Recently, a friend of mine asked me to forward her my CV template. Unexpectedly She thought it was straightforward, tidy and eye-catchy. Far from being the best CV ever, I realized that I had done something a bit different from conventional CV.
A conventional CV is mostly structured in what I like to call “career compartments”:
· education;
· work experience;
· publications;
· Funds;
· conferences;
· skills;
· hobbies and interests.
This CV is usually really detailed and long, with a risk of being redundant. Yet, universities jobs standardly prefer and or/require this type of template.
On the contrary, companies favour resumes, a 1-2-pages short layout, aimed to highlight the best steps in your career. In a way, we can call this a proper ‘self-advertisement” document. Despite of being more concise, resumes are still structured in “career compartments”.
While job hunting, I looked at several conventional CVs and resumes templates. Thus, I can admit I found my inspiration mainly in resumes, rather than conventional CVs. Then, I created a layout that would spare one-third of the page to list personal data (my address, date of birth, spoken languages, hobbies…), and the other two-third to showcase what I like to call my career “timeline blocks”. Each block would represent a step in my career, and it did include:
· where and when this block took place;
· who my direct supervisor was;
· the subject of my work;
· whether the work had led to peer-reviewed publication;
· if I had established collaborations;
· related grants or funds;
· whether I got any awards (not applicable to me haha!)
What was unconventional at a first look, still was structured and ordered, with all the information grouped by time. This hybrid CV resulted in only 2-pages long.
My CV received various opinions, depending on the organization or the country I applied to, and even the personality of the interviewer. Yet, over 8 interviews, I can confidently say that my personalized CV was accepted and well appreciated by 7/8 recruiters. In fact, despite one organization disliked this template, (feedback: it was found difficult to scan for information), the other 7 accepted it. Out of 7, 3 complimented the fact that all the information regarding a particular career step was available in a dedicated section of the resume, making it simple and straightforward to read. Little note: I used this hybrid CV to apply for both academic and company positions.
After this experience, I would like to encourage other researchers in a job-hunting phase of their lives, to create unconventional CVs. Each of us has a unique timeline, and it can be highlighted differently, as long as remaining clear and logic.
