The curriculum vitae, or CV, is a document that all academics have prepared numerous times during their careers. Latin for “course of life,” the CV is a detailed professional summary of all academic qualifications, work experience, and career-related achievements that is often used for the purposes of employment or grant applications. The CV presents a holistic overview of your career, including but not limited to education, publications, and presentations given.
While in some parts of the world the term “resume” and “CV” are used interchangeably, that is not the case in Canada and the US. CVs differ from resumes in many ways including: the length of the document (a CV often has no page limit, while a resume is short and concise on a maximum of two pages) and the career you are applying for (a CV is often used for academic or research jobs, while a resume can be used for many kinds of jobs). Care should be taken when choosing which format to use, taking into consideration where you are applying and what employers may be asking for.
In this article, we will discuss the strategies to improve your CV while you are a graduate student, which in turn will hopefully benefit your future job prospects.
What to include on your CV?
To understand how to improve your CV, we must first understand what a standard CV should include. As mentioned, your CV should chronologically detail your academic qualifications including degrees obtained, professional work experience, publications (those in preparation or fully published), and presentations given (oral or poster). CVs can also list grants and scholarships awarded and their monetary value, in addition to professional associations, volunteering experiences, courses taken, certificates gained, students mentored, patents and trademarks, interview and media relations, and many other professional achievements. Whether these aspects are listed are highly dependent on the position or grant you are applying for, as it is important to tailor your CV to each application. For example, if you are applying for a teaching position, including a summary of students mentored within your teaching experience would be a valuable addition to demonstrate you possess the relevant experience and skills that the hiring team may be looking for.
A tool that supports the building of CVs is the Canadian Common CV (CCV), which can be accessed at https://ccv-cvc.ca/. Often used for grant applications, the CCV is a national website that helps keep track of professional achievements and can be easily adapted to include sections based on need. It is encouraged to create your CCV and keep it up to date to ensure all professional achievements are accounted for appropriately. But what can be done while we are still in graduate school to improve our CV? This is dependent on your interests and goals; however, opportunities include but are not limited to working with the Life Sciences Career Development Syndicate (LSCDS), obtaining a mini-MBA, industry internships, and completing teaching certifications.
LSCDS. The Life Sciences Career Development Syndicate is an initiative run by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. It is officially recognized by the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and works to bridge the gap between academia and industry by raising awareness of career options available post-graduation. This initiative holds a variety of events that could be included on CVs, including but not limited to career seminars, skill-building workshops, mentorship opportunities, and industry team case study programs. The unique opportunities organized by the LSCDS are available to current graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and research associates across the University of Toronto and affiliated teaching hospitals.
Mini-MBA. If you’re looking into a career in business, consulting or management, the Graduate Management Consulting Association and the University Health Network have collaborated to design “Business Fundamentals,” a 10-week online course that introduces graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to various concepts in business. The course culminates with an application of the concepts learned by solving a business problem within a case study that is judged by industry professionals. At this time, the program is offered only to individuals affiliated with the UHN, however similar programming is also available through the Rotman School of Management MBA Essentials course. Completion of either program can be included on your CV.
Graduate School Internships. If industry interests you, opportunities to participate in internships with pharmaceutical companies are also an excellent opportunity to improve your CV. Pfizer Canada, for example, has an internship available in Medical Affairs. Open to university-level students studying the
health sciences, this internship lasts 4 months and focuses on developing content related to Medical
Affairs. Giuliano Bayer, a senior graduate student in Dr. Dana Philpott’s lab, recently completed this
internship. In some cases, these internships are hybrid and can be done in conjunction with your academic degree. These kinds of opportunities are great for improving your CV while also expanding your professional network.
Teaching Certificate Programs. For those of you with an interest in teaching, the Teaching Assistants’ Training Program (TATP) is a peer-training program that provides pedagogical support through numerous certification programs for teaching assistants and graduate students at the University of Toronto. Organized by teaching assistants, the TATP works to support teaching at the university by delivering inclusive and innovative workshops and programming for anyone wishing to improve their teaching skillset. The programming can focus on foundations of teaching in higher education, course design, educational technology, and accessible teaching. Certificates gained through the TATP can be listed on your CV.
Participating in local conferences. Many conferences have high associated costs and funding support is not always available, however the SGS Conference grant offered by the School of Graduate Studies is an excellent resource to boost participation. It is often awarded to junior graduate students to support early career networking and it’s highly recommended that students take advantage of this early on in their degree. Attending local conferences held at or around the University of Toronto is a useful strategy to improve upon this aspect of your CV. The Department of Immunology, the Emerging & Pandemic Infections Consortium, and the Beyond Sciences Initiative all hold annual conferences where graduate students and postdoctoral fellows can present their findings either as an oral or poster presentation. Monetary awards are also given to the most highly regarded presentations.
Ultimately, many opportunities exist to improve your CV, all of which are dependent on your interests and future career goals. However, many of these opportunities require you to investigate them yourself as general information is not always easily accessible. Despite this, communicating your interests with senior graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and PIs in the department can be a beneficial starting point in learning about the various options available and finding the ideal opportunities that can help you build a competitive CV to achieve your future goals.
References:
- https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/curriculum-vitae-vs-resume
- https://ca.prosple.com/graduate-employers/pfizer-canada/jobs-internships/medical-affairs-summer-
intern - https://www.ualberta.ca/en/youalberta/2024/01/boosting-your-cv-for-grad-school.html
- https://tatp.utoronto.ca/about-the-tatp/
- https://lscds.org/
- https://h2i.utoronto.ca/resource/gmca-business-fundamentals/
Baweleta Isho