How to Write an Excellent CV/Resume

CV/Resume is an art to reflect the altitude of attitude and perception of personality. The eminence of experiences and sense of skills regarding the gradual growth in life, education, work, and achievements are manifested in the loci of a cv/resume. Thus, it is an urge to be adept at structuring an excellent cv/resume. The stipulated & strategic steps should be applied to make the infrastructure curating a cogent presentation of inborn identities. The excellence of cv/resume can be sharpened with the regulations which aid to be explored in the potential premises by means of subtle supervisions & strategic specifications.

Download our specimen CV with section wise explanation

•    Strategies to Structure an Excellent CV

•    Specification

The specification is the first step to structure a cv to be smart in a simple way. A CV is to be specific on the basis of the particular premise where the CV represents a person with potential energy e.g: a cv for applying as a research/teaching assistantship is, of course, different in some junctures from a cv for applying as an intern in any industry.

•    Research

One should research on that specific premise e.g: a particular department and people of a graduate school regarding the fields of his/her interest of works and researches so that he/she can make the motive reflected positively.

•    Concision

The specific research aids one to be concise in style & precise in thoughts to decide about the rhythm of relevancy in the field of his/her CV so that everything can be clearly clarified with respect to the particular premise.

•    Segmentation

The CV is to be segmented or sectioned with necessary, relevant & stipulated captions to represent the basic factors that make the image of the person visible with a cognitive sense. The basic sections can be followed on the basis of the instructions given by the career development department of the University of Illinois:

Heading: Name, email address, mailing address (only one), and phone number

Education: List academic degrees, with in progress or most recently earned first.

•    Name of institution, city and state, degree type and major, month and year degree was (will be) awarded

•    Thesis title and advisor, if applicable

Relevant Experience: List positions that show off your skills and expertise. You can group experiences into relevant categories to enhance your CV (e.g. Research, Teaching, and Administration). For each position, include:

•    Title, organization name, city, and state, dates position was held.

•    Bullet points that summarize your activities/duties, accomplishments, and successes.

Publications: Give bibliographic citations for articles, pamphlets, chapters in books, research reports, or any other publications that you have authored or co-authored. Use the format appropriate to your particular academic discipline for a clean look.

Current/Recent Research: Description of research projects recently conducted or in progress. Include the type of research and a brief description of the purpose.

Presentations (Oral and Poster): Give titles of professional presentations, the name of conference or event, dates and location, and, if appropriate in your discipline, also include a brief description. Use the format appropriate to your particular academic discipline for a consistent and clean look.

Honors and Awards: Receipt of competitive scholarships, fellowships, and assistantships; names of scholastic honors; teaching or research awards.

Qualifications or Skills: A summary of particular or relevant strengths or skills which you want to highlight. Occasionally, it may be appropriate to list special computing or language skills.

References: Two to Three references are appropriate and enough to be inscribed with the permission of the referees.

•    Formatting the CV  

1.    The format can vary by field.

2.    CV must be well organized and easy to read.

3.    The order of topics in a CV format is flexible.

4.    An effective format is to be chosen to be consistent.

5.    Bolds, italics, underlines, and capitalization are to be utilized to draw attention.

6.    Relevant items are to be listed in reverse chronological order in each section.

7.    Strategically the most important information is to be placed near the top and/or left side of the page.

8.   A footer with page numbers and last name can be added, in case pages get separated.

•    Rules to Regulate

1. The typographical or grammatical mistake is to be driven so cautiously and carefully which may create a negative impression along with reflecting an irresponsible profile.

2. The email address should be formal and represented by the name of the candidate rather than by any witty or funny abstract which may create a wrong visualization, e.g: brucewayne@gmail.com is better and smarter than whimsicalwayne@gmail.com with respect to reflected personality.

3. If anyone has any exceptional entity to reflect his/her motive or passion then the objective can be presented very precisely otherwise this objective section which is represented holistically by each juncture of the CV should be avoided to make the CV shapen concisely.

4. A CV is to be reflected only one identity on the basis of the place where it represents anyone. One can have several identities according to his versatility of appreciable works and contributions but he/she should be specified with respect to the premise where the cv is submitted on the basis of research about the place, e.g: One can a very good football player and have a commendable events to mention and he is also a physics graduate. Now, when he is applying for a Ph.D. position in any Physics department the facts of football are instinctively irrelevant.

