Careers CVs for Science and Engineering PhD Students

2 Careers What is a CV? A detailed record of your previous experiences and qualifications? A showcase for your key achievements and skills? A slick piece of self-marketing? Relevant information which stops a recruiter thinking too hard about whether you could do the job

3 Careers Help yourself by helping the recruiter They try to build up a picture of what you have done in specific situations......so that they can imagine what you might do in similar situations in the job Your application is all they have They don’t have much time to think about it They are not going to indulge in any guess work which gives you the benefit of the doubt

4 Careers CV layouts Reverse chronological Experience-focussed Skills-focussed

5 Careers The two golden rules The more relevant something is......the more detail you can give and the more space you can take up...the easier to find you should make it

6 Careers A few more guidelines Maximum of 2 pages for the main CV –academic CV can include more detailed appendices including details of research, conferences, posters, publications, etc. Reverse chronological –within each section

7 Careers Know the job What does the advert say? What type of person are they seeking? What skills and qualities would the ideal candidate possess? How would those qualities be used in different situations in the job?

8 Careers Know yourself Review your experiences (not just work) Identify examples of situations which illustrate how you have used relevant skills and qualities

9 Careers Common mistakes most people make Inconsistent, unhelpful and confusing layout and formatting Spelling mistakes Wasting space on unimportant stuff Too much waffle and irrelevant info Not enough useful detail –what you did, how you did it, how well –quantity, extent, quality, challenge, difficulty –achievements, outcomes, impact, success

10 Careers Mistakes academics make (non-academic jobs) Just focusing on the details of your research topic rather than your actions Just focusing on technical achievements or skills Too much technical/scientific jargon Believing that anyone other than academics needs a list of all your publications or academic awards

11 Careers Presenting your evidence Think action verbs –analysed, developed, evaluated, increased, initiated, implemented, led, liaised, organised, planned, presented, supervised, etc. Think concrete quantities –“5,000 items”, “£50,000”, “team of twelve” Think real-world results –“4 weeks before deadline”, “25% increase”, “excellent feedback”, “successful implementation”