Recently in Resumes/CVs Category

Diane writes:

I am currently preparing an educational CV. I see your outline on the website. Do I label each area and then add my personal data? I’m really confused on how the layout should be and my CV is due this week. I appreciate any help you may render.

The Career Doctor responds:

In the U.S., the curriculum vitae — often called a CV or vita — tends to be used more for scientific and teaching positions than a resume. In other parts of the world, a CV is more common than a resume.

The key thing to remember are the similarities between a resume and a CV — both have similar purposes — as marketing documents that provide key information about your skills, experiences, education, and personal qualities that show you as the ideal candidate. Where a resume and a curriculum vitae differ is their use, format, and length. CVs typically have additional categories and are not limited to a certain number of pages.

The typical academic vita has most of these categories/headings:

• Personal/Contact Information
• Academic Background
• Professional Licenses/Certifications
• Academic/Teaching Experience
• Technical and Specialized Skills
• Related/Other Experience
• Professional/Academic Honors and Awards
• Professional Development
• Research/Scholarly Activities
• Grants
• Service
• Academic/Research Interests
• Affiliations/Memberships
• Foreign Language Abilities/Skills
• Consulting
• Volunteer Work
• References

As with resumes, do not include personal information (age, marital status, etc.), photos, salary information, and the like.

And as with all job-search documents, it’s best not only to carefully edit and proofread your CV, but because vitas vary by profession and discipline, I would also ask a trusted colleague or mentor to review and critique it for you.

Read more - and see some samples — in my article, Preparing a Curriculum Vitae (CV), published on Quintessential Careers.

Stephen writes:

After 22 years in journalism, working as everything from a reporter to a copy editor to an editorial writer, I’m ready to move on to another career. One possibility that intrigues me is that of teaching journalism at the college level; the problem is, I have no formal training in journalism, though I’ve certainly helped train enough young reporters and editors. I do have an M.A. in English and experience teaching freshman English. Do you know of any books or Web sites on second careers for journalism professionals, and could you offer any insights on whether this might be a realistic option?

The Career Doctor responds:

I think you could easily position yourself as a very strong candidate for instructor and assistant professor positions in journalism at both the community college and college levels. Years ago, when I earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism, most of my professors had been former newspaper editors and only a handful held doctorate degrees. And in researching various colleges and current job openings, I have found the case is similar today.

Most of the job openings I reviewed required at least several years experience as a journalist or editor, a minimum of a master’s degree, and ideally some teaching experience. In some of the better journalism programs, a Ph.D. was strongly preferred (or required).

So, if you feel a burning passion to share your insights and wisdom and to help train the next generation of journalists, I’m here to tell you it’s a realistic aspiration.

Your first step is to change your focus from editor to educator. You’ll need to totally reformat your resume to focus on the three main qualifications these colleges are looking for: proven accomplishments and achievement in reporting and editing; experience in teaching and training; and an advanced degree. Actually, I would recommend reformatting your resume into a curriculum vitae (CV), which is the standard in educational recruiting.

Your next step is to determine where you would like to teach. Are you willing to relocate? If so, where? Once you have an idea of geographic region(s), you can conduct research to find all the colleges in the region(s) that have journalism classes or programs. Contact each to get the name of the department head, and send off a job-search package that includes a cover letter and CV.

Be sure to follow-up all your letters with phone calls. If the schools don’t have any current offerings, you still might request an information interview (as a way to get your foot in the door).

Finally, to be sure that teaching is the right path for you, you might also consider taking an adjunct (part-time) position first.

Some resources to help you:

• Quintessential Careers: Resume and CV Resources.
• Quintessential Careers: The 10-Step Plan to Career Change.
• Quintessential Careers: Academic, Educator, & Teaching Jobs.

Lorraine writes: I have a query. My husband was retrenched almost 8 months ago now, and I want to send his CV to as many printing companies that I can find in South Africa. I also want to send a covering letter attached with his CV explaining that he was retrenched 8 months ago and would like to know if any of these companies have any vacancies. Please help me with the wording of this letter as I am at a loss?

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

The Career Doctor responds: Certainly one of the key components of a job search should still be cold contact, where the job-seeker sends his or her cover letter and resume (or CV) to companies that might have job openings. The critical factor with this strategy is getting the name and title of the hiring manager for your area of expertise and then writing a powerful cover letter. Why does cold contact work? It works because of the large hidden job market; the vast majority of job openings never get advertised or posted, so cold contact is a way of applying for positions that may in fact be open.

I assume that while you are writing the letters, that they will actually be signed by your husband. The cover letter is critical — its function is to spark enough interest so that the employer then looks at your resume (or CV). Think of the cover letter as a sales pitch letter, where the item you are selling is yourself — your mix of skills, accomplishments, and education. You NEVER want to include anything negative in your cover letter. And while many folks are being retrenched or rightsized or re-engineered out of jobs, it’s still a negative. Employers want to see job-seekers who are (or appear) gainfully employed. So, please, say nothing about the retrenchment in your cover letter; saying anything will only harm your husband’s chances. Read more about writing cover letters in the Quintessential Careers Cover Letter Tutorial.

Finally, please remember that your efforts are not complete once you submit the cover letters and CVs to the printing companies. The last paragraph of your cover letter should request action — an interview — and after a reasonable amount of time (1-2 weeks), you MUST follow-up and contact each company — each hiring manager — and ask for the interview. If you don’t follow-up, you are wasting your time even sending the cover letters and CVs.

A note to all job-seekers: Please don’t wait eight months after being downsized to start job-hunting. Take some time to reflect and consider whether it’s time to change careers — but even if you get a big severance package, you should get right back out there on the job market. The longer you wait to start job-searching, the harder it will be for you.