Curriculum Vitae Guide

Office for Alumni Affairs & Career Advancement

Getting Started
Anatomy of a CV
A Curriculum Vitae (CV) details all your educational and
academic credentials and achievements, and may include While there is no single correct format or style for writing a
teaching experiences, publications, and academic honors and CV, the following sections are generally included. The
awards. A CV is typically used for seeking jobs in academia as organization of your CV should present the information in
well as for applying for academic postdoctoral research reverse chronological order that best highlights your
opportunities, grants, and fellowships. Some research strengths in relation to the position you are seeking.
positions in industry may also prefer a CV rather than a
Name & Contact Information – Your name, address,
resume. While crafting your CV, it is important to pay
telephone, and email should always come first as part of the
attention to the position's requirements and the kind of
“header” of a CV. List one email address only. You can include
institution to which you are applying. Research institutions
a url to your website in this section.
have different sets of requirements and preferences from
liberal arts and community colleges. Keep in mind that the Education – Write the full name of your school and its
format of an academic CV is fairly standardized but there are location, full name or abbreviation of your degree(s), major
variations across disciplines. Consult with members of your or field of study, and expected date or date of completion. If
department about any particularities associated with your you have credentials from institutions outside of the US, use
field of study. the exact name of the degree as provided by the granting
institution. If necessary, you may add a phrase to clarify the
Format training attained, for example “equivalent to US MD”.
The format of your CV influences the first impression of you Dissertation – In addition to your academic pedigree, the
as a candidate to the search committee. Choose a format that nature of your dissertation and the reputation of your
best represents you as a scholar. Our office recommends a advisors are usually the most important feature of your CV.
style that is easy to read and visually appealing with no typos List the title, members of your committee, and the date it will
or grammatical errors. be completed. Provide a brief description of your work, its
• Use Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Calibri framework, and your conclusions.
in size 10-12 point throughout the document with a
minimum of 0.5 inch and maximum 1 inch margins. Honors and Awards – This section can be combined with
• Bold section headings (e.g., Education, Honors, Awards) “Education” or given a separate section, depending on how
• Consistent use of bold, italics, and underlining significant or numerous they are. If you have received several
• Use bullet points to direct the reader’s attention prestigious and highly competitive awards, you might want to
• Start each bullet point with action verbs highlight them with a separate section. Commonly known
• There is no page limit for CVs. Your CV grows longer as honors need no explanation, but others can be briefly
you become more accomplished. The emphasis is on explained. Emphasize the degree to which an unfamiliar
completeness rather than brevity. However, be concise award was competitive (e.g. "1 of 3 selected from among
and make sure to format your CV carefully. Overly dense 2,000 graduating chemists nationally.")
CVs are harder to read. Teaching Experience – Describe your teaching in detail. Take
• Include your name and page number time to convey the depth and breadth of your experience,

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617-432-1034
career-services/
especially if it included the opportunity to develop your own references on your CV include for each one their name, title,
syllabi and lecturing ability. If you have a lot of teaching department, institution, mailing address, phone number and
experience, think about breaking it out by level of e-mail address.
responsibility. List the formal course title, but not course
numbers. Add a descriptive line if the title does not convey all
of the relevant information. What’s the difference between a resume and a CV?

Research Experience – This section showcases your A resume in the U.S. is used to present your professional
development as a scholar. List the name of the organization identity and a CV is used to present your scholarly
followed by your department and principle investigator’s identity. A CV is generally used when applying for
name. Include your position and your project title. academic, scientific, or certain government research
positions. The CV includes a broader range of topic areas
Grants – Use this category only if you have received including an extensive list of academic engagements,
significant funding. Dissertation and fellowship support are publications, and presentations, including honors and
usually listed in "Honors and Awards." List the funding agency awards. The goal of a CV is to highlight one’s academic
and the projects that were funded. The work supported by accomplishments. There is generally no limit on the
the grant can be discussed in detail under "Research length of CVs, while resume is typically 1-2 pages long.
Experience."
What’s the similarity between a resume and a CV?
Scholarly Membership/Leadership – List memberships in
societies in your discipline. If you have been very active in Both resumes and CVs need to be tailored to your
university committee work or your scholarly community, you audience. Think from the search committee’s perspective
might include that information here, or create a separate – highlight your research accomplishments when applying
section. Moderating a panel would be a good example of to research-focused institution, emphasize your teaching
something that might fit under this heading. experiences when seeking teaching-focused employment.

