Use indentation and bullet points to partition information. Use white space to make it easy for a hiring manager to read your resume. Order your headers so that the sections that have the experiences that are most relevant to this job come first. For example, if the job involves teaching or entrepreneurship, make sure to include the relevant header to highlight your experience in these areas. Use headers that package your experiences in a way that best shows you are qualified for the job. You need to make relevant information easily identifiable. Recruiters will skim your resume in 30 to 60 seconds. Your academic pedigree is important currency in the scientific community. If you are applying for a research position, include your PI’s name. When describing research experiences, it’s okay to include a brief overview of the lab, but it’s critical to characterize your individual contributions. Use verbs that illustrate impact over verbs that make you sound passive and are more specific to the actual contribution you made. Managed a team of three supporting editorsĭeveloped relationships with new sponsors.Developed content for weekly recitations.Provided one-on-one instruction for 20 students.Designed two assays for screening chemotherapy targets.Researched chemotherapy targets in the Jones Lab Give concrete-preferably quantitative-evidence that you are a qualified match for the organization you want to work in and the specific role you are applying for.

Resumes in particular have limited space, so you should be critical about what experiences you should include and which you should leave out. move important experiences earlier in the document.put more bullet points under the most relevant experiences.include different experiences in your resume.Next, highlight the skills and accomplishments that demonstrate that you have those qualifications. For example, a job posting that says you will “drive independent research” might require very different skills from one that says you will “work closely with an interdisciplinary team”. Make a list of what qualifications are required for the specific role you for which are applying. Skills Make a custom resume for every applicationįirst, read each job posting carefully. You can share your life story during the interview.

Make it easy for them to put you in the “yes” pile. In many cases, the people who read your resume will be reading a whole pile of them. Your resume shouldn’t tell your whole story.

Customize the content so it will excite your specific readers. If the job has explicit job requirements, make sure your resume makes it obvious that you meet all those requirements. Do research to find out who will be reading your resume and what they hope to see in it. Your resume should be tailored to the job for which you’re applying and-if possible-to the specific people who will be reading it. Your resume should quickly convince your potential employer that you are a well-qualified candidate for the specific job for which you applied. Your resume is designed to make the person reading your resume move your application forward in the recruiting process by, say, inviting you for an interview. Your resume and cover letter are the first parts of your application that your potential employers will read. Resumes must quickly convince readers that you are qualified Shows your academic achievements and research qualificationsĢ-3 pages for a graduate student gets longer through a career Shows how your experiences and skills qualify you for the target job In this article, we say “resume” to mean “resume or CV” except when we contrast the two. Purpose Just to clarify: A CV is a kind of resumeĪ curriculum vitae (CV) is a special kind of resume intended for academic or research positions. There are absolutely no typos or errors.Your experiences are concrete and quantified.The organization and formatting help the reader find the information that shows you are qualified.You show a select group of skills and experiences that match those required by the job.A resume is no more than 2 pages (1 sheet of paper).It takes less than 60 seconds for your resume to convince a targeted employer that you are qualified for the target job.

Harvard resume template