Converting Your Resume To A CV: Making the Transition From Student to Scholar

Spotlight on: Converting Your Resume to a CV

As an incoming graduate student, how do you put your best foot forward in your new career? For many people, the transition from the undergraduate experience or the general work world to a profession in academia can be bumpy, to say the least. Why is this? In my personal opinion, it’s because the administrators of many graduate programs have failed to establish a safety net for new students, to offer supportive mentoring opportunities or to provide adequate guidance to students regarding the professionalization process. While some would say that your academic career does not begin until your first faculty position, I beg to differ. Your career in academia actually begins the moment you enter graduate school. While entry into an advanced degree program initiates your transformation from the role of student to that of scholar, it takes work. Beyond coping emotionally with the stress and pressure of graduate school, following the right path to professional acceptance and recognition in one’s field is crucial to any student’s long-term success and happiness. This article is the first in a series of installments for graduate students regarding how to make the transition into a new career in academia. Having gone through this painful and oftentimes confusing process myself, I would like to share some friendly advice to those who are just embarking on their journey.

One of the first documents that you will likely be asked to generate as a graduate student is a Curriculum Vitae (CV). Some graduate schools require you to submit a CV as part of your application to the program, and it is a standard part of any solicitation of a Teaching Assistant (TA), Research Assistant (RA) or Reader/Grader position at the university level. Since most of us in the social sciences and humanities support ourselves financially throughout graduate school by teaching, a CV is indispensable for obtaining your first teaching position as a graduate student.

A CV is essentially a fancy word for an extended professional resume. Whereas a resume is expected to be a snapshot of your work history and is normally no longer than a page, a CV is a more extensive record of your professional background and it is usually several pages in length. In the United States, a CV is generally requested within the educational field. Outside of the U.S., however, a CV is the standard document solicited from job seekers. I will focus here on writing a CV geared specifically towards academic employment. One suggestion before beginning: keep a master CV saved on your computer that you update periodically. You can use this as a template when you need to create a CV targeting a specific position. Save versions of your CV with dates in the file name and descriptor words like “CV Writing” or “CV UNM job” to make it easier to distinguish between them. Don’t discard these job-specific CVs right away; keep them on file so that you can refer back to them if you get called for an interview.

Follow these simple guidelines to transform your basic resume into a professional CV:

THE BASICS

– Formatting: Make sure to use standard 1-inch margins and 12-point font size. When listing entries with dates (employment history, publications, etc.), place them in reverse chronological order (the most recent first). Use bullet points, bold font and underlining as necessary to make information easily readable. If needed, use page breaks to keep related information on the same page.

-Keep the same header as your resume on the first page. It should list your name, address, email and phone number.

-Include your educational background and employment history (alternatively labeled “Professional Experience” or “Employment Experience” – try to avoid using the word “work” or “job”), just like in your resume. Make sure to leave out any past employment that is not of relevance to the position for which you are applying (if you were a babysitter in the 11^th grade, it’s fine to leave that out). Candidates with more extensive experience in the field may divide their work history into two categories: “Teaching Experience” and “Professional Experience.”

–If you do not have much relevant work experience, be creative about how you present your employment history. Instead of saying that you worked at a summer camp for kids, write that you worked as an “instructional assistant for an educational summer program for youth.” Word choice can make a world of a difference in how an employer perceives your strength as a job candidate.

– A CV generally includes details on your research experience, professional training and associations, honors and awards, publications and/or presentations, and professional or community service, although the order and title of categories can vary substantially. The more professional experience you have in the field, the more extensive your CV will be. If you are just starting out, pick and choose the categories based on your areas of strength. For example, if you have not been published but you have presented your work at an undergraduate conference, include “Presentations” and leave out publications. If you have community service experience but no experience on university or professional boards or committees, label the category “Community Involvement” and exclude the professional element. The following are suggested categories that are common in an academic CV, listed in a logical order that is widely used by job candidates in higher education.

