(Wednesday Post Category: Landing Your Tenure-Track Job)
Today’s post is another Special Request post, this time for Ana, who had a question about c.v.s. What is the best way to organize and write an academic c.v? she wonders. She also asks if I know of any special tech tools for create a kind of “master” c.v. that could then be tailored to jobs, grants, etc.
I have to admit that I do not know of any such tools. But what about you, my readers? Have you found an app or some fabulous geeked out system for collecting and organizing your c.v. material? Kind of like a c.v. Endnotes? Please comment below if you do. We would all like to know.
What i do know is that lo, so many years ago, when I was a young assistant professor, I received a piece of wisdom from a respected senior colleague. That colleague was a model of productivity, and she liked me, and wanted to see me succeed. This piece of advice was not a trick for organizing c.v. s but rather a trick for thinking about them.
She told me, early in my first year in the department, “make sure that each month you add another line to your c.v.”
Each month I add another line to my c.v.? Yikes. Really?
That sounded impossible. But she did it, sure enough, and her c.v. was a thing to behold.
She said, “this is not going to be hard for you.”
And she was right.
By the time I added on the national conferences I attended every year, and the talks on campus, and the guest lectures, and my new classes taught, and small campus grants, and new graduate students, and article manuscripts, and local and national committees, and the reviewing I did for journals and presses, I did have 9 new items a year (she didn’t count summers). Heck, sometimes I had a lot more than 9 new items a year.
It wasn’t that hard.
The key was, to keep my c.v. in mind at all times. When I had to make choices about how to spend my time, which requests to accept, when to say no, and so on, I thought about my c.v., and thought about the line. Did I want the line? Did I need the line? Was it a good line? Was there a better line? It was an amazingly clarifying exercise.
Sure I did things to be collegial, things that didn’t translate into c.v. lines. I helped out colleagues. I went the extra mile for students (sometimes). I was a good department citizen. But I was focused. I knew what my goal was. And that goal was tenure.
As my career went on, I had the opportunity to see many c.v.s of many peers from my own and other institutions. And I realized that few of those peers had received this kind of advice. They most definitely had not been adding a c.v. line each month.
And a lot of those peers were struggling. They weren’t getting the jobs they wanted. They weren’t getting the grants. They weren’t getting tenure.
They didn’t seem to put two and two together.
C.V.s are not just records that passively reflect the things that you “happen to do.” They are records that you actively, consciously, and conscientiously build. You watch your c.v., you think about it, you nurture it. You ask, is it where it should be right now, this month, related to the goals I want to reach this year? If not, take action that very day to change it. Finish that half-done article. Submit for a grant. Apply to a conference. Volunteer for a talk.
Take charge of your c.v. To me it matters less how well-tailored it is to this application or that. What matters is that it is a document that shows your pride in your work, your passion, and your motivation.
Good advice – I have been doing this since finishing my PhD and it certainly does mount up!
I would add two things:
1) Save a new version each time. Huge waste of computer memory – but VERY rewarding when it comes to appraisal and you reflect on what you have achieved each year
2) If you are trying to set yourself up for a particular post in the future – layout your CV according to the headings in the criteria for similar posts. This way you can instantly see where the gaps are. Then take it to some kind colleague independent of you research team and ask them would they give you the job, and if not, why not! Humbling and illuminating but a useful exercise.
Fantastic advice, mark! I agree completely about saving the new version. I actually kept a physical file and put my new c.v. in that file every few months. it saved my butt many times when I had to make a case for productivity! And indeed, for tailoring. Because I did tailor c.v.s on occasion, and then I would print those versions out with a note on top about which version it was and store it for later reference. Of course files on your computer are fine. But I’m a pretty paper-centric material girl, and the printed out versions really helped me to keep track of what exactly I had done and when.
Re: tools
My CV is written and maintained using LaTeX markup. Using typesetting software with this markup, rather than a simple word processor, gives the document a very clean and polished look. Also, I’m able to comment out sections and move them around with great ease. Using this markup means that you can export your CV to different formats (pdf, .doc, html) pretty easily. A bit of a learning curve, but very much worth the effort!
Thank you! This is what makes the internet great! Where can we find LaTeX markup? Is it a thing we must pay for?
You can find LaTeX here: http://www.latex-project.org/ and you do not need to pay for it! You can download different versions (for GNU/Linux, Macs, etc.) here: http://www.latex-project.org/ftp.html
If you search for “LaTeX template cv” thought Google Search you can usually find something to start out with and customize from there.
Great post and comments. I Tweeted it. And what a great idea for a way to start learning LaTeX / great idea for use of it, for those of use (me!) who eye it, yet are uninitiated. Karen – there’s also Lyx which is apparently an “easier” version of LaTeX.
I used to keep a master version of vita with all info on it. It was a vita understood as a record. Then, every once in a while, I’d edit things out for a more streamlined version relevant to the present moment: what seemed to be too old either got cut or got condensed / collapsed.
(Then I stopped working on it in any sense, so now it is chaotic, and I am trying to fix it, and in between lines I am posting obsessively on this blog.)
Great advice! I have had this mindset since my first year in grad school and I’m hoping it will serve me well as I go on the job/post-doc market. One question: a commenter on another post mentioned issues with the CV looking “padded,” noting that guest-lectures for example gave the impression that one is padding the CV. Any suggestions for finding a balance here? How do you feel about guest-lectures? I’m ABD and have only taught two courses.
Also, you mentioned in a previous post that grad students should not put anything under “Professional appointments” as adjuncts or TA’s. What if I’m the project manager for a big research project? The competition was only with my fellow grad students in the department, but it’s multi-phases and funded by the National Science Foundation so I’d like to highlight it somehow.
Marci,
If you have taught your own courses, then doing a guest lecture in someone else’s class is not padding, but it is sort of mickey mouse looking.
If you have not yet taught your own course, then a guest lecture is absolutely not padding your cv. It shows A. that you have the gumption to go the extra mile instead of turning the opportunity down B. that you have given it a try and got some practice C. that you will probably be a good instructor in your own right.
Karen is right, the Professional Appointments category is for faculty-type positions, whether adjunct limited term contracts or tenure track. I would put your big research job into the “Research Experience” category, if you have one. There you could also explain your own Masters and PhD research, even if those degrees aren’t in hand just yet.
this is an excellent distinction. I’ve advised people never to list guest lectures on their cv, but as you say, if they have no other teaching experience, then leaving them on does show some resourcefulness and experience.
I have been invited to give several book talks and signings at bookstores and museums since the publication of my first book. Should I list these on my c.v. and, if so, under what heading (i.e. invited talks)?
One question I have is how to convey the information that I both co-organized a panel at my associations national conference and presented on it. Even when looking at others (my fellow grad students, faculty members) CV’s I haven’t seen any lines that list both. Does that mean one is more important than the other? Any thoughts would be helpful.
the organizing goes under hte “panels organized” subheading, while the presenting goes under the “papers presented” subheading.
Quick question–I am an Assistant Professor at University X, but simultaneously taught a course at University Y last fall. I’m not sure how to indicate this in my timeline of Professional Appointments. Any thoughts?
that’s an individual level question in which I’d have to know more about what that status was at the second university. I’d be inclined to leave it out of Prof. Appointments entirely, and have it reflected only in Teaching. But that is not a final answer, just a first one.
I added 19 lines this year (new job, new courses, new committees, etc. etc.) Can I go out and play now?
Well played, sir, well played!