – Assist New York Times News to achieve its goal of bring news to the people by joining the staff as a contributing writer.
Wrong Objective – To further my knowledge of writing in the newspaper field.
Do you see on the second one fails to mention the job or business and doesn’t specify anything about how the applicant can assist the company?
2 –Work Experience
The work experience section is typically broken down by position or company. For all experiences you need to supply the following:
- Position title
- Business name and address
- Employment dates
- Duties
- Supervisor
You might want to consider adding in skills that you learned even if the job has nothing to do with the job you’re applying for. What you’re looking to do is connect the experience to the job you’re going after.
3 – Education
In this section, you want to clarify what your highest level of education is and provide the information below:
– School you earned your degree
– Graduation date
– Degree level and field, minors and GPA. There’s no real reason to state your GPA and if you have less than a 3.0 cumulative GPA, it’s best to omit it.
4 – Contact Information
In this section, you want to give potential employers a way to reach you. Be sure that the information is up to date and correct. Be sure it has your full name, address and phone number, for starters. However, you can also include optional contact info:
- Email addresses
- Cell phone numbers
- Web pages
If you’re looking for a job, you want a way for potential employers to reach you.
Side Note: If you’re a student, you should include your school and permanent addresses. Be sure you list when you’ll be at these addresses so that potential employers can find you easily. Also, if anything changes, you must notify the prospective employers, either by sending them a new resume and a note that explains why the information has changed or you can send a note to the Human Resource department, notifying them of the change and asking them to make the change on the resume for you.
5 – Optional Sections In Resumes
Besides the general sections of a resume, you should consider including options sections to showcase more of your skills, education and achievements to potential employers. These optional sections can include:
- Honors and awards
- Volunteer experience
- Computer skills
- Certifications
- Languages
- Community service
- Professional memberships
- Hobbies and interests
- Foreign travel
If you think there’s information a potential employer should know about you to make an informed decision, you should create a section on the resume to include it. While the resume is an extremely formatted document, it needs to be convincing enough to the prospective employer to give you an interview.
Resume Expectations
Many people have expectations of how their resume should look like.
1 – Your name will generally appear at the top and is the biggest item.
2 – Headers are used to categorize each section.
3 – Readers will also expect the accurate, precise information in the resume.
4 – They’ll also expect it to be free of spelling or grammatical mistakes.
You want the resume to be easily read and have all the necessary important information in it. Usability is an important persuasive part of your resume.
How To Know How Long Your Resume Should Be
You already know how competitive the job market is. And, sometimes you need more than just one page to showcase your talent to prospective employers to get an interview. For students – high school or college graduates – a one page resume is generally best. Some employers may ask for just a one-page resume. If you think your accomplishment is relevant and necessary, add it in.
Below is some additional information about when you should use different length resumes and suggesting ways to produce an unforgettable second or third page. Keep in mind that the resume length will depend on the audience needs and linguistic situation.
One-Page Resume: When You Should Use Them
1 – Entry-level job seekers and recent college graduates usually need a one-page resume because of the following reasons:
- There’s not enough relevant experience to call for an additional page
- The situation asks for resumes to focus on the coursework or leadership activities
- The resume needs to meet prospective employers’ expectations
- The resume will need to meet job fairs’ expectations.
2 – If you don’t have at least 10 years of experience, focus on one or two jobs, which can reduce the size of your resume.
- Place focus on relevant skills you’ve attained
- Emphasize relevant duties; don’t record all actions to increase the space
3 – If you’re switching careers, you may not have enough experience that’s relevant to the job you’re after.
- Focus on only the relevant skills attained
- Don’t lengthen information if it’s not relevant to the current goal
Two-Page Resumes: When You Should Use Them
1 – College graduates or entry-level job searchers have the necessary, relevant experience to have a two-page resume.
- Employers are asking for a second page for references
- The document length contains information such as internships, relevant jobs, leadership and extracurricular activities.
- Don’t decrease your font to under 10 or reduce margins under an inch to fit into a one-page resume.
- Some job fair recruiters don’t mind two-page resumes but bring a one-page resume just in case.
- Ask companies if they ask two-pages resumes before sending in one.
2 – You’re applying for positions that are not entry-level but not executive level can use a two-page resume.
- Be sure to write down all the various jobs and duties you’ve had.
If you’re looking for employment in a scientific, engineering or technical field, you should consider a second page for your resume.