CURRICULUM VITAE CATEGORIES

• Profile: While this is not always included, consider placing this category at the top of your CV to highlight main points of interest to a potential employer. For example, you might include two bullet points, one stating your field and year in the program and the other describing your relevant experience (“Skilled college-level English and writing tutor seeking formal teaching experience”). While you should never lie about your work history, make sure to play up the experience that you do have. As a new graduate student you may have very little relevant work experience, but do not be afraid to state your interest in gaining additional experience in your profession. University programs that employ teaching assistants and readers are accustomed to hiring applicants with little or no prior teaching experience. Since these types of programs almost always train their new hires, a candidate’s enthusiasm and motivation to learn can be a strong point in his/her favor.

• Research Experience: This will vary depending on your discipline. If you are in the sciences, you would list lab experience here; social scientists might list ethnographic research, while people in the humanities could list archival or library research experience. Have you ever used your university library’s special collections? If so, list that. Have you ever interviewed people for a college research report? Consider that ethnographic research. Be as specific as possible – list the institution/collection/lab name, location and dates of research. If you do not have enough background to list one or two points in each category, consider combining them into a single category labeled “Experience” or “Professional Experience” (which would differ from “Employment History or Experience”).

• Professional Training: List any professional development workshops or seminars in which you have participated, and/or pedagogical or technological training related to your profession. If you took a pedagogy class as part of TA training or if you have weekly TA meetings, those could be listed here.
• Publications: These should be professional publications; published poetry or creative writing pieces should be left out unless of direct relevance to the position. You could consider listing a paper published in an electronic periodical that is not peer reviewed, or possibly an academic-related blog post. Academic book reviews or research papers in undergraduate journals could also potentially be included. Once again, list as many details as possible: article/paper title, name of periodical/book in which it appears, date, page numbers. Consider formatting publication entries in the standard style of your discipline: MLA, APA or Chicago style.
• Presentations: List paper presentations, guest lectures, or experiences as moderators or organizers of academic/professional events. Include the title of your paper or lecture, event name and dates. It is perfectly acceptable to include upcoming presentations (or publications, in the previous category) as long as you have already been accepted.
• Honors and Awards: These can be undergraduate or professional awards, teaching awards, or community awards. Funding such as research or travel grants should also be included here. If you do not have any awards yet, you can list membership in an honors society, graduating with honors or making the Dean’s or Provost’s honors list for certain terms during your undergraduate career.
• Professional or Community Service: List boards or committees you have served on or any leadership positions (president of a fraternity or sorority, for example) you have held. Alternatively, list your volunteer experience or other community involvement. If you have nothing to list, exclude this category from your CV.
• References: At the bottom of your CV, include a line stating that you have references available if requested. While many of the sample CVs circulating online include a separate reference page as part of the document, this should be determined on a case-by-case basis. When applying for TA or RA positions, you will most likely be asked to list references elsewhere, thus including references on your CV would be redundant. CVs for faculty teaching positions on the national job market, however, do traditionally include a references page. In either case, it is a good idea to maintain an up-to-date list of references in a separate document so that you have all of the info. on hand when an employer does request it.
• Other Possible Categories: Professional affiliations (national associations related to your field), Languages (if you are fluent in a language other than English), Skills/Certifications/Licenses (are you proficient in any relevant software programs? Do you have a teaching certification or are you a certified translator?), Research interests (list your main areas of specialization within your field).

 
While there are already many sample CVs online, below is one example to give you an idea of the formatting and wording of different parts of the document. This sample features a list-style CV (enumerating professional experience without detailed explanations), but you can always insert descriptions of each job or research experience as you see fit.

CV Sample
CV Sample2

The following links will give you a better idea of the wide variation in CV structure and content. The CVs listed on these sites are all good examples, but they cater to the strengths of the applicant. Keep in mind that you need to organize your CV to highlight your strong points. Ultimately, the categories and structure of your CV should be chosen based on the position you are applying for and the amount of experience you have in the field.
http://depts.washington.edu/mchprog/docs/AcademicJobs.pdf

http://www.jhu.edu/careers/students/handouts/cv.pdf

http://www.career.uci.edu/GradStudents_AcademicJobSearchhandbook.aspx

Check back soon for the next installment of Making the Transition From Student to Scholar.

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Keep Writing,
Katrina Oko-Odoi
Founder & Chief Editor