Preparing a CV

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 discuss what 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 - and they can be found at the end of this article.

While vitas do not have the one-page rule, 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.

Ready to begin?

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), mjaor/minor. 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
• Other work 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

Books about CVs:

• Developing a Professional Vita or Resume by Carl McDaniels and Mary Anne Knobloch
• The Global Resume and CV Guide by Mary Anne Thompson
• How to Prepare Your Curriculm Vitae by Acy L. Jackson and C. Kathleen Geckeis

Taken from Quint Careers.com