What is a Curriculum Vita and How do You Create it?
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Vitas and resumes both have similar purposes -– as marketing documents
that provide key information about your skills, experiences, education,
and personal qualities that show you as the ideal candidate. Where a
resume and a curriculum vitae differ is their use, format, and length.
This article will help with your writing and preparing your vita.
A curriculum vitae -– often called a CV or vita -- tends to be used more
for scientific and teaching positions than a resume. Thus, vitas tend to
provide great detail about academic and research experiences. Where
resumes tend toward brevity, vitas lean toward completeness.
Unlike resumes, there is no set format to vitas. It is a good idea to also
discuss any special formatting your field requires with a mentor or
trusted member of your network. There are also a few books that provide
much more depth on the subject.
While vitas do not have the one-page rule of resumes, you need to walk the
line between providing a good quality of depth to showcase your
qualifications and attract potential employer interest and providing too
much information thus appearing verbose and turning off potential employer
interest.
Example Sites:
You'll generate a better response with your curriculum vitae if it is well
organized and is packed with relevant information to match and support
your professional, academic or research objective.
You can apply several unique strategies when writing your curriculum
vitae. The first is to prioritize and list the most relevant academic,
research, volunteer or work history experience first within the curriculum
vitae. The second was to include an Objective and Summary of
Qualifications section at the top of each C.V. The third was to
incorporate many of the strategies and resume writing techniques you have
learned by using our resume pages.
Preparing effective C.V.'s presents a unique challenge due to length,
which can make them boring and result in important data being buried or
lost in such a long document. As a result, prioritizing your top skills
and experience to be presented in the first or uppermost section of your
C.V. makes sense. Then detail additional educational, employment or
academic experience.
In this way you will maximize important criteria which you do not want to
be overlooked by academic or hiring committees.
A curriculum vitae is often required for those applying to graduate or
professional programs, employment with international firms, or when
promoting oneself within professional and academic fields.
How Does a Curriculum Vita Differ From
A Regular Resume?
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A curriculum vitae is longer than the average 1-2 page resume because it
provides a greater range of information which can include:
- Professional, Vocational or Research Objective
- Summary of Qualifications
- Professional Licenses or Certifications
- Education including Post Graduate, Graduate and Undergraduate Degrees
and Studies
- Listing of Relevant Course work to Match Career or Academic Objective
- Educational or Professional Honors or Awards
- Scientific or Academic Research, Laboratory Experience and Related
Skills
- Description of Thesis or Dissertation, Papers Written, Publications
- Academic or Professional Presentations
- Related Extracurricular Activities, Professional and Association
Memberships
- Community Involvement
- Work Experience - Paid or Volunteer
- Technical and Specialized Skills such as Computer Programming or
Laboratory Instrumentation
- Interests - Future Academic or Professional Goals
- Travel / Exposure to Cultural Experiences
- Foreign Language Skills
- Additional Information that May Support Objective or Qualifications
Writing a curriculum vitae can seem overwhelming but can
be made easier by organizing your background. To begin, put each of the
headings listed above--and any others that are relevant--at the top of
several sheets of paper (using a computer makes this even easier). Once
you've done that then begin filling in your information for topics such as
those listed above. You can also use the outline listed below to get you
started.
Typical vita categories or headings may include some or all of the
following:
Personal/Contact Information
- name
- address
- phone number(s)
- email
Academic Background
- postgraduate work
- graduate work/degree(s), major/minors, thesis/dissertation titles,
honors
- undergraduate degree(s), majors/minors, honors
Professional Licenses/Certifications
Academic/Teaching Experience
- courses taught, courses introduced
- innovation in teaching
- teaching evaluations
Technical and Specialized Skills
Related/Other Experience
Professional/Academic Honors and Awards
Professional Development
- conferences/workshops attended, other activities
Research/Scholarly Activities
- journal articles
- conference proceedings
- books
- chapters in books
- magazine articles
- papers presented/workshops
- ezine articles
- work currently under submission
- work in progress
Grants
Service
- academic
- professional
- community
Academic/Research Interests
Affiliations/Memberships
Foreign Language Abilities/Skills
Consulting
Volunteer Work
References
Business CV Samples:
Social Science CV Samples:
Engineering, Math and Science CV Samples:
Academic:
Non-Academic:
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