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What's a C.V.? (Part I)Wonderful news! You've just been asked to submit your curriculum vitae for a possible teaching position at the state university. But wait … what's a curriculum vitae? You have probably heard the words curriculum vitae—or C.V., for short—sometime in your life. But until now, you've never been asked to supply one. This two-part article is a primer on writing a curriculum vitae that will invite interest in your candidacy for a teaching position.Before we begin, let's answer your question: Curriculum vitae is Latin for "life's work" or, literally, "course of life." It is a document that chronicles your professional life. You might hear people referring to a curriculum vita, but this is incorrect. Latin scholars will tell you that "vitae" is not the plural in this usage; it is the genitive case of the noun "vita," and remains the same whether for one curriculum or several curricula.Some people confuse a curriculum vitae with a résumé. A résumé (French for "summary") summarizes your professional work experience, education, skills, and any special awards or honors. Résumés are used for most positions outside of the academic world. At its best, a résumé is one page. Employers ask for résumés because they provide a snapshot of a candidate's relevant education and experience.The curriculum vitae is a longer document, used primarily for teaching positions in higher education. The C.V. includes educational history, professional experience, presentations, publications, professional activities, honors, research grants, affiliations, and more. Its purpose is to demonstrate the breadth and depth of a candidate's work. At its best, a C.V. chronicles both experience and accomplishment.Most of the employment announcements you will encounter in higher education journals request a C.V. Occasionally you will see an announcement for a college teaching position that asks for a résumé. Don't be misled. Human-resource staff who might be new to their jobs and not accustomed to the formal documents requested by college search committees are often directed to draft these announcements. You should call the college and make sure that they are indeed asking for a résumé and not a C.V.Why is the C.V. more appropriate than a résumé for a college teaching position? When considering a candidate's potential as faculty member, a search committee must consider much more than his or her education and employment history. They must consider how the candidate will contribute to the school through the broader criteria of research, publication, performance, and teaching. The wider a candidate's experience in areas germane to higher-education trends (and specifically, in their field of expertise), the more salient the application.
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A C.V. demonstrates the breadth and depth of a candidate’s work, chronicling both
experience and accomplishment.
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So, now that you have a better understanding of a curriculum vitae and its purpose, we can begin by outlining the main categories.The two principal areas you should address are your educational history and teaching experience. There is some debate about the order of these two categories. In my experience, presenting your education clearly on the opening page—along with your current title and position—is an excellent invitation for the review committee to look deeper into your life's work. The schools that you attended—especially those with exceptional reputations—have a way of standing out and inviting further interest. Some advisors will recommend burying your educational history later in the C.V. because it is less important to the review committee than your employment history. This is logical only if your educational history is considerably less impressive than your employment history. It is my experience, from speaking to hundreds of faculty members across the country, that educational history is the criterion that committees most often use to determine which C.V.'s to review first. If you have a prestigious educational history that is also diverse (with several top institutional names), make sure that it is clearly presented in your opening page. Most likely, your C.V. will be among the first that the committee will review.Your educational history should include the schools you attended, along with degrees earned. You should also include any additional training, licensing, or continuing educational work. I have seen some C.V.'s that include G.P.A., educational honors, and a complete listing of graduate coursework. High honors such as cum laude or magna cum laude should be included. But beware of overdressing your window with too much detail—especially a detailed account of your coursework. Instead, consider including only your dissertation title, and possibly the abstract.Although your educational history will be more elaborate on a C.V. than on a résumé, you should still follow easy-to-read formatting rules. The format for listing your schools, degrees, additional education, special training, teachers, and coaches should be easily digestible. Ideally, the reader should be able to determine how you've organized your material in five seconds or less. If your formatting is inconsistent, you risk having some of your information lost as the reader scans your papers. You also risk frustrating the reader. When reviewing C.V.'s or résumés, my frustration level increases the longer I spend trying to decipher how the candidate has organized his material. Don't trust your own logic; what makes perfect sense to you may not work for someone else. Have colleagues and people whose professional opinion you can rely on critique your C.V.In the next article, I'll talk more about how to organize and present your employment history, performance history, and the other important categories. Until then, please feel free to stop by the Career Development Office and let us help you with your first draft. It is never too early to begin.Derek Mithaug, director of career development, is a Juilliard faculty member and alumnus.
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