[M.K. THOMPSON] Your life on paper - resume and CV

Of all of the documents that are produced in our daily lives, perhaps none is more important than the resume.

The word resume is French for "summary." It is a one- or two-page document which summarizes all of the information relevant to your professional life. A resume usually includes a heading with your address and contact information, followed by educational history, work experience and special skills or accomplishments.

In academia and medicine, a resume is sometimes replaced with a curriculum vitae, which is Latin for "the course or race of life." Sometimes referred to as a "CV" or a "vita," a curriculum vitae is longer and more complete versions of a resume. CVs often include lists of awards, publications, teaching experience and other major accomplishments.



Your resume or CV is your life on paper. As such, it is one of your most powerful professional marketing tools. It conveys information and impressions to schools, potential employers, award committees and current managers about your qualifications for admission, a new job, recognition, a raise or a promotion. A strong CV can greatly improve your chances of success in all areas of your professional life.

What people often don`t realize is that your resume or CV can also be an extremely important tool for planning your education or career.

Some students live and die by the resume. Projects and pastimes are chosen based on their ability to enhance future career opportunities. Leisure activities are shunned in favor of more impressive credentials. High school and college are spent relentlessly pursuing the next opportunity, award, title or qualification. Cutthroat competition often ensues. It`s not an ideal life - full of stress and strained relations. But the opposite approach can be equally problematic.

Many students enter - and exit - college without a proper resume. This can mean the loss of important information about relevant professional experiences and can be a serious disadvantage when competing for graduate or professional school admission, jobs and more.

To use your resume as a planning tool, you first need to create a resume or CV. There are many resources online and in writing handbooks which can help you plan your resume. Often, the easiest way is to choose a sample resume and use it to guide the content and formatting of your document.

The first document that you should create is an "extended CV." This will contain every piece of information which is relevant and important or useful to your career. Include job titles, dates, locations and a short description where applicable. In time, you will forget the details of the conferences you attended and the community service that you did. Your extended CV will never forget.

You will probably never show this document to anyone else. Instead, you will use it to form the basis of resumes for specific purposes in the future. Applying for a job? You will need a resume that highlights your work experience. Applying for a service award? You will need to demonstrate your leadership abilities, describe past service projects and show your commitment to helping others. Every CV or resume should be customized for its intended audience.

After creating an extended CV, you should define your goals and identify the next major milestone in your career. Are you going to be applying to college, graduate school or professional school? Are you getting ready to apply for your first full-time job? Perhaps you want to shift to management from a technical track?

Next, take a good, hard look at your CV. Where are the strengths and where are the weaknesses? Do you have lots of work experience, but no research experience? Has you work been too theoretical or too applied? Do you have enough leadership experience? Have you shown that you are a good team member? One of the keys to a good resume is balance. You have to demonstrate that you are a well-rounded individual who has proven your value and abilities in multiple areas, situations or contexts.

Finally, determine how much time you have until your milestone and make a plan to address the weaknesses in your CV based on your career goals. Internships, conferences and exchange programs often need six months to one year to arrange. Getting an advanced degree (MA, MS, MBA, etc.) usually takes 1.5 to 2.5 years including the admissions process. But you can often get a little bit of teaching experience or community service with only a few weeks to spare.

Over time, your resume will change. Older accomplishments will slowly be dropped from the list and replaced by "selected" awards and publications. But it will always be a reflection of your abilities and achievements, as well as a useful tool for planning your future.





Mary Kathryn Thompson, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. She can be reached at mkthompson@an.kaist.ac.kr - Ed.