5. One should avoid creating a crowd of educational entities in CV which may distract the attention rather he/she should use specific, effective and necessary qualifications e.g: one can exclude high school experiences from CV prepared for a graduate admission to be precise and potential.

6. Bullets are the very best way to convey induced information specifically and precisely. Excessive of anything can never be good. While bullets are effectively better than paragraphs in a cv/resume, too many bullets can be even worse. It is strongly recommend trying to stay to three to four bullets per section.

7. The white space in a great cv/resume makes it elegantly efficient. The focused tend to utilize the visual benefits of white space and how much it contributes to readability. A great cv/resume has an effective application of white space both between and within sections.

8. Honesty is always the best policy. The cv/resume should exclude any kind of wrong information and exaggeration.

9. One should re-read, edit and correct any kind of error before submitting the cv/resume smartly.

•    CV vs Resume

According to the career guide of Cornell University Graduate School- A Curriculum Vitae (CV) is a longer synopsis of your educational and academic background as well as teaching and research experience, publications, awards, presentations, honors, and additional details.  CV’s are used when applying for academic, scientific, or research positions.  International employers often use CVs as well. A CV can vary from two pages to several pages. Professionals seeking academic positions and non-academic positions in science, higher education, research, and healthcare typically use a CV. It is also used to seek a fellowship or grant and is expected for some positions overseas. Consult with faculty members in your field to determine what is expected and appropriate for your field.

On the other hand, most employers in the United States, use resumes for non-academic positions, which are one or two-page summaries of your experience, education, and skills.  Employers rarely spend more than a few minutes reviewing a resume and successful resumes are concise with enough white space on the page to make it easy to scan. In a sense, CV is an academic resume.

 

•    Transforming a CV into a Resume

One may need both a CV and a resume for job search. Sending the appropriate document (CV or resume) tells employers that one can distinguish the differences between the academic and non-academic environments and that can adapt his/her skills to either environment. Most employers in the industry prefer a resume. When rearranging a CV to make it a resume we can follow the instructions given by the career guide of Cornell University Graduate School:

•    A resume/cv does not exceed two pages.

•   The experiences are to be re-evaluated to think creatively about how academic experience can be translated into the necessary skills for a non-academic environment. Skills of project management, leadership, teamwork, effective communication, and meeting deadlines are to be considered. 

•   Action/Strong verbs are to be chosen to describe experience and address stipulated authority with smart captions/bullet points and elegant explanations. Most of the cv/resume has the same kind of bullet points. The strong verbs thus can entice the eyes of readers to go with induced attention. Many hiring authorities quickly skim through all the resumes and cover letters they receive. These power words regarding action/strong verbs will jump off the page, swiftly showing the people the art of ardor and sense of skill.  Moreover, applications having the words can provide versatility to make someone different to be considered out of all common and similar patterns. Smart and cogent choice of strong words will set anyone apart from the competitors, e.g:

 

Leadership Skills	Research Skills	Ardor of Achievements	Communication Skills	Financial Skills	Technical Skills
Chaired	Explored	Awarded	Briefed	Audited	Engineered
Orchestrated	Mapped	Performed	Authored	Appraised	Assembled
Pioneered	Systematized	Excelled	Defined	Budgeted	Devised
Piloted	Surveyed	Extracted	Documented	Balanced	Designed
Navigated	Examined	Gleaned	Illustrated	Managed	Computed
Planned	Diagnosed	Derived	Promoted	Projected	Programmed

 

•    Professional experience or degree is to be listed first, depending on which is most important for a specific position. 

•    A well-written job objective is to be included. The type of position and work setting wished, skills or abilities possessed, and long-term goals are to be stated. 

•    Skills and accomplishments should be emphasized.

•    Relevant presentations, publications, and papers are to be placed, but not all.

•    Proofread is an urge to make it smarter.

Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance. The cv/resume should maintain simplicity by being organized smartly so that one can flick through or read it with ease to get the synopsis. The synopsis reflects the comprehensive statements of relevant realms of lucidity regarding the potential of a person, as an excellent cv/resume.