This time of year often presents an opportunity for change and particularly in the summer months as the academic recruitment season opens. You may be contemplating a change in role or simply considering where your career is headed. If so your CV/Resume is a great place to start. As an academic and having been in roles which are responsible for recruitment throughout my career I still continue to be surprised by candidates who don’t spend enough time on their CV or Resume. Today we’ll talk you through some top tips to help you succeed.
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Now I know we are often subject to formal online applications for a role but your CV/Resume can have play a vital role in the process. It is an accurate record of your career to date and documents your wins, your successes, profiling on who you are and what you do. If you don’t have your own academic website then I suggest your CV is a useful hub of all of the key information about your professional profile. It is so annoying when you need this information at the last minute when a vacancy pop up and then you are scrabbling around trying to find all of this information. So see your CV as record of your career and one that needs to be maintained. While your CV/Resume is vital when you are job hunting, it is just as valuable as when you are not in the market for a new job so make a point of revisiting and updating your CV at least every couple of months. It’s funny how we get so caught up in projects that we forget to even take stock and recognise our professional achievements. Now it might not be your natural stance to should about your professional achievements from the roof tops, but when it comes to your CV now is the time to do it, don’t hold back it’s time to back yourself 100%.
Here are some of my CV top tips ...
Don’t use fancy fonts - some of them don’t render well so stick to the basics Times etc… I’m more of a Calibri girl myself
Make use of columns so that recruiters can scan all of your information easily without trudging through many pages. 1 or 2 pages max please.
Don’t share your referees details until an offer has been made
Keep things concise - avoid wordy paragraphs on key projects, keep them brief and interesting to entice the recruiter to proceed with your CV for interview
Show your publication history but don’t share your three-year research and publication pipeline - make that available on request to encourage the opportunity for interview
Design your CV around your ideal future job. Want to be professor one day? Ok so you might not have the skills necessary but at least it will help you see the gaps that you need to develop on going forward.
Demonstrate your points of difference - lucky enough to have dual nationality? speak multiple languages? - So cool! Let us know on that CV
If you are applying internationally indicate your right to work status
Proof-read it, CVs with typo’s aren’t a good look and it’s all about first impressions
Don’t worry about having to create multiple tailored CVs for different job roles. Leave room at the top for a strong personal statement which you can tailor to your audience each time and bold out the key sections that you want recruiters to notice - it’ll save you extra time
Make sure you are adding something new to your CV at least every couple of months this will keep you focused on your professional development
Share links to your social media
Be open and honest, did you have a job that didn’t work out own it. It takes a lot to admit when things didn’t go to plan but owning your mistakes and demonstrating your subsequent development is valuable.
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