Tuesday, August 12th, 2008
by Darlene Zambruski, ResumeEdge.com Managing Editor, CPRW, SME
While Curriculum Vitaes, or CVs as they are known, are quite standard in other countries, resumes are the norm in the United States.
So what do you do if you have a 10 to 15 page CV, but need a resume that does not exceed two pages?
Your first goal is to retain only that which is relevant to your career search, and pare down or exclude all non-essential data.
The Essentials – What to Keep
1. Your name and contact information (address, phone number, and email)
2. An opening summary that gives a clear and quick picture of what you have to offer, and contains an objective statement if you’re in a career transition or are targeting a specific industry/job.
3. Career Accomplishments that are quantified and are relevant to your new career goal.
4. Professional History providing a succinct listing of daily duties. Note: It’s important not to go back more than 15 years. For IT professionals, the maximum would be 10 years. Hiring managers are not interested in reading about every job a candidate has ever had. They want to know what you’ve recently done.
5. Educational data, and any training that’s germane to your new career search.
The Non-essentials – What to Exclude
1. Personal information. U.S. hiring managers cannot, and will not, ask to see details concerning your marital status, number of children, religious or political affiliation, or your date of birth on a resume.
2. Publications and Presentations. Whereas CVs generally list page after page of the candidate’s published work, resumes do not.
3. Hobbies or Interests. Hiring managers want to see only that data which proves a candidate will be able to fulfill job duties or excel at them. Collecting stamps, listening to music, or reading books does little to enhance anyone’s candidacy.
4. Volunteer work: Always exclude unless it’s directly related to your career goal. For example, volunteering time at a hospital when you’re in a health-related field.
By prioritizing data and keeping work history within a certain time frame even the lengthiest of CVs can be effectively reduced to a readable and appropriate two page format.
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
by Darlene Zambruski, ResumeEdge.com Managing Editor, CPRW, SME
Publications are generally included in a Curriculum Vitae (CV) for scientific and academic professionals. The standards of presentation have evolved so that consistency is maintained throughout. This includes:
1. Placing your and co-author names as they appear in the publication.
2. Bolding your name.
3. Maintaining consistency in presentation of names (eg: first initials only or full names for all)
4. Providing the date of publication or expected publication date last.
5. Italicizing the name of the publication in which the data appeared.
6. Providing publication volume and page numbers so that the data can be accessed by
interested parties.
7. Indenting the second line of type so that the data is attractively presented and easy to read.
8. Presenting data in reverse chronological order.
An example:
Kale, M, Ph.D.; Withers, T; Roberts, A; Trent, Z; and Forsyth, L. “Vitamin D deficiency in mature rats.” Neurobiol. Advisor. 51:770-774. 2002.
Brennan, DK; Rose, C; Kale, M, Ph.D.; Zhang, F; Sares, H; Reese, M; Haenal, D; and Nolan, R. “Inner retina retinoid metabolism.” Exp. Res. 14:564-570. 2001.
Wolfe, B; Norville, D; Jennings, M; Dosenbach, JT; Freeland, T; Guillianno, A; Kale, M, Ph.D.; and Withers, T. “Retinol dehydrogenase.” Modern Biochemistry. 11:1430-1440. 2000.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
· I’m going to be placing my publications on my website – are there privacy issues in listing my co-authors’ names?
Only if the publication has not been accepted as yet. In that case, you might ask for your co-authors’ permission to post their names on your website. In the event they refuse, you might want to list your full name followed by “…with co-authors”. Make certain that at the end of the listing you write “publication pending,” in lieu of a date and that you list this publication under the subheading of “Submitted Manuscripts.”
· How are Abstracts listed?
The same as Publications and Presentations. The idea is to maintain consistency throughout your resume or CV so that your document has a professional appearance with data that is easily accessible.
· Colleagues have indicated that there is one way to present publications for scientific CVs and another for academic CVs. Since I am involved in both fields, which should I use?
If you’re submitting your CV to a particular school or institution, you may want to call first and ask if they have a preferred format. If so, adhere to it. If not, make certain that all of your data follows one consistent format.
SAMPLES
Whether your CV or resume contains publications, presentations, abstracts, submitted manuscripts, conferences – or all of these – the important thing is to maintain consistency of presentation for a professional and winning appearance.
For example:
PUBLICATIONS
Refereed Paper
“Industry Analysis and Corporate Strategy of Telecommunication Resales,” Policy Issue, Vol. 22, No. 7, #13, DIKI: New Mexico, 2000.
“Trends of Mobile Telecommunications,” Policy Issue, Vol. 20, No. 26, #15, DIKI: New York, 1999.
Project Report
“Radio Promotion Tactics,” Song, T; Wright, J; Manville, KK; Winters, F, Thompson, C; Larkspur, L; and Franklin, M. Research Reports, #07-30, 2001.
“Number Portability Demand Survey,” Franklin, M; Wright, J; Thompson, C; and Franklin, M. Project Reports, #15-22, 2000.
PAPERS
Industry Analysis Papers
“Mobile Number Portability Analysis,” Information Policy, DIKI: Las Vegas, Nevada, Vol. 3, No. 7, #482, pp. 150-170, 2003.
“EU Member Countries Number Portability Policies,” Telecommunications Policy, DIKI: Salt Lake City, Utah, Vol. 53, No. 2, #55, pp. 1-21, 2002.
“European Telecommunications Market Restructuring,” Information Policy, DIKI: Seattle, Washington, Vol. 21, No. 51, #116, pp. 1-7, 2000.
CONFERENCES
International Refereed Conferences
“Planning Toward IMT-2000: Telephony Service,” 17th International Conference: Analysis, Lawrenceville, New Jersey, 2003.
“Telephony Resale Market in Europe,” SPROP’ 2002, Singapore, 2002.
Domestic Refereed Conference
“Local Number Portability,” 2002 Conference, State College, Phoenix, Arizona, 2002.
“Policy for the Broadband Wireless Local Loop,” 2001Conference, State University, Dayton, Ohio, 2001.
