CV/Resume General Thread

[KenBesonders]

Greetings everyone!

 

I made a thread with a question about my CV in the applications forum. One poster made a good point about consulting people with experience in the field you wish to apply. Since this sub-forum is popular and has many users, I thought it would helpful to have a thread about CV/Resume advice, specifically for IR/MPP applicants. 

 

Past applicants and successful admits are strongly encouraged to contribute regarding any tips. 

 

Some brief focus points that could be of interest: 

 

Length of CV

Describing activities and responsibilities 

Certain types of skills that should highlighted 

Style and formatting 

 

Of course, each individual will have their own style but applying best practices can potentially help some potential applications with their style and presentation.

 

If anyone has links to good examples of Resumes/CVs, that would be especially helpful as long as we stay in purview of the rules.

[deletethisname]

Here is the resume i used for graduate school admissions: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pqcq3fta8eib0gs/GradAdmissionResume.docx?dl=0

 

Few rules to go by when it comes to resumes:

 

1) It should be no longer than 1 page (unless you are published/in academia)

2) Keep it clean and concise(Make it easy on the eyes. No one wants to read through clutter)

3) If it is for a graduate admissions application, only put experience that is related to the program you are applying to on the resume.

[ir_gradstudent]

Here is the resume i used for graduate school admissions: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pqcq3fta8eib0gs/GradAdmissionResume.docx?dl=0

 

Few rules to go by when it comes to resumes:

 

1) It should be no longer than 1 page (unless you are published/in academia)

2) Keep it clean and concise(Make it easy on the eyes. No one wants to read through clutter)

3) If it is for a graduate admissions application, only put experience that is related to the program you are applying to on the resume.

 

I didn't follow #1, and I know many other people don't. This isn't a job resume, it's a grad school application resume. You are allowed to write more on your resume if you want. I took one full page top-to-bottom to list my undergraduate degrees (two of them), GPA and class rank, graduation theses titles, and a paragraph each listing of the relevant coursework in each of my majors (even though this info already appears in my transcript).

 

Then I took a full page again top-to-bottom to cover my employment history, which is just my military service and an internship. I took half a page for internship duties and qualifications, and half a page for the same for my military service period. The total length of my entire resume ended up overflowing about one full paragraph onto the third page.

 

I also used my own self-made style that I loosely based on other resume formatting I've seen. I made it look nice and neat and as concise as possible, and easy to read or find a particular section. Mine is just black and white Times New Roman, nothing fancy. I use CAPITALS and bolded sentences for headers, and bullets for bullet point listings.

 

The most important rule is #3. CUSTOMIZE your resume specifically for graduate admissions. If you have experience working with foreign nationals in the military, that's great and you should include that bullet point or sentence. If you can disassemble a PRC-E7 military radio, nobody cares or wants to see that on your grad school resume. You also don't have to customize your resume for each school individually, other than extra sections some schools tell you to add (such as overseas experience). You can submit the same basic resume to every school since each program will be relatively similar.

Edited March 17, 2015 by ir_gradstudent

[deletethisname]

I didn't follow #1, and I know many other people don't. This isn't a job resume, it's a grad school application resume. You are allowed to write more on your resume if you want. I took one full page top-to-bottom to list my undergraduate degrees (two of them), GPA and class rank, graduation theses titles, and a paragraph each listing of the relevant coursework in each of my majors (even though this info already appears in my transcript).

 

Then I took a full page again top-to-bottom to cover my employment history, which is just my military service and an internship. I took half a page for internship duties and qualifications, and half a page for the same for my military service period. The total length of my entire resume ended up overflowing about one full paragraph onto the third page.

 

I also used my own self-made style that I loosely based on other resume formatting I've seen. I made it look nice and neat and as concise as possible, and easy to read or find a particular section. Mine is just black and white Times New Roman, nothing fancy. I use CAPITALS and bolded sentences for headers, and bullets for bullet point listings.

 

The most important rule is #3. CUSTOMIZE your resume specifically for graduate admissions. If you have experience working with foreign nationals in the military, that's great and you should include that bullet point or sentence. If you can disassemble a PRC-E7 military radio, nobody cares or wants to see that on your grad school resume. You also don't have to customize your resume for each school individually, other than extra sections some schools tell you to add (such as overseas experience). You can submit the same basic resume to every school since each program will be relatively similar.

