How to write your academic CV

By Megan Blacker

When you apply for anything in academia, you will most likely be asked for your academic CV. This differs from the usual industry CV, in that it provides an extremely thorough and complete picture of your academic experience. Here’s what to include.

PERSONAL PROFILE

Summarise key accomplishments – keep it short! – and customise it to the position you are applying for. You may need to highlight different accomplishments and skills for each application, depending on the institutional focus area.

EDUCATION

Keep it relevant. Ensure your thesis title and supervisor names are included, and only include a summary of your research if it is relevant to the position you are applying for.

Does the position emphasise teaching or research? You can add in additional qualifications or training you completed, but only if they are relevant to the application!

Use your discretion – if you are applying to an academic position in France, it would be useful to show that you have a diploma in French language studies. If you completed a cooking course and you are applying to be a lecturer in accounting, it is probably not relevant.

Yes! - PG Dip in higher education studies

Yes! - NMR spectroscopy

No! - Cooking course

No! - Code 14 truck licence

PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

Here, you can include all relevant publications and presentations you have contributed to, and if possible, include a hyperlink to each. Give full details as you would when citing them, and be consistent with it! It can be useful to underline or bold your name in the citation.

If your research article was submitted but not yet accepted by a journal, you can still include it. Write “Manuscript submitted for publication” and omit the journal name. If it was accepted but not yet published, you can write “In press” after authors’ names.

Follow the application requirements closely – as an example, some fellowships only ask for a selection of publications, rather than your entire publication history.

AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS AND FUNDING

Include awards, even if you received it for undergraduate studies. If you were awarded a prestigious scholarship, explain the value and the usual number of applicants.

In this section, you could also include travel grants and postdoctoral awards – any academic achievements that are note-worthy. Remember to keep it organised and in a reverse chronological order – you want to make it as clear as possible for the reader.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Highlight activities that are similar to or align with the advertised post. It could be teaching, research, social responsiveness, leadership, etc. Then, give a description to explain the measurable impact you have made with each (do not simply list activities!)

Example: Lectured 40 third year biology students, ensuring engagement by utilising online interactive tools with a 95% achievement of ‘satisfied or very satisfied with teaching’ from feedback forms.

SKILLS

Choose skills that you are wanting to present to the prospective employer that you know they are looking for in a candidate. Provide evidence to support these skills. Your skills could be discipline-specific or more general, e.g. research, technical, laboratory, teaching and learning skills.

REFEREES

Include at least three academic referees. They should have worked with you before, know you well in a professional capacity and, importantly, they should know that they are listed as your referee. Provide more than one way to contact each referee.

OTHER SECTIONS

Include these details only if it supports your application.

• Volunteering

• Professional membership, associations or affiliations

• Patents

TIPS TO TRY

- Try to use proactive action words in your CV – instead of saying you were a researcher, start your sentence with “Researched”. Use shorthand, but do not leave out essential words: where you would usually say “I researched the effect of snails on the garden ecosystem” you can shorten it to “Researched effect of snails on garden ecosystem” and not “Researched effect snails garden”.

- Research the institute’s website to gain information on their focal points and vision, and see how they engage with staff and students. Use this to customise your CV and application in general.

- Keep it tight! Despite not having a page limit, academic CVs still need to be succinct – they can be longer than two pages, but make sure that the page count is in line with how much experience you have.

TRY THESE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION

Request a CV review by booking with MyCareer (uct.ac.za)

Watch our Mini-series: Own your CV for more information before crafting your academic CV.

Check out Masters and PhD CV Resource