Crafting your CV to suit you best

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.