 

I think it is a bit redundant to dedicate a full page for undergraduate degrees and relevant coursework. The school already has all that with your transcripts. 

 

The point of a resume/cv (especially for graduate admissions) is to summarize your relevant work experience. You can use your statement of purpose to go into more detail if you feel you need to go over 1 page. That is the feedback i received from visits to 3 graduate schools.

Edited March 17, 2015 by kingthearab

[ir_gradstudent]

It's good to know that both of our ways of writing graduate admissions resumes work just fine for the purposes of gaining admission. I don't believe the hard-and-fast one-page rule for job resumes applies to grad school resumes. I definitely took the opportunity to sell myself on many more concise "international" qualities that I exhibited in previous work, than I could have fit into my statements of purpose. My resume for admissions was around 600 words in length, and I spent most of that going into detail using short resume-style "action sentences" about how my previous work experience was applicable to graduate studies in the field of international relations.

Edited March 17, 2015 by ir_gradstudent

[clockworkcoder]

IMHO a CV/Resume should include these parts

• PERSONAL INFORMATION
• SUMMARY
• EDUCATION
• PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
• LANGUAGE
• HONORS & AWARDS
• PUBLICATIONS
• TECHNICAL SKILLS
• TRAVEL EXPERIENCE
• COURSES & CERTIFICATIONS

I agree with the idea that a CV/Resume should be customized for the needs. So you can add/remove or extend these parts.

 

Another thing is, when a person in AdCom holds your CV, he or she should get a clear understanding of who you are (as a professional). So adding some redundant information like your education history (not univ projects, lab works of course. If you have a graduation thesis or Master's Thesis you can state them) may not hurt even though it exist in your transcript. People don't like to go through pile of documents or large scanned pdf files to find where have graduated from.

 

My ideal CV/Resume length is 3 pages with "COURSES & CERTIFICATIONS" part, 2 pages without them. For the SIPA they require seperate Quantitative Resume so I limit my main CV/Resume to 2 pages.

 

For the styling part, I encourage you to use LaTeX. it definitely looks and feels better then the WYSIWYG Text Editors (like MS Word). There are tons of templates even online LaTeX editors out there.

 

Hope this helps.

[acm14]

I didn't follow #1, and I know many other people don't. This isn't a job resume, it's a grad school application resume. You are allowed to write more on your resume if you want. 

 

Totally agree. I would never send out a job resume more than 1 page, but my grad school resumes were all 3 pages. I did that mainly because HKS suggested resumes be between 2 and 4 pages (not that I got in, but I at least got in elsewhere with that resume   )

 

See HKS's post on resumes: http://hksadmissionblog.tumblr.com/post/95704372921/2015-application-long-term-planning-series-post

[RCtheSS]

I have a question regarding undergraduate senior/honors theses, as I have not listed publications on my resume previously. Besides the title and department it was written for, should I also include that the thesis was awarded summa cum laude or highest honors? Currently I have that mentioned under the "Education" section with the degrees.

[Poli92]

Yeah, for mine I actually consulted with a number of people on the professional HR side and the adcom side. By and large, I've heard that the 1 page resume rule is bunk, at least in academia. I agree with clockworkcoder on the general points to include in a resume as they pertain to the job/school to which you are applying. The only thing I would nix generally is the summary section. If you're applying for a school, you've submitted an SOP, which should be a much more elaborate, exhaustive version of the summary. Whereas for jobs, I hope for your sake that you sent a cover letter, which should include the same kind of info that you would put into a summary.  

 

The most crucial piece of advice that I was given for resumes was that you should rarely send the same one twice. If you are applying for a fundamentally different job/program/etc then your resume should reflect that. This could mean adding or subtracting entire sections, changing the jobs you've listed, or changing the duties you list for each job (I try to list to around three duties/descriptors per job). By and large, if you don't customize your resume for the appropriate role each time, you're not taking every opportunity to illustrate your potential fit. 

 

In terms of formatting, I've gotten the impression that LaTeX sends a weakly positive signal in academia but doesn't yield a lot of benefit for most jobs. The most important thing for formatting is that it is tidy, consistent, and draws the eye to the key points you want to emphasize. If you are proficient with formatting in Word, this should be very easy to do. If you are a master of LaTeX, knock yourself out. The tool is less important than the finished result. 

