Resumes and CVs

1. Criteria for Success

1. Convincing: It takes less than 60 seconds for your resume to convince an employer that you are qualified for the target job.
2. Concise: Your resume is succinct and effectively communicates your qualifications.
3. Organized: The structure of your resume helps the reader find information easily.
4. Concrete: Your work experiences include distinct actions and skills resulting in tangible achievements.
5. Error-Free: Your resume is free of any typos or errors.

2. Purpose

Your resume must quickly convince readers that you are qualified for a position by showcasing your professional capabilities.

Your resume and cover letter are the first impression a potential employer will have of you while evaluating your qualifications for a position. A well-crafted resume should quickly convince recruiters of your qualifications, helping them to evaluate your skills and achievements efficiently. It should also provide some talking points for you as a candidate and as a person so that an interviewer has an entry point to engage in meaningful conversation.

​​A current and well-maintained resume ensures you are always ready to apply for new positions or respond to opportunities that may arise spontaneously. Resumes effectively communicate your professional experiences to employers, academic institutions, and other relevant individuals. They act as personal marketing tools, providing a structured way to concisely highlight your skills, achievements, and the value you can bring to a position. Cover letters complement resumes by offering a more detailed narrative of these topics.

A well-crafted resume or CV allows you to present yourself in the best light to potential employers and collaborators, crafting a compelling story of your skills and accomplishments. They are invaluable for networking, offering a snapshot of your qualifications at professional gatherings, conferences, or online.

A Curriculum Vitae (CV) is a type of resume that provides a longer, more comprehensive history of your academic and professional accomplishments.

In this article, we say “resume” to mean “resume or CV” except when we contrast the two.

3. Analyze Your Audience

Your resume should be tailored to the job you are applying for and – if possible – to the specific people who will be reading it. Do research to find out who will be reading your resume and what they hope to see in it. If the job has explicit job requirements, make sure your resume makes it obvious that you meet all those requirements. Customize the content so it will excite your specific readers. 

When targeting potential employers, a resume allows you to provide a concise, tailored summary of your professional qualifications. In contrast, a CV offers a comprehensive overview of your academic and research achievements, making it suitable for academic or research-focused positions.

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

Note that employers may use AI to evaluate your resume, so it is important to ensure your application is optimized for these systems by using precise keywords and clear formatting. For further guidance on how to do this, check resources like: 

• Jobscan: Use Jobscan to optimize your resume by comparing it to job descriptions and improving keyword matches for applicant tracking systems (ATS).
• Zety: Use Zety to quickly create a resume with customizable templates and real-time content suggestions.
• TopResume: Use TopResume to connect with a professional who will provide a personalized resume critique based on the industry you’re applying to.

4. Best Practices

4.1. Make a custom resume for every application

First, read each job posting carefully. Make a list of what qualifications are required for the specific role you are applying for. 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.”

Next, highlight the skills and accomplishments that demonstrate that you have those qualifications. To do this, you can:

• include different experiences in your resume
• put more bullet points under the most relevant experiences
• remove bullet points from older or less relevant experiences
• move important experiences earlier in the document

While a CV can go into detail about your experiences, resumes have limited space, so you should be critical about what experiences you should include and which you should leave out.

4.2. Concretize, quantify, and demonstrate impact!

Give concrete – preferably quantitative – evidence that you are a qualified match for the organization you want to work in and the specific role to which you’re applying. If possible, also showcase the impact of your work. 

A general formula for highlighting your experiences is:

(Appropriate-tense action verb) + (Concrete, quantitative object) + (Outcome or impact)

This format allows you to explain the Project, Action and Result (PAR) of the experience. You can find more information on the PAR framework here.

Use strong, action-oriented verbs that clearly illustrate the impact of your contributions, rather than passive or generic verbs. Focus on specific actions that highlight your unique role and achievements. For examples of strong verbs to describe different responsibilities, check out these articles from MIT CAPD and The Muse.

When describing research experiences, it’s okay to include a brief overview of the lab, but it’s critical to characterize your individual contributions. Be careful to limit the use of jargon, considering who will be reading your resume. 

Feel free to include hyperlinks to papers, slides, articles, etc., but make sure they are descriptive enough that the reader knows what they are clicking on. Links can give valuable context for your experiences, but make sure they are optional and not necessary to explain the experience.

If you are applying for a research position, include your PI’s name. Your academic pedigree is an important currency in the scientific community.

4.3. Make your document easy to skim

Recruiters will skim your resume in 30 to 60 seconds. You need to make relevant information easily identifiable.

• Include contact information at the top of the page, and make sure that your e-mail address is professional.
• Use headers that package your experiences in a way that best shows you are qualified for the job. For example, if the job involves teaching or entrepreneurship, make sure to include the relevant header to highlight your experience in these areas.
• Order your headers so that the sections that have the experiences that are most relevant to this job come first.
• Use white space and legible font to make it easy for a hiring manager to read your resume. Use indentation and bullet points to partition information. A dense resume has more information in it but is hard to read. A spacious resume might have less information, but your reader will understand more of it.
• Bold important words so the reader can quickly find the important content.

Find templates [from the BE comm lab; link “templates”] in Word, Excel, and LaTeX here.

4.4. Proofread! Spell check!

A single mistake can be enough to get you put in the “no” pile. To ensure your work is error-free, try reading your resume out loud or taking a break and revisiting it with fresh eyes. Skimming or speed reading can help you capture the high-level overview of the resume. You can also have a detail-oriented friend help you catch things you missed or make an appointment at the Comm Lab or CAPD.

5. Annotated Examples

5.1. Navigating this annotated example

In this annotated example, job description (JD) components correspond to experiences and skills highlighted on the CV in boxes of the same colors (blue, green and purple). Annotations and numbered job description highlights can be found in boxes in the left margin.

6. Additional Resources

PAR (Project, Activity, Result) Framework

Action verbs

7. Acknowledgements

Content adapted by the MIT AeroAstro Communication Lab from an article originally created by the MIT Biological Engineering Communication Lab.

Resources and Annotated Examples

Annotated CV

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