CV Quick Checklist
“CV writing is […] about anticipating your selectors' needs and trying to make their lives as easy as possible.”
-Steve Joy, PhD, University of Cambridge
Your goal as a candidate is to submit a CV that demonstrates the experience, skills, and qualities most relevant to the position and institution and department to which you are applying.
If you are a research-faculty candidate, the evaluators are looking for evidence of productivity, fundability, good reputation, and fit in your CV.
At a Glance
- CV draws the eye in and is easy to read.
- The visual organization is clear and logical for the position.
- The most relevant and important information is easy to see, on the first page.
- Effective white space, bullets, bold/italics, etc. are used to make it clear, easy to read, and understand. Nothing is over-used.
- All degrees and positions are listed in reverse chronological order.
- The header on each subsequent page with the name and page number.
Header
- The name is a larger font than the rest of the text.
- All needed contact information is present: the best phone number, departmental address, personal website, LinkedIn, etc.
- No unnecessary personal information: In the US, employers are not allowed to consider age, ethnic identity, political or religious affiliation, marital status, sexual orientation, place of birth, height, weight, health, or photographs.
Typical Sections (can include more)
- Education: Includes degrees, thesis title, month/year of graduation, and institution name and location.
- Research Interests (if applying for research positions)
- Research Experience: You can lead with your Postdoc position here.
- For each research position, list your advisor, and include findings and methods. You can also note collaborations, as well as resulting publications and funding sources.
- All Experience sections can show your accomplishments, which distinguish you as a
candidate.
See the table on p. 2 above for sample impact verbs to build accomplishment statements.
- Research Grants: Indicates your contributions to funded research and to grants under submission, as evidence of your grant-writing experience. Funding amounts are indicated, if customary in your field.
- Teaching Experience: Includes course titles, but not course codes. Show this section first if applying for a teaching position: expand with accomplishments, materials designed, effective student engagement approaches, etc.
- Administrative Experience if you have had such roles, and the particular position calls for such skills.
- Mentoring Experience: Name and affiliation of each student, and current status (which can be an indication of your success as a mentor)
- Memberships and Affiliations
- Honors & Awards
- Service & Outreach: This section can showcase skills such as initiative, leadership, communication, organizing, and collaboration.
- Presentations/Poster Sessions
- Publications/Patents (can be on the first page or last page)
- Status of papers not yet published is clearly indicated (e.g., Submitted, Under Review, Patent Pending, etc.).
- Publications are consistently listed in the correct style for your field.
- References: Includes name, position, and both email and phone contact information for each reference.
Finally
- Update your CV regularly, and show the latest date.
- Proofread mercilessly and ask others to look it over: errors affect your credibility!
For more detailed comments on this kind of CV: see UCSF’s Annotated Sample CV. https://career.ucsf.edu/sites/g/files/tkssra2771/f/wysiwyg/SampleCVAnnotatedUCSFOCPD.pdf