Don writes:
I am currently pursuing my Ph.D. and was wondering how I would identify that on my vitae under education. I will not finish my course work until March 2011 and will have my comprehensive exams completed in the fall of 2011, followed by the dissertation. Could you offer any advice on the format?
The Career Doctor responds:
In the educational section of your curriculum vitae (CV), you simply put the dates when you expect to complete various aspects — the two most important, of course, are ABD and Ph.D.
Be careful about these dates, because with my experience with Ph.D. programs, dates can easily change due to workload, political winds, etc. But it’s good that you are thinking ahead and working on your vitae.
Ph.D. — Expected completion 2011
ABD — Expected 2010
Major:
Support Area: (if there is one)
University Name
University City, State
Let me conclude with some other general tips for writing resumes and vitaes:
- Don’t lose sight of the purpose of your resume/vitae: to get you to the interview.
- Always focus on your accomplishments, and quantify those accomplishments whenever possible.
- Use bullets with short descriptions rather than long paragraphs.
- When describing work experience the order should always be: job title, company name, location, and dates of employment.
- Avoid all mistakes — typos and misspellings are the quickest way to kill your chances.
- Include key contact information, especially phone numbers and email addresses.
- Consider multiple versions and multiple formats, including a text version.
- Appearances matter, so use normal fonts, average font size (10-11 point), black ink, conservative paper colors, and decent page margins.
You can find key resume and vitae advice, tools, and samples in this section of Quintessential Careers: Resume and CV Resources.