[crisisdiplomacy]

My resume/CV was from 4-5 pages.  I agree with what everyone said about having a little more leeway/making it longer since its for graduate admissions. I'm straight from undergrad so mine included all of my  education (including study abroad), relevant internships (8 total) , foreign travel, leadership activities, volunteering, honors and awards, and teaching experience. [not in order].

 

It was simple and clean, times new roman font and bolding/italicized in the headings/titles to emphasize certain things. 

 

I had mine reviewed quite a bit, and you should definitely get rid of the "objective/summary" section - they'll be getting some of that info through your SOP and just the fact that you're applying. Also really look at the language you're using to describe what you did. Always make sure to QUANTIFY your experience, people like to see numbers and that you've had an effect on things. Don't use a lot of fluff because it's easily identifiable, but use concrete descriptive words and don't over elaborate, be concise. 

 

That's my advice! hope it helps! 

 

 

[KenBesonders]

I will pose a question that came up in my original thread, but how much space did applicants here dedicate towards explaining relevant volunteer and awards experience? I hear some just simply list them in order with dates while others will grant 1-2 bullet points to explain some content of their experience.

 

Not asking for anything absolute but for what people prefer and might have worked better for them.

[Poli92]

For honors I just did the title of the award, the granting institution, and the date. 

[Nocho]

Since there are people who seem to disagree on the length of the resume, I just want to share my experience. My current job consists of looking through hundreds of resumes. If you don't have around 10 years of work experience/education, generally keeping it to one page is best when applying to a job. (This is certainly not true for all sectors.)

 

Grad school is a little different, at least for some schools. When I had an informational interview with the Director of Admissions from the school I'll be attending this year, the final question I asked was, "Is there any key information regarding my application that you think I should know? In other words, what advice would you give me that I might not have thought to ask at this point?"

 

The response: "Many prospective students make their resume one page for these applications, when clearly they have additional information they could share. Do not restrict yourself to one page if you feel you have any additional relevant information."

 

Even when I didn't bring the topic up, they made a point that the school prefers a longer resume. Keep it succinct, clear, organized and professional, but don't worry so much about keeping it to a single page (unless you have little or nothing to add). As others have said, this isn't an application for a job, and so the standards for length that typically apply to resumes are different. 5 pages seems a little excessive to me. As a recruiter, it demonstrates to me that you are not able to be concise, so keep that in mind if you want to include everything you have ever accomplished over the span of so many pages.

 

I would like to add that I personally do not think listing coursework belongs on your resume when applying to grad school. They have this information in your transcript. As someone said above, customize your resume for your grad school applications. (Really, customize your resume for everything to which you apply.) Restating information is wasting space, which is precious in job/school applications.

 

Most importantly, when in doubt, just ask the school for their preferences.

Edited March 17, 2015 by Nocho

[ir_gradstudent]

I would like to add that I personally do not think listing coursework belongs on your resume when applying to grad school. They have this information in your transcript. As someone said above, customize your resume for your grad school applications. (Really, customize your resume for everything to which you apply.) Restating information is wasting space, which is precious in job/school applications.

 

In my opinion, it's easier to read for admissions purposes to see it all in one concise space, rather than skim my transcript which is littered with unrelated general edu courses here and there. In my case, I was a double major. One of my majors was a typical IR major, but the other was a very unique area studies major. I definitely wanted to spell out clearly the coursework for my unique area studies major, since it tied in very closely with my entire written Statement of Purpose.

 

I took four lines for each major to write a simple list of the relevant coursework I took for each major. I think it's just fine and appropriate, and even beneficial, to put it on a grad admissions resume like this.

Edited March 17, 2015 by ir_gradstudent

[Nocho]

In my opinion, it's easier to read for admissions purposes to see it all in one concise space, rather than skim my transcript which is littered with unrelated general edu courses here and there. In my case, I was a double major. One of my majors was a typical IR major, but the other was a very unique area studies major. I definitely wanted to spell out clearly the coursework for my unique area studies major, since it tied in very closely with my entire written Statement of Purpose.

 

I took four lines for each major to write a simple list of the relevant coursework I took for each major. I think it's just fine and appropriate, and even beneficial, to put it on a grad admissions resume like this.

