1. CV stands for “Curriculum Vitae” which means the course of your life.

In your CV, you can include information on

-educational qualifications

-research interests

-research experiences

-conferences/workshops

-honors & grants

-professional and extra-curricular experience.

2. A CV is a longer document than a resumè because a resumè is a very specific summary of your skills and experiences that are relevant to the job you’re applying for.

Standard CV length is 2-2.5 pages (but it may vary based on your academic history).

3. Since you’re applying for a PhD or research position, make sure to introduce your academic accomplishments first and professional/extracurricular exp later.

You want to make sure that by the end of a minute, the committee should have already paid attention to aspects of your CV that are extremely important for a research job.

As they will be in a hurry, it’s best to put less relevant experiences towards the end.

4. Write your experiences in reverse chronological order-meaning from most recent to last.

5. Have a blog/website that shows your potential? Add it at the top of the CV below contact information.

6. To give clarity, you can divide your research exp into undergrad and Masters training sections (in case you’ve done a Master’s)

7. Don’t mention anything in your CV that you can’t prove (through certificates/letters of recommendation or any other official document).

If you wish to mention a talk you were invited to, ensure that you have an email of invitation in case it’s needed.

8. Always make it easy to read your CV by using black/white format.

Don’t add too many colors as they take away the focus from the actual content of the CV.

I would highly recommend using LaTeX software.

It gives a very professional appearance to your work and shows your dedication towards preparing academic documents with clarity.

You can search YouTube videos on “How to create a CV using overleaf/LaTeX.

9. Save the CV as a pdf while you attach it to your email and application, and save-

“Your last name_first name_CV”

I saved it as Zaidi_Asad_CV.

10. A quick tip: Use the 20-second rule to test your CV.

Give your CV to your friends, family members, etc., and ask them to tell you what they remembered the most from your CV after 20 secs.

If they are able to tell you your key, strong points, well done. If not you’ll need to redesign your CV to make it memorable in a very short span of time.

11. You can use bold, italics, & underline to draw attention (but be consistent with their use in every section).

If you like to highlight the name of the lab in italics, ensure you follow the same pattern throughout.

12. Sometimes, the committees will print your CV, & some of your pages may get lost in another applicant's CV by mistake.

To avoid confusion, add a footer and write your_fullname_ page number of the document.

13. This will help them spot if a page from your CV is missing! Don’t forget to add these numbers ever!

14. Add observational skills in addition to technical skills.

For e.g., write about what you learned from a counseling session or experimental techniques through mere observation. This will strengthen you as an astute or sharp observer. A lot of people don’t mention this, but it’s very critical to mention these observational skills. After all, humans learn by both doing AND observing.

15. Have papers that are under review or papers that you’re still writing?

Feel free to add them under sections “Manuscripts under review”, “Manuscripts in preparation”.

Don’t forget to add a link to your published papers if you have any!

16. Create an ORCID ID @ORCID_Org, This will assign you a special id or researcher number that you can use to identify yourself https://orcid.org

It’s advisable to have this Id to show that you are acquainted with the trends of academic research, and are serious about your identity as a researcher.

Best of Luck