As grad students, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the idea of creating the “perfect” resume or CV. But don’t stress—our recent seminar was all about breaking down how to craft a strong resume or CV that highlights your skills and accomplishments. If you missed it, here’s a quick recap of what we covered.
One of the first things we talked about is the importance of tailoring your resume. A resume is never one-size-fits-all. Whether you’re applying for a research assistant position, an internship, an industry position, or an academic job, the content you highlight should change based on the role. For instance, if you’re applying for a position in industry, you’ll want to emphasize practical skills like problem-solving and leadership. But if you’re heading into academia, you’d want to highlight your research and teaching experience. Often, it’s useful to have a long resume that details all of your activities for your own records, and a shorter one with less detail. This way, you can keep track of all the fantastic things you’ve done as a grad student, and have an easy reference for tailored CVs as you start applying for different roles.
There are a few differences between a resume and a CV beyond the former being French and the latter Latin. A resume is a brief (usually one to two-page) document that gives a snapshot of your skills, work experience, and accomplishments, tailored to a specific job or industry. A CV (short for curriculum vitae) is a longer, more detailed document that’s typically used for academic roles. It goes into depth about your education, research, publications, and any other academic accomplishments. It’s normal for a CV to be a few pages long.
When it comes to formatting, the goal is clarity. You want your CV to be easy to skim while still showing off everything you’ve accomplished. You may want to include sections like these:
- Contact Info: Put your name, email, phone number, and LinkedIn (or personal website) right at the top.
- Education: List your degrees, institutions, and graduation dates (or expected date if you’re still in school).
- Research Experience: Highlight the projects you’ve worked on, what your role was, and what you accomplished.
- Publications and Presentations: Got any journal articles, conference papers, or presentations? Maybe you were invited to speak at a neighboring college? Make sure to include them here.
- Work Experience: Include teaching assistantships, internships, or any relevant jobs, along with the skills you gained in each role. It’s especially important to emphasize when you were the instructor of record for a course, rather than just the TA. Academic jobs in particular prefer to hire applicants who have taught their own course(s).
- Skills: List both technical skills (like lab techniques or software) and soft skills (like teamwork and communication).
- Awards and Honors: Got any scholarships, fellowships, or academic achievements? Show them off!
- Professional Associations: If you’re part of any relevant organizations, add them here.
For grad students, your CV should show both your academic depth and your experience. Here’s what to focus on:
- Research Projects: This is probably the most important section! Talk about the projects you’ve worked on, the methods you used, and what the outcomes were.
- Publications: If you’ve published anything—articles, conference papers, etc.—make sure to list them.
- Teaching Experience: If you’ve been a teaching assistant or have had any teaching roles, include these with a brief description of the courses you’ve worked on.
- Conferences: If you’ve presented your work at any conferences, this is the place to mention it.
- Extracurriculars: Any leadership roles in student organizations or volunteer work? They show that you can manage your time and contribute to a community, so include them!
Don’t worry if your CV isn’t super busy yet. Your activities and accomplishments will develop as you do. Again, remember that it is easier for graduate students to publish (or even get accepted to conferences) in some areas than others – your potential employers will understand if you haven’t gotten 7 publications in the area of non-Euclidean Topological Symmetry Theory* or Hyperdimensional Intrinsic Manifold Convergence in Stochastic Geometrical Frameworks** by the time you’re applying for jobs.
However, it’s good to make short-term goals. At the end of the seminar, we asked everyone to identify the areas on their CV which they wanted to improve and make a short-term goal. For instance, if you want to demonstrate leadership ability, plan to run for office in a student org. Similarly, if you want to show that you can get grants as a research professor, you can find and apply for scholarships and fellowships now!
Finally, remember that there’s no “right” way to make a resume. The only wrong way to do it is the one that obscures all the awesome things you’ve accomplished during your graduate program. Hope this helps!
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** These are not real research areas — unless you have the guts to make them so 😉
