How to Craft a Winning Résumé
It's your main marketing tool -- and a sink for potentially endless tweaking and anxiety. Here's some advice from our experts on how to put together that all-important résumé/CV (and its frequent traveling companion, the cover letter).
FROM "TOOLING UP"
- How to Write a Winning Résumé
- Peter Fiske
The purpose of a résumé or a CV is to get you an INTERVIEW. Getting the job comes later.
- Tooling Up: Resumé Rocket Science, 2007
- Dave Jensen
There's little consensus among experts on what constitutes a good CV or resumé. But it is possible to identify some common threads in their advice.
- Conducting an Authentic Job Search
- Dave Jensen
Many technical professionals don't like the job search because they think they have to be insincere to do well. Not true, says our Tooling Up columnist.
- The Cover Letter: Door Opener Par Excellence
- Dave Jensen
Writing something powerful, yet short, is the single most difficult kind of business writing.
- CVs That Open Industry Doors
- Dave Jensen
A brief refresher on some of the most common concerns regarding preparation of your own personal "marketing materials."
- A Résumé Makeover
- Peter Fiske
Step 1 to improving your résumé: Read the job ad.
- Notes From a Recruiter's Diary: A Plethora of CVs
- Dave Jensen
Competition is tight and readers are right to be concerned. But the numbers sound scarier than they really are.
- Are You Job Hunting or Job Fishing?
- Peter Fiske
Landing the best jobs, like snagging the best fish, takes hard work and patience.
- Urban Legends of the Job Search
- Dave Jensen
Some myths surrounding the job application.
ADDITIONAL ARTICLES
- Tips for a Successful CV
- S. A. Webb
Careful CV craftsmanship and maintenance serve academic scientists well at every stage of their careers.
- How to Get Hired in Academia
- A. Fazekas
What are hiring committees at colleges and universities looking for in faculty-job applicants?
- Writing the Teaching Statement
- R. N. Austin
Teaching statements, an obligatory part of most faculty applications, can be painful to write and even more painful to read. Here's how to minimize the pain for everyone--and make your teaching statement work to your advantage.
- Writing a Winning Cover Letter
- J. Borchardt
A good cover letter should accentuate your distinctiveness and inspire the hiring committee to learn more about you.
- What Is a Résumé Hole and How Do I Fill It? Part 1
What Is a Résumé Hole and How Do I Fill It? Part 2
- Adrienne Kitts
There are tools you can use to improve your chances of employment after a prolonged period of inactivity.
- CVs for Postdocs Leaving Academia
- Career Doctor
Although a CV can always be improved, it is your personal marketing document, so don't incorporate any feedback you disagree with.
- From an Employer's Wish-List to Your CV, Part 1
From an Employer's Wish-List to Your CV, Part 2
- Career Doctor
If it looks as though your list of skills and the job description are a good match, then you now have enough ammunition to start writing up your CV.
OFF-SITE RESOURCES
- CV/Resume Writing & Samples [Off-Site Resource]
- Tips on writing the successful scientific CV, from the UCSF Career Center.
