Even if you have experience writing a CV for vet school, internship, residency, or grad school, you can always improve your CV-writing skills. I see CVs from applicants all the time and think, “Who advised you to do it like this?” There aren’t many rules when it comes to faculty CVs, but you can make the most of your application with a few simple guidelines.
Length. Make it as long as you like. The CV is intended to be exhaustive. Mine is 17 pages, and I trimmed a fair bit of content recently.
Font. This isn’t particularly critical, as long as it is readable and not tiny. I would keep it between 9-12 point font and recommendations vary widely on what font to use, but it seems like there is a short list.
Time. You probably don’t need to include awards you got in undergrad, or externships you did in vet school. If you are applying for a new assistant professor position, potentially including awards from veterinary school, internship, and residency are acceptable. After that, unless it occurred when you were on faculty, you can remove them.
Organization. Create headlines in decreasing order of importance. End with references. If you are applying for a clinical position and are residency trained or boarded, open with that. Then, education and experience are up, with publications close behind. Teaching experience follows, then any other service information. If you are applying for a non-clinical position, highlighting grant funding is important. Everything should be listed in reverse chronological order.
Headings. You can chose many or a few, and there is no proscribed list. Here are some examples of potential headings to get your creativity going: Diplomate Status, Education and Employment, Professional Progression, Publications, Research in Progress, Submitted Research, Research Funding, Grants, Teaching Responsibilities, Continuing Education Presentations, Mentees, Awards, Associations, Committees, Reviewer Responsibilities, Research Presentations, Special Skills/Certifications, Conferences, Abstracts Presented, External Rotations, Interests and Activities.
Research. List publications by year and highlight your position in the author order. If you have non-peer-reviewed publications which are not obvious (book chapters are obviously non-peer-reviewed), label them appropriately with an * and indicate so at the bottom of the section. If you have a lot of publications, you can keep a running count.
Teaching. If you have little teaching experience, list everything and give details (number of contact hours, number of students). If you have extensive teaching experience, you can summarize. Indicate if you were the course coordinator.
New teacher:
2016 Fall Lecturer, SAMS 5373 (Basic Surgical Techniques) – 4 lectures, 16 lab periods (4 labs); 120 students
Experienced teacher:
Principles of Anesthesia Course Coordinator 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
The CV is a practical document, not a time to express your individuality- that comes from your letter of intent. When in doubt, include more content rather than less. If you are an Associate Professor or full Professor, you may want to condense some material or drop whole sections which are not that relevant for a search committee. What other guidelines do you think should be considered for the faculty CV?