Updated October 7th, 2022

Curriculum Vitae

CVs are typically more detailed, more emphasis on credentials and are intended for careers / jobs in academia, research, medicine etc. CVs differ from resumes because resumes are more compact, short (recommended maximum 2 pages) and are competency or skill based.

CV Contents

Do not start your CV with the words Curriculum Vitae

Personal Information

The personal information section of the CV tends to differ between different countries. it is important to ensure you do not provide information that would result in 'segregation'. So do not provide information related to your marital status, religion, race or gender. In addition, you should not provide too much personal information that might compromise your security. For example, avoid providing your date of birth.

Under this section, include:

• First and last name. Include a middle name if your first and last names are too common and can be mistaken for other people.
• Home address, postal code and telephone number
• Email address

In the personal information section, you can choose to provide additional information if you feel necessary. For example, if you have a personal website, relevant social media profile, you can add the urls into this section. If you are applying for a position within the same institution where you are currently working, you could replace your home address with an office address. Fax numbers are mostly obsolete, but if you have one, and you believe its a viable method for communication, you should provide that as an option for employers to reach you.

Academic / Educational Background

The core of this section resembles the resume structure. On one line, provide the name of the degree and the date when you obtained it, or the anticipated completion date. Then provide the name of the institution you attended.

Optional additional information

• Degree Major and minor
• Courses completed: List only the most relevant to the position you are applying for.
• GPA: In this case because different countries differ in the GPA scale, indicate the scale you are using, for example, 3.6 out of 4.
• Thesis/dissertation: The thesis title is essential as it provides a quick understanding of the type of research experience you have gained.
• Name(s) of your supervisor; most times your supervisor is a well-known authority in a specific research subject, and it helps to create that connection.
• Awards and Scholarships can be listed under the institution you were attending you received them. However, we recommend that if you have many awards, it is better to include a separate section.
• Professional development/ Short courses/ Continuing Education can also be added under the education background section. However, a separate section may be more convenient.

Work Experience

The work experience section should be split into two main sub-sections, Teaching experience and Research experience.

Teaching Experience

Ensure to list position titles, institutions/organizations, locations and dates.

Indicate the title of courses taught. Although it is optional, you can provide details about the actual role you performed, for example: developing new course materials or marking, etc.

Remember to use action words as described under resumes. You can also include student reviews both favorable and unfavorable.

Teaching Interests

List subject areas that you would be interested in teaching if you got the position.

Teaching philosophy / Teaching Dossier

Usually this is provided as a separate document. If you are not including this in your application package, please indicate that "A teaching philosophy will be available upon request."

Research Experience

As you did for teaching experience, list positions you have held that were research, such as postdoctoral fellow or research assistant etc.

Research Interests

Provide a list of research topics that you would be interested in pursuing if you were offered the position. This is an interesting section of your application because most times the employer also has some priority research subjects so you need to smoothly connect your own research interests with those of your employer as advertised in the job description.

Research Interests

In cases where a separate document providing details about your research interests has been requested. The idea is to convert your research history into some kind of a story, with a beginning, most recent past, and the present. The story should clearly reveal how you made certain deliberate decisions to pursue specific research projects/studies and how all these projects have been contributing to your overall research career goal.

Current active research projects

Indicate the title of the research project, the funder, the amount of funds received and the project start and end dates.

Although priority is given to current active projects, you can definitely include past completed projects, especially so as to provide an indicator of how successful you have been in research, but also to create better opportunities to connect your application to the position you are applying for.

List of Publications

Use one of the most common citation format used in your research field. Bold you name for each article to show if you were first author.

If your list is too lengthy, consider providing this list as an appendix, or you could choose to include only a certain subset of your publications either by date or relevance.

Professional Administrative Experience

If you have held administrative positions in your past, you should include this section to provide details. This might include Chair of department, or committees etc.

Professional Memberships

If you have not already done so, especially if this list is going to be long, create this separate section to list your membership (including role) in professional associations or bodies related to your expertise.

It is recommended to exclude memberships associated with political parties, religious groups, groups related to sexual orientation etc.

Other Optional Sections to Consider

• Volunteer experience
• Language skills
• Intellectual property / Inventions / Patents
• Professional Travel

References

Here, you can either list your professional references as you would in a resume or include a statement like "Reference Available upon request.”

When you do provide references, ensure to include individuals who are well known authorities in the profession. Your present supervisor should always be one of your references.

In addition to references, you can include reference / recommendation letters.

Lastly.....

• It is beneficial to date your CV, this will indicate the currency of the information provided.
• Use reverse chronological order in listing your work experience, publications, etc
• Practice prioritization with more important information coming first.
• Use a clear, easy to read consistent presentation style.
• Use headers on each page with your name and email address.