- You want to prove what your knowledge and experience is.
Three or More Page Resumes: When Should You Consider Using Them
1 – If you’re seeking employment as an executive or senior-level manager, you should consider a three or more page resume.
- You need to include all leadership accomplishments
- Give specific information about past duties, as you’ll be given additional duties in the prospective job.
- Provide examples for flexibility, vision, integrity, ethics, etc.
2 – If you’re looking for a job in the scientific or academic field, you’ll need to provide a curriculum vitae, which is a longer resume with different information. Besides education listing, you’ll be asked to include:
- Teaching/research experience
- Licenses, presentations and publications
How To Create A Second or Third Resume Page
Before you even attempt a second or third page resume, it’s best to ask prospective employers if they’ll even accept them. If so, plan for those additional pages. For example, you might want to focus your additional page with leadership projects and skills. You can place a title on the page to bring attention to it. After that, list and give details about the projects that you led in the organization, classes, etc.
You can find that the additional pages work better as supplemental sheets that list technical skills, awards, presentations and much more. If you go this route, be sure to choose what sheets would be best sent to the employer. For instance: you may want to send a computer company an in-depth list of your technical skills. However, presentations and awards sheets should be sent to research companies.
When you send additional pages, consider what effect the longer resume is going to have on the reader. You might want to include all the important data on the first resume page, as some employers won’t even look at the second page.
You also want to be as coherent as possible so the reader understands the skills you have written. Ensure that all job details are together, not split. You can have one job detail on one page and a completely different job detail on the second page. Be sure to number your resume pages and add in headers/footers. Another way to be coherent is to summarize your high points at the start of the resume. This summary provides readers an insight into your key qualifications, which will then allow them to read the remainder of the resume to find those specific details.
Additional pages must be:
- Organized
- Coherent
- Interesting so that readers don’t lose interest
Additional pages can:
Bring focus to leadership projects/skills
Work like supplemental sheets that list key points certain audiences are keen on wanting to know.
Scannable Resumes: What Are They?
Scannable resumes are one that are viewed through a computer using the newest document imaging technology called optical character recognition). This allows employers to keep resumes in a database and search through them electronically.
Scannable resumes are similar to conventional resumes, as they still provide information about your education, previous employment, awards, activities, leadership roles, etc. If you’ve got a conventional resume, you can produce a scannable one by altering the conventional one.
The two key elements for scannable resumes are keywords and formatting.
A Look At Keywords
Below your name have a keyword section (such as an experience, education, etc. section). In this section, place relevant keywords or phrases prospective employers will use to search the resume database. For instance, you’re looking for a job as a journalist. You might incorporate these keywords:
- Reporter
- Research and fact checking
- News reporting
- Community journalism
- Proofreading/editing
- AP style
If you’re looking for a job as a web designer, you might want to use the following keywords:
- C++
- XHTML
- Java
- Flash
- Dreamweaver
Formatting and Finalising Your Resume
Remember, the first reader of the scannable resume is going to be a computer, not a person. If you use fancy formatting, you could continue the OCR scanners. Be sure your font is simple format so that the scanners won’t misread the resume.
For instance, use just one common font (Times New Roman) through your whole resume. Instead of increasing the font size to specify section headings, use spaces to break them up. Don’t use bullets, visuals or tables in your scannable resume. Rather, use dashes, simple spacing and left-justified text to format the document.
Keep in mind that human resource personnel will look at your resume, only after the computer flags it for them during the keyword search. Be sure to use nouns and/or noun phrases that will flag the resume during a search so that it’s chosen from the millions of other resumes.
As you see, writing a curriculum vitae and resume isn’t that difficult to do. But, it does take time and patience to ensure it’s done correctly. If you’ve found the job of your dreams, you want to ensure that your resume and CV stands out positively from the rest of the pack to ensure you get an interview… and, quite possibly, the job! Always remember the most important tip, a computer will read your resume first so make sure you include some common looked for keywords in your resume. Some common words are
1. Good Work Ethic
2. Awareness of Workplace Health and Safety
3. Experience
4. Reliability
5. And finally some common terms that you may think will be relevant to the job you are applying for.
This article has provided you with some great hints and tip to writing your own resume, if you need any extra help with your preparation please feel free to contact us through our contacts poage and we will endeavour to help you create the best resume or CV fro the job of your dreams. Good Luck.
