25 Nov Curriculum Vitae Overview
A Curriculum Vitae (CV) is a chance to really showcase yourself and your accomplishments to your future employer. It should be geared toward the type of position you are applying for ie: academic, community, fellowship. Make sure to have a list of references and a cover letter as well as your CV.
On this page you will see a common list of do’s and don’ts adapted from multiple resources. You will also find a few sample CV’s incorporating different styles and inclusions.
The easiest way to start your CV is to look at one you already have and edit it for the current position that you are applying. You all had to make a CV to apply to residency, so start with that and simply edit. It’s easier to edit something than start from scratch.
Below are some titles of areas you can include in your CV. You can feel free to title anything you want and move things around; these are just some examples to help you construct your CV.
Curriculum Vitae Format
Personal Details:
Don’t title your CV with the words CV, it should simply be titled with your name and then have personal information included, such as contact information. Make sure your email address is professional sounding.
Education:
This is the part where you list all residency programs attended, medical school and undergraduate degrees. You don’t need to go as far back as High School. You don’t even need to list undergraduate degrees in here, but you can if you wish.
Professional Appointments:
This may be something not everyone has on their CV. This is where you would put that you were Chief Resident. Some residency programs give a title to their residents such as assistant clinical instructor, you can place that information in this section.
Leadership Activities:
Like the prior subject, not everyone will have this in their CV. This is the area where you can list other accomplishments or leadership activities that make you stand out. For example, if you were on the New York ACEP Emergency medicine Resident Committee, this is where that would go.
Committee Participation:
This is where you can place committees that you were involved in. This is very similar to the title above, and it may be better suited for committees where your participation was limited. That way you place them on the CV but in a different area. For example, some residency programs place you automatically on the Performance Improvement committee because you participate in a Morbidity and Mortality conference every month.
Research:
You can place any type of research experience in this section. For some, this section can be quite large so I would only pick the studies you wish to showcase. For others, this may not be large at all. For those with limited research experience, you can place things here that you participated in but didn’t publish, as if you were a research assistant.
Presentations:
In this section you can place any large presentations that you have given. Poster board research presentations can be placed here. It can also be any presentation you made at a conference, such as a presentation on what it’s like to be a resident at the medical student symposium.
Publications:
In this section you can place any publications that you have. Now this may include any research that you have published, which can include anything from a visual diagnosis to a large randomized control trial. This is also an area where you can list publications that are not research related. If you happen to have an opinion piece published in the EMRA newsletter, acknowledge it here.
Lectures:
This is the area where you place any lectures you have given, including morning report. This can be as large or as small as you wish. These would be lectures that you gave medical students, or during a conference.
Work Experience:
Some people have other work experience not related to residency they may wish to place on their CV. I would recommend you place things that show great achievement or are related to the field that you wish to go into. Do not place that you worked at McDonalds during high school; it neither shows a great achievement nor is it related to your current field of work.
Professional Affiliations:
This is the area where you can list all the clubs you are a member of, for example ACEP, SAEM, etc. I would only include relevant clubs in here, being part of the chess club does not belong here. But if you happen to be part of a fraternity or sorority I would still place that on your CV as a lot of these organizations are nationwide and may help you during interviews.
Certifications:
This is the area where you list all certifications you have which include ATLS, ACLS, BLS etc.
Licenses:
Make sure to list that you have your New York State License. Do not put your license number on the CV.
References:
At the end of your CV should be your references. Make sure to have at least three references. You can place the contact information directly on the CV or write “available on request” this is up to you. If you decide not to have the references on your CV, make sure to have a copy of them with you when you interview.
CV Tips:
- Make sure to have it printed on white or off white paper. CV’s are normally e-mailed now but it is good to have a few copies with you when you go to interviews
- Make sure your e-mail address is professional.
- Length of a CV when you are just out of residency is usually about 2-3 pages. Do not try and cram everything into one page. It is not feasible or expected.
- Make sure to list information in reverse chronological order, so that the most recent is seen first on the list.
- You can place dates to either the right or left of the CV, depending on your preference.
- Try and describe your position and responsibility as often as possible on your CV. For example, if you are writing that you are a mentor, describe what that means. Make sure to use action words such as you developed, mentored, etc.
- Most people have a hard time reading beyond the first page. Try to include the most impressive things about you within the first page.
- Make sure that you are not leaving your last page half blank. This can sometimes be fixed with formatting, but if not, then try and see what you can take out or add to help fix this.
- Make sure to have somebody proof read it multiple times!!! It also helps to have it read by different people.
|
Do |
Do not |
| Be able to talk about anything in your CV, if you cannot talk about it, do not put it in | Try and squeeze too much information on a page |
| Be positive! Don’t give negative details about yourself | Use abbreviations or uncommon jargon |
| Use bullet points when necessary to reduce block texts that people have to read | Use logos or hyperlinks |
| Use an easy to read font | Use the word “I” too much when describing achievements |
| Give a brief description of achievements | Leave gaps in timeline. If it is not relevant simply list it. |
| Decrease information in more distant career history | Use tables, textboxes, bizarre spacing |
| PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD |
content prepared by Anchal Ghai, MD; 2014 Chair, New York ACEP Emergency Medicine Resident Committee