Additional Activities – Volunteer work with organizations,

student groups, alumni associations, or civic or political Writing About Your Experience
groups can be of interest. If you have experience (either paid
Before writing about your experiences, take time to think
or volunteer) that is relevant to your work as an academic, list
about what you have accomplished in each position. Describe
it here. For example, include in this section if your field is
each experience to give an overview of what you did, with an
education and you served on the board of a charter school, or
emphasis on what you were able to accomplish in the
if you are in Asian Studies and worked as an associate
position. If you are describing a research project, give a brief
director of the Japan Society of Southern California. Do not
introductory statement indicating what you set out to
disclose political or religious activities/affiliations.
accomplish and results obtained. If relevant, go on to indicate
Publications/Presentations – Publications and presentations important research techniques you used.
demonstrate engagement in your field. List publications and  If possible, quantify experiences to convey size and/or
presentations in reverse chronological order in standard scale of projects, budgets, and results
bibliographic form. If you have a long list, have separate
 Describe current positions in the present tense and past
sections for publications and for presentations, and then
positions in the past tense
subdivide by topics (peer reviewed papers, reviews or
 Do not use personal pronouns
posters, invited talks). You can list a few articles that are in
 List relevant accomplishments and skills, NOT job duties
preparation.
and responsibilities
Reference – Having strong letters of recommendation from  Incorporate keywords from the job description as much
faculty who know your work well is crucial to a successful job as possible
search. It is common courtesy to ask your advisor and  Make sure to organize the bullets such that the most
committee members if they will serve as references for you “important” information is presented first.
and to give them plenty of time to write letters. To list

careers@hsph.harvard.edu http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/
617-432-1034
career-services/
 ACTION VERBS for RESUMES/CVs

Each description of experiences should begin with a strong action verb. Try to remove phrases like “responsible for” and “duties
include” and replace them with the action verbs below.

Communication
Advertised Generated Counseled
Addressed Illustrated Cooperated
Arbitrated Initiated Demonstrated
Authored Instituted Educated
Collaborated Integrated Ensured
Composed Introduced Expedited
Conferred Invented Facilitated
Contacted Modeled Furthered
Convinced Originated Guided
Debated Performed Helped
Discussed Photographed Intervened
Edited Planned Led
Enlisted Produced Mentored
Expressed Revitalized Prevented
Furnished Shaped Referred
Informed Rehabilitated
Influenced Finance Represented
Interpreted Administered Simplified
Interviewed Adjusted Supported
Judged Allocated
Listened Analyzed Management
Mediated Assessed Achieved
Negotiated Balanced Administered
Outlined Budgeted Analyzed
Persuaded Calculated Assigned
Promoted Conserved Approved
Publicized Determined Attained
Recruited Developed Chaired
Reinforced Estimated Contracted
Resolved Managed Consolidated
Solicited Marketed Controlled
Summarized Measured Coordinated
Translated Netted Delegated
Planned Developed
Creative Projected Drafted
Acted Quantified Directed
Adapted Reconciled Eliminated
Combined Reduced Evaluated
Conceptualized Retrieved Enhanced
Created Executed
Designed Helping Expanded
Developed Advocated Handled
Directed Aided Hired
Drew Answered Implemented
Established Assessed Improved
Fashioned Clarified Increased
Founded Collaborated Inspected
Formulated Merged

careers@hsph.harvard.edu http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/
617-432-1034
career-services/
Navigated Inspected Studied
Organized Gathered Upgraded
Oversaw Interviewed Utilized
Presided Investigated
Produced Measured
Reorganized Reported
Restored Researched
Scheduled Reviewed
Selected Searched
Strengthened Summarized
Terminated Surveyed
Systematized
Administrative
Approved Teaching
Arranged Advised
Coordinated Adapted
Categorized Coached
Classified Enabled
Collected Encouraged
Corrected Evaluated
Distributed Explained
Executed Facilitated
Generated Guided
Filed Informed
Implemented Instructed
Incorporated Persuaded
Logged Planned
Monitored Stimulated
Operated Tested
Organized Transmitted
Processed
Purchased Technical
Registered Applied
Responded Assembled
Routed Built
Screened Calculated
Supplied Coded
Systematized Computed
Tabulated Constructed
Validated Converted
Designed
Research Debugged
Analyzed Determined
Clarified Devised
Collected Engineered
Compared Fortified
Conducted Maintained
Detected Overhauled
Determined Programmed
Diagnosed Regulated
Evaluated Repaired
Examined Restored
Experimented Solved
Explored Specialized
Identified Standardized Updated June 2016

careers@hsph.harvard.edu http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/
617-432-1034
career-services/
careers@hsph.harvard.edu http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/
617-432-1034
career-services/