Obtaining Employment

Writing CVs and Resumes

There are innumerable books about CVs, resumes and cover letters; these are some helpful resources available on-line.  The best advice you can get, however, is from people in the field to which you're applying. Be sure also to view What Employers Want in New Faculty and include key characteristics noted in the articles there in the CV.

Cover Letter Writing (University of Wisconsin-River Falls)
http://www.uwrf.edu/ccs/cover-letter.htm  Gives advice about letters of inquiry and cover letters and includes samples of each.

CV to Resume: Representing Yourself Outside Academe (CAPS, University of Chicago)
http://caps.uchicago.edu/resources/pdfs/cv2resume.pdf  Gives an overview of changing CVs to resumes, samples, and resume word lists.

From CV to Resume (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
http://chronicle.com/jobs/99/12/99120301c.htm  Margaret Newhouse explains how to transform a CV into a resume and includes an example.

The CV.Doctors (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
“CV Doctors” Mary Heiberger and Julia Miller Vick offer advice for five CVs in social sciences, education, humanities, fine arts, and the sciences (http://chronicle.com/jobs/99/09/99091701c.htm), rework the CVs of two faculty members and an administrator at various stages in their careers (http://chronicle.com/jobs/2000/10/2000102001c.htm), and rework three academic CVs into resumes for administrative and nonacademic positions (http://chronicle.com/jobs/2001/10/2001101201c.htm).

Job Search Tools & Basics (Columbia University)
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ccs/99website/99student/basics/  Offers information about and examples of CVs, resumes, transforming one into the other, cover letters, and more.

Professional Writing Handouts and Resources (Purdue University)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/pw/  Offers samples and models of resumes, cover letters (including academic cover letters), a list of sample skills used in a cross section of careers (useful for writing a first-time resume and/or translating a CV into a resume), and more.  

Resume Center (Monster.com)
http://resume.monster.com/  Offers industry-specific resume advice and samples, cover letters, and more.

Resumes, Cover Letters, and CVs (Claremont Graduate University Writing Center)
http://writecenter.cgu.edu/students/brores_guide.html  Offers advice for writing resumes, CVs, cover letters for each, and annotated samples for each category.

What You Don't Know About Cover Letters (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
http://chronicle.com/jobs/2002/06/2002061101c.htm  Offers dos/don'ts and guidelines for different types of nonacademic cover letters.

Writing a Vita for a Higher Education Job Search (University of Virginia)  
http://www.virginia.edu/~career/handouts/vita1.html  Gives basic guidelines and samples for writing a vita and contrasts this with a resume.