Preparing a Curriculum Vitae

by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.

Vitas and resumes 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. This article will help with your writing and preparing your vita.

A curriculum vitae -– often called a CV or vita -- tends to be used more for scientific and teaching positions than a resume. Thus, vitas tend to provide great detail about academic and research experiences. Where resumes tend toward brevity, vitas lean toward completeness.
Unlike resumes, there is no set format to vitas. While this article will provide a few links to free samples vitas, it is best to also discuss any special formatting your field requires with a mentor or trusted member of your network. There are also a few books that provide much more depth on the subject -- and they can be found at the end of this article.
While vitas do not have the one-page rule of resumes, you need to walk the line between providing a good quality of depth to showcase your qualifications and attract potential employer interest and providing too much information thus appearing verbose and turning off potential employer interest.
Ready to Begin Preparing Your CV?
Typical vita categories or headings may include some or all of the following:
Personal/Contact Information
--name--address--phone number(s)--email
Academic Background
--postgraduate work--graduate work/degree(s), major/minors, thesis/dissertation titles, honors--undergraduate degree(s), majors/minors, honors
Professional Licenses/Certifications
Academic/Teaching Experience
--courses taught, courses introduced--innovation in teaching--teaching evaluations
Technical and Specialized Skills
Related/Other Experience
--other work experience
Professional/Academic Honors and Awards
Professional Development
--conferences/workshops attended, other activities
Research/Scholarly Activities
--journal articles--conference proceedings--books--chapters in books--magazine articles--papers presented/workshops--ezine articles--work currently under submission--work in progress
Grants
Service
--academic--professional--community
Academic/Research Interests
Affiliations/Memberships
Foreign Language Abilities/Skills
Consulting
Volunteer Work
References