QuickFix: Oprimizing academic CV

1. Irina Filonova, PhD
Postdoctoral Development
Faculty Affairs Office
uickFix
CV:Content

2. Learning objectives
• Learn the CV best practices
• Improve your CV in 5 easy steps
• Use rubric and group feedback to update CV content

3. Curriculum Vitae – “course of [your] life”
• Part of the application package for academic and non-academic jobs
• Format depends on a country
• Often academic and long
• Different from a Resume
• No specific format unless specified

4. CV basics
• CV is your professional “brand” in a written form
• CV will NOT get you a job BUT it should get you an interview
• You have to work extra hard to make a good impression

5. CV content – main points
• Know your audience
• Tailor your CV to the institution
• First page is the key

6. NO
YES
MAYBE?
Lack of qualifications
Generic content
Low readability
Typos
Match and qualifications
are not clear
Nearly perfect match
Stellar credentials
Familiar name
*to be discussed
In the later slides

7. CV content – main points
• Know your audience
• Tailor your CV to the institution type (job ad)
• First page is the key

8. Institutions are not the same
Modified Carnegie Classification®, OCPD UCSF

9. Can you do fundable,
independent and unique
research?
Can you teach and do
some fundable research
with students?
Can you teach, mentor
and be a good colleague?
UCSF Academic Career Readiness Assessment Framework (ACRA)
https://career.ucsf.edu/ACRA

10. Publications
Recommendations
Scientific Independence
Scientific vision
Future Funding Potential
Research Feasibility
Scientific network *
Communication of Research
Fit
https://career.ucsf.edu/ACRA

11. Publications
Fundability of Scientific Vision
Research Feasibility
Experience and plan for conducting
research with students
Commitment to Serving Diverse Students
Teaching and communication abilities
Teaching Experience
Teaching Philosophy and strategies
Fit https://career.ucsf.edu/ACRA

12. Commitment to Serving Diverse
Students
Teaching experience
Teaching Philosophy and Strategies
Fit
https://career.ucsf.edu/ACRA

13. 4 broad areas of interest as seen by institutions
• Reputation
• Who you are
• Where you are coming from (pedigree)
• Who you know (scientific network and collaborations)
• Fundability
• Do your projects lead to grants (yours or others)
• Do you have your own grants?
• Productivity
• Papers
• Projects
• Presentations
• Grants
• Fit
https://career.ucsf.edu/ACRA

16. CV content – main points
• Know your audience
• Tailor your CV to the institution
• First page is the key

17. Now it is time for 5 steps

18. Step 1 – Tailor CV by moving sections around
Research intensive positions
Education
Research Experience
Grant & Fellowships
Publications sections
Teaching-focused positions
Education
Teaching Experience
Mentoring Experience
University Service
Professional Involvement

19. Step 2: Professional experience - Format
• Consistent format
• Title, University, Country, Date
• Watch out for bold, italic, color
Postdoc, RIKKEN Department of Science, Japan 2016-present
Lab of Dr. XXX: Department of Physiology
Graduate Researcher, OXFORD, UK; 2016
Undergrad Student, U of Toronto, 2010-2013
Laboratory of Dr. ZZZ: Project title: xxxx

20. Step 2: Professional experience - Format
Postdoctoral Scholar, OIST, Japan 2016-present
Graduate Researcher, MIT, USA 2010-2016
The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel 2017-2018
Postdoctoral Fellow
Harvard Medical School, MI, USA 2013-2017
PhD Candidate
University of Florida, FL, USA
Undergraduate Research Associate 2010-2013

21. Step 2: Professional experience – Job titles
• Clear titles that explain what your role was
• Not so good examples:
• PhD
• Candidate
• Student
• Researcher – this is tricky
• Nothing
Graduate Research Assistant

22. Step 2: Professional experience - Evidence
• Use evidence to describe your RELEVANT experience

23. Step 2: Professional experience – Productivity
• Use action verbs to demonstrate productivity
University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA
Postdoctoral Fellow; Advisor: Young X. Shen 2015-Present
• Developed single cell PCR method to study developmental changes in NMDA
receptors, correlated with developmental stages of song learning
• Analyzed developmental changes in juvenile song using customized LabView
software.
• Altered development of song with behavioral and circadian manipulations
Columbia University New
Office of Career Services, Harvard

24. Step 2: Professional experience – Productivity
• Use PAR to demonstrate results
Problem
Action
Result
Developed high impact translational research projects that address unmet clinical
needs in oncology and was awarded >$250,000 in grant funding
Collaborated with XXX engineering team on a joint project involving the use of
additives to improve the performance of Li-Air batteries.
MIT Career Resources, MIT

25. Step 3: Teaching experience – Evidence
• Describe your experience similar to the research section
• Don’t list courses – explain what your contribution was
Office of Career Services, Harvard

26. Step 3: Teaching experience – Evidence
• Did you?
• Developed or innovated curriculum
• Created assessments and examinations
• Used active learning techniques such as on-line polls, think-share-pair
• Who were your students?
• Number
• Educational level
• Background
• Did you create any impact?
• Better comprehension and knowledge retention

27. Step 3: Teaching experience – Evidence
UCSF & MIT

28. Step 3: Mentoring experience – Evidence
• Did you?
• Helped with proposal writing
• Taught experimental methods
• Oversaw their projects from inception to completion
• Who were your students?
• Number
• Educational level
• Background
• Did you create any impact?
• Where are they now?

29. Step 3: Mentoring experience – Evidence
• Advised 3 graduate students on the data collection and poster
presentation for a XXX international conference
• Helped master students to optimize experimental setups and to
conduct thorough literature search for their thesis proposal
• Mentored Name, University of ZZZ, undergraduate student Fall 2010
Current status: graduate student at University of ZZZ, USA

30. Step 4: Achievements
• Grants, fellowship, awards – what else?
• Don’t forget to Include your role, monetary value and funding agency
Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI), Japan 2017-2018
Role: Co-PI
JPY 100,000
Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NIH), USA 2016-2017
Role: Postdoctoral Fellow
$84,000
Autism Foundation Award 2015
Role: Graduate Fellow
$25,000

31. Step 4: Achievements – optional but helpful
• Describe your role and contribution to:
• Ongoing funded research
• Prior funded research
• Submitted grants

32. Step 4: Achievements – optional but helpful

33. Leadership
Student/postdoc
associations
Research management
Institutional services
Committees, task forces
Conference planning
Contribution to a discipline
Volunteering for a
professional society
Review paper
Outreach activities
Step 5: Cover Administrative areas
https://www.jobs.ac.uk/careers-advice/cv-templates/1309/academic-cv-template

34. Step 5: Cover Administrative areas - Skills

35. Bonus: The most common mistakes
• No PhD
• Curriculum Vitae, page number and heading
• No consistency in format, dates and font
• List of random things as a bullet point list
• Start strong and finish strong
• No administrative/ leadership/ outreach experience

36. Resources
• UCSF Office of Professional and Career Development
• Academic resources: https://career.ucsf.edu/academic-careers
• Non- academic resources: https://career.ucsf.edu/phds/non-academic-careers
• MIT Career Guide https://capd.mit.edu/sites/default/files/about/files/career-
handbook.pdf
• Stanford Career Guide
https://beam.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/stanfordphd_cg15-161.pdf
• Harvard CV examples https://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/files/ocs/files/hes-resume-cover-
letter-guide.pdf
• NIH Resume and CV handbook
https://www.training.nih.gov/assets/Guide_to_Resumes_&_Curricula_Vitae.pdf