 

The fact that you made a list of relevant coursework shows that you thought critically about your resume to customize it for the school. I have nothing against that. You would probably be surprised by how many people don't do anything close to that. I, personally, would still not put coursework on my resume, but there is nothing wrong with the way you did this. Even though it may seem trivial, this is still a question that applicants can ask the school. Some schools may prefer it, and some may not.

[KenBesonders]

Hey guys. I was working on my CV summary today and found it to be a bit of a struggle because I am not use to language on a CV.

 

This is what I have thus far:

 

"Highly motivated professional seeking entrance into a graduate program for an M.A. in International Affairs. Ranked sixth out of over a 1,000 students in the Global Public Policy and Debate Challenge. Granted numerous awards for displaying leadership and understanding of public policy. Proven ability to conceptualize solutions for existing problems in international security. Aspiring to enter into a public service based position with the federal government."

 

MS Word is telling me all of the sentences are fragments but they are similar to examples I found. At any rate, is this information sound for an intro or is there any critical feedback any users would like to supply?

[pavlik]

A few people mentioned putting a "travel experience" or similar section on a resume. No one cares if you stopped in Jamaica on a cruise or went to Italy with your family when you were 12. There's experience and there's travel. If you backpacked for 3 months through Europe and it changed your life, then mention it in a personal statement or cover letter. Putting a blurb about where you've been to doesn't add that much to a resume. If I were on an admission committee and saw a fresh-out-of-undergraduate applicant touting all the weekend trips he/she took on his study abroad trip on his resume, I would snort derisively. It seems like it's kind of covering space on a resume for a lack of "real world" experience.

 

This is just, like, my opinion, man. But I've been to 20+ countries and have no desire to brag about that on a resume.

[ir_gradstudent]

A few people mentioned putting a "travel experience" or similar section on a resume. No one cares if you stopped in Jamaica on a cruise or went to Italy with your family when you were 12. There's experience and there's travel. If you backpacked for 3 months through Europe and it changed your life, then mention it in a personal statement or cover letter. Putting a blurb about where you've been to doesn't add that much to a resume. If I were on an admission committee and saw a fresh-out-of-undergraduate applicant touting all the weekend trips he/she took on his study abroad trip on his resume, I would snort derisively. It seems like it's kind of covering space on a resume for a lack of "real world" experience.

 

This is just, like, my opinion, man. But I've been to 20+ countries and have no desire to brag about that on a resume.

 

Some of the schools specifically ask you to include a section about this on your resume. One of my schools asked for "all" foreign travel experiences I've had, while another school asked for "all significant" foreign travel experiences.

 

I didn't include this section on the resumes I submitted to schools which didn't ask for it. However, my overseas travel experiences are still fully accounted for on my resume in my academic history and internship/work history blurbs sections.

Edited March 17, 2015 by ir_gradstudent

[crisisdiplomacy]

A few people mentioned putting a "travel experience" or similar section on a resume. No one cares if you stopped in Jamaica on a cruise or went to Italy with your family when you were 12. There's experience and there's travel. If you backpacked for 3 months through Europe and it changed your life, then mention it in a personal statement or cover letter. Putting a blurb about where you've been to doesn't add that much to a resume. If I were on an admission committee and saw a fresh-out-of-undergraduate applicant touting all the weekend trips he/she took on his study abroad trip on his resume, I would snort derisively. It seems like it's kind of covering space on a resume for a lack of "real world" experience.

 

This is just, like, my opinion, man. But I've been to 20+ countries and have no desire to brag about that on a resume.

 

 

Every IR school I applied to specifically asked for foreign travel and/or experiences. Yeah your 3 day cruise to Jamaica doesn't really matter much, but if you traveled to Costa Rica to volunteer on a farm for two weeks then it's significant. I think that's the type of cultural enrichment travel they're looking for.  After all we are in "international" affairs. 

 

But then again, I was just following the instructions. 

Edited March 17, 2015 by crisisdiplomacy

[pavlik]

I didn't apply to any IR programs, so it may be more relevant for that, and of course you should answer it if it's specifically asked. Like you said, it matters how you spent the time abroad. Volunteering, studying, or working > tourism, backpacking, and so on. But 99% of the time outside of your application to an graduate IR program (jobs, internships, etc.) don't waste resume space on this.

