CV Handbook: A curriculum vitae owner's manual

by Will Coghill-Behrends, Rebecca Anthony

The CV Handbook is the definitive guide to drafting and updating a curriculum vitae as used in the American Academy. The CV Handbook sets the record straight and offers dozens of CV samples to help graduate students, new faculty and tenured faculty prepare a more powerful vita. The CV samples used throughout the book are from multiple disciplines from across the academy.

258 pages, Paperback

First published July 5, 2011

Reviews

[Scott Pearson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a graduate student, making a CV – shorthand for Curriculum Vitae, a longer form of résumé – can be a daunting task. Those of us who have seen the CVs of eminent scholars might be intimidated that our first CV will look comparably weak. The CV offers an opportunity to define a professional identity, but when someone with power sees that someone else has violated unwritten rules, the CV could be quickly thrown into a trash bin. To avoid the obvious mistakes and to enhance one’s presentation, new academics can consult this book to make the most out of their accomplishments.

Writing in a conversational tone, these authors seek to explore the myriad of variations that CVs can offer. They talk about things like the differences between industry and academic jobs, how to present differently for a research position versus a teaching position, and what to put on grant applications. They divide their work into three sections: a guide to creating and maintaining a CV, a guide to styling a CV so as not to offend, and dozens of sample CVs for different professional fields.

CVs aren’t rocket science, but making small mistakes can hold people back when applying for jobs. This accessible book aims to address the needs of beginners in a career, not only the most advanced and accomplished. Focused on notoriously busy academics, this well-formatted guide is quickly “skimmable” so that only the most relevant sections need be closely read. Taking a short while to flip through this book might give the extra push to advance to an excellent job instead of to a merely satisfactory one.