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Building and maintaining your CV

Posted 8/26/2024

A curriculum vitae, or CV, is a comprehensive list of your academic background and activities. It is a standard document for academic job applications, is useful for people writing you a letter of reference, and is an archive for your own use (“What year did I give that talk in Atlanta?”). If you start your CV early in your career, you will find it easy to maintain and will prevent a later scramble to compile your information when you are asked for one.

For reference, here is a link to a template that I use. I’ll describe some of its elements below, and there are comments in the document itself about specific details.

The best software and template for your CV is the one that will be easiest to use and maintain. I like the above Word template because it is extremely easy to add new information. There are many Latex templates on the internet as well if you prefer that software. Whatever tool you choose, try to avoid using tables or special formatting that create extra work when adding new items. I’ve never seen a reader be impressed by a CV’s style, so don’t spend time on anything beyond basic formatting.

Keep in mind that your CV will be read quickly. Readers will likely be skimming many CVs or searching your CV for a specific piece of information. So make it easy to browse: use clear headings, leave a healthy amount of white space, use a reasonably sized font, and provide information in bullet points or short sentences rather than paragraphs. Be cautious about using lots of boldface or underlined text outside of section headings, as those styles interfere with a reader’s skimming.

Whatever your template, I suggest that your header or footer include your name and a “Page x of n” entry on each page. CVs sometimes get included in larger files for job dossiers, so your name and page numbers will help someone identify and navigate the CV, even if it is a part of a bigger document.

There are no length limits on CVs, but extraneous entries can obscure important information. So include everything relevant, but no more. Basic sections of a CV are typically:

• Heading (name and contact info)

• Education

• Experience

• Honors and awards

• Publications

• Presentations

• Teaching

• Service

The above is a general guideline, but the items and order are not entirely fixed. You may not yet have entries for all these categories, and it’s okay to leave empty ones off. But as you move through your grad school career, see if you can get a few items in each category, even if some are small. You can consider adding extra sections if you have something that will help you stand out as a strong candidate (e.g., grants received, atypical software skills, media coverage, or languages spoken). Practices vary in some countries, but in the United States, you should not include personal information such as hobbies or marital status.

A list of references and their contact information is also sometimes requested along with a CV, so it’s okay to put references at the end. But they aren’t always needed with the CV, so I prefer to keep them separate. If you put your CV on your webpage (which I recommend), it’s also helpful to leave your references off so that you aren’t publicizing others’ contact information.

Some students include a section of Research Projects in their CVs. That is fine. But I personally don’t look closely at that section when reading CVs, as it is hard to evaluate the scope or quality of work. For example, some students list class projects, which isn’t meaningful and doesn’t give me a good impression that they understand the effort involved in an actual research project. Whether you choose to list projects or not, a sentence or a few bullet points of description will be more effective than a paragraph, in the interest of helping the reader skim quickly.

As you craft your CV using these guidelines, remember that it will serve you for academic job applications, reference requests, and record-keeping. Prioritize its clarity and readability over style. Periodically check that you are including appropriate sections as your achievements expand while your career advances. By starting early and maintaining it regularly, you can create an easily updatable record of your achievements and ensure that this essential document is ready when you inevitably need it.