[zd0943]

I agree with other posters here that the length, format, and style of your resume should match the opportunity one is applying for, be it a job, fellowship, graduate degree, etc. 

 

In my experience applying to graduate school this past year, many programs emphasized that applicants should not feel limited to merely one page to convey their professional experience and accomplishments. This makes sense to me; as an applicant, you want the adcom to get the fullest, most textured picture of you possible. That said, I did not overload my resume with information that could be found elsewhere in my application (coursework, GPA, school attended, etc). I instead provided a few bullet points for each professional position I've held, using language strategically to convey my developed skill sets, experiences, etc, giving the reader a clear understanding of my role in each position, what I accomplished there, and how those position build off of (or link, in a narrative sense) to other professional experiences. The resume is almost like a synopsis of the narrative that is your professional life. 

 

I agree that when applying for jobs, a one pager is best. In making my grad school applications, I actually found myself with several iterations of my resume that were slightly tweaked for each program. From these, I made a single 4 page "master" resume for my own reference. When applying for jobs, I now first glance over this document and decide which experiences and points are most salient and relevant to the job to which I am applying, and then weave those together into a one-pager. 

 

One page resumes make sense for jobs; people may get lots of applications, and you want to make their experience as easy as possible. Using one page to effectively communicate your skills and experiences is a strategic way is a skill in and of itself. With all that said, I've read about and met peers who believe that the one page resume tactic may be progressively less in vogue. With the US economy (and many global economies) in a state of flux, young professionals these days are more likely to switch jobs more frequently and accumulate  a diversity of experience. I've met some folks who have two business cards. Maybe they work at a start-up in the Bay Area and also work for a non-profit. I don't think this is that uncommon. Given that young professionals these days may be more likely to freely navigate different professional experiences and opportunities, a resume that exceeds one page to convey that diversity in experience may become more common. 

 

Of course, this will depend on your "sector" and also the locations in which you've developed professionally. The entrepreneurial spirit of SF may contribute to the emergence of longer resumes, where as someone working federal government jobs in DC may hold single positions for longer periods of time, thus not necessitating a longer resume. It's not about which (1 page or 1+ page) kind of resume is better, but rather where you've been working, where you plan to work, and the locations in which those things occur. 

[thoughtprovoking]

While my professional resume is 1 page, after reading the blog post which acm14 linked to earlier, I extended my grad school resume to 2 pages.

 

I used the extra space to include more details about academic honors from undergrad, quantitative aspects of my work experience, and recent activities / volunteer leadership experiences -- things which aren't always needed when applying for a job, but which MPP/MPA grad programs seemed to be interested in knowing about.

[KenBesonders]

Since we are on topic of international experience sections for CVs/resumes, I also noticed that many potential schools I will apply to say "highlight international experience."

 

Looking at my CV I see room to have a separate "International Experience" section. However, and I am sure others might have this issue, all of my international experience is already on my CV. I mainly have two experiences: One with a research internship and one with a public policy competition. Both are already listed in their respective areas. 

 

Would it be smart to utilized a separate section for this or try to make it obvious where they are already listed in my CV/resume?

[pavlik]

Since we are on topic of international experience sections for CVs/resumes, I also noticed that many potential schools I will apply to say "highlight international experience."

 

Looking at my CV I see room to have a separate "International Experience" section. However, and I am sure others might have this issue, all of my international experience is already on my CV. I mainly have two experiences: One with a research internship and one with a public policy competition. Both are already listed in their respective areas. 

 

Would it be smart to utilized a separate section for this or try to make it obvious where they are already listed in my CV/resume?

I'd try to avoid repeating things on the resume itself. Can you bring in the experiences to your personal statement/cover letter? I think that's a better way to expound on whatever the experience was than trying to add it into a resume. I'd keep those under work experience, while noting the location, and any language skills in the skills section. If you have a "Key highlights" or "objective" statement, reference your int'l experiences there or something (i.e. experienced international development professional seeking blah blah)

[invincible49]

Bumping for some advice:

Any idea how the resume should look in terms of the order? 

1. Does the work experience come first? Or education? PS: I have approximately 4 years of experience
2. Include a profile/about me paragraph?
3. Address/Telephone numbers/ Email etc? Do we generally include that below our name? 
4. Do we also have to include our GPA?