How to Write a CV:
10 Critical Tips

• CV vs. Resume: Know the Difference

  As you’ll see from our curriculum vitae templates, the most obvious difference between a resume and a CV is the length of each document. While most resumes are a max of two pages, a CV can be more than ten pages in length for very accomplished jobseekers.

  Another difference is the information included in a CV versus a resume (and the uses for each). While both are used in job applications, a resume and a curriculum vitae are not always interchangeable.

  While a CV, like a resume, is a summary of a jobseeker’s skills and experience, curriculum vitae includes more detailed information on a jobseeker’s academic accomplishments, including degrees, teaching experience, awards, research, publications, presentations, and other achievements.

  In short, CVs are most often used by those in academia, medicine, and other professional careers, although they are sometimes also used for blue collar jobs or roles in tech, finance, or healthcare.

• Gather Your Materials

  To save time while writing a CV, gather the necessary materials before you get started. While the contents of your curriculum vitae will vary slightly depending on the position you are applying for, all CVs should include the following information in some capacity: header, education, work experience, and skills.

  Having dates of employment, titles of published work, and other information at your fingertips will make the writing less painful. See our CV templates for examples of which information to include in each section.

• Create a Header

  Your header should include your contact information, including your name, telephone number, and email. Some jobseekers choose to include their mailing address in the header, but it’s okay not to in a modern curriculum vitae. It sounds simple enough, but double check that there are no errors or typos in this section. If there are mistakes, employers won’t be able to reach you.

  The header should be in a clean, easy-to-read font, like Times New Roman, and can be in a slightly large font size for emphasis. See our CV templates for examples.

• List Your Education

  Some CVs list your education section at the top, while others list it on the bottom. Regardless of how you organize your CV, this section should include all of the higher education you’ve completed or are in the process of completing. Our curriculum vitae templates provide guidance on how this section should be formatted.

  Include the names of all colleges and universities you’ve attended, and the dates you attended each, in reverse order starting with the most recent. If you have yet to graduate, include an anticipated graduation date.

  For each entry, indicate the academic degree you’ve obtained (or anticipate receiving), such as Ph.D., Masters, or B.A. You may also want to list your thesis or dissertation titles here if they are relevant.

• Catalogue Your Experience and Skills

  Create a skills section and list your hard and soft skills under that header using bullet points. If you have a large assortment of similar skills, consider grouping them under subheaders. For example, you may want to group your software knowledge and expertise with certain sorts of hardware under a digital skills subheader.

  Then create another section titled “Work Experience” or “Relevant Experience,” depending on the stage of your career. Here, list your work, teaching, or research experience in reverse chronological order.

  This is the preferred format for recruiters because it is easy to read. Each entry should have the name of the organization and the dates of employment as well as your responsibilities and achievements by role, placing the most emphasis on your more recent roles.

  Use bullet points for readability and pay attention to keywords in the job ad. Since many employers use applicant tracking systems to do initial screenings of resumes and CVs, be sure to pull these directly and mimic the language exactly.

  For example, if the job ad requests a candidate with strong “oral communication,” use that phrase instead of “verbal communication.” Echoing the language of the job ad will give your curriculum vitae the best chance of passing the initial screen.

• Add in Your Scholarships and Awards

  Including your academic scholarships and awards is a terrific was to highlight educational accomplishments. Students and researchers should include any grants or fellowships they’ve received, especially those that are highly competitive.

  If you include this section, provide some context for the awards with a short description of the award and its criteria. Also, give a brief description of the organization that awarded the prize to make the prestige of winning the award evident to employers.

  Here is an example of how you might list these (see our CV templates for more inspiration):

  2014: Fulbright Scholarship; Taiwan; The Fulbright-National Chengchi University Awards in International Studies, Asia-Pacific Studies, and International Communication Studies

• Articulate Your Accomplishments

  What makes you different? This is the question to ask yourself when you are cataloging your educational and professional achievements. Many candidates will have similar credentials – comparable degrees or work experience, for example – but your unique accomplishments can propel you into the interview chair.

  In this section, list any work you’ve had published, teaching experience, fellowships and grants you’ve won. There is also the option to spell these out in separate sections if needed. Peruse our CV templates for more ideas on how to organize your own curriculum vitae:

  Here are some ideas for what you might include:

  • Research experience
  • Awards
  • Scholarships
  • Graduate fieldwork
  • Presentations
  • Exhibits
  • Published works
  • Teaching experience
  • Professional memberships and associations
  • Grants and fellowships
  • Professional licenses and certifications

• Include Relevant Hobbies and Interests

  Candidates with unique or relevant hobbies and interests should consider including these in their CV. Employers can infer information about you as a person from these hobbies, so be sure that they are appropriate and paint you in a positive light.

  As you’ll see in our CV templates, some hobbies add value to your curriculum vitae, such as volunteer work, participating in sports teams, professional clubs and memberships, or involvement in school organizations.

  These types of extracurricular activities demonstrate that you are involved in your community and that you work well with others. Don’t list solitary pastimes, like reading or knitting.

• Create a Section for “Other Information”

  If you’ve done something interesting that you’d like to share with an employer, or if you have a gap in your employment that you’d like to explain, an additional section titled “Other Information” might be in order.

  If you stopped working for a period to raise children or to join the Peace Corps, this is the place to explain it. Our CV templates are packed with examples, but you might write:

  “From 2014 to 2015 I was stationed in Tanzania with the Peace Corps as a secondary education science teacher. In addition to teaching, I coached soccer and taught Peace Corps Tanzania’s Cross Sectoral Program Priorities to the community-at-large.”

• Proofread, Proofread, and Proofread Again

  CVs can be long, which means there is more room on the page for misspelled words or grammatical errors. Proofreading this important document is critical. A recruiter often will not overlook a small typo; rather it can get you disqualified from the running.

  Our CV templates have been proofread time and again. Do the same with yours. Edit your document, then run it through our copyediting checking tool to check spelling and grammar errors before you send your CV.

  Don’t stop there! Send your curriculum vitae to a trusted friend for a final read through. You don’t want a silly mistake to stand between you and the job you want.