Resumes, CVs, Cover Letters
Learn how to best highlight your graduate experience and skills and impress a prospective employer in job application documents. To demonstrate your fit for a job and increase your chances of securing an interview, adapt your application materials to match the job description. Review our materials below to learn how to write and format resumes, CVs, and cover letters as well as tailor them to specific job descriptions for academia, industry, nonprofit, government, and business.
Job Application Tools and Best Practices
CVs and Application Materials for Faculty Positions
Review our example CV templates for Humanities and Social Sciences or STEM disciplines to learn best practices for formatting this document for the faculty job search.
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Humanities and Social Sciences CV
Example CV for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in humanities and social sciences.
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STEM CV
Example CV for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in science, technology, engineering, and math.
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Teaching Statement
Example of an annotated teaching statement for a tenure-track faculty position.
Resumes and Cover Letters
For detailed content guidelines for each section of the document, view our resume chart and cover letter chart. For formatting guidelines for writing a resume and cover letter, view our resume template and cover letter template. View example resumes in the fields of academic administration, nonprofit, industry, government, business, and manufacturing.
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Resume Writing Guidelines
Overview of format and structure for a resume.
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Resume Template
Annotated resume template highlighting format, guidelines and strategies for framing graduate experience as work experience.
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Cover Letter Writing Guidelines
Overview of format and structure for a cover letter.
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Cover Letter Template
Annotated cover letter template outlining format, guidelines and strategies for framing graduate experience as work experience.
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Reference List Template
Example reference list that outlines what and how to include reference information.
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Active Verb List
List of verbs to frame accomplishment statements on a resume.
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Example Accomplishment Statements
Examples of short, impactful statements that highlight overall impact in a position and translate academic training into work experience.
Tailoring Resumes and Cover Letters
Review our examples resumes and cover letters for jobs in academia, industry, nonprofit, government, and business. These example documents are tailored to real job descriptions and demonstrate how to write your documents so they highlight fit with the position.
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Academic Administration Resume and Cover Letter
Sample job description, resume and cover letter of a graduate student resume for a position in a higher education administration that outlines writing strategies to frame graduate experience and target application materials according to industry standards.
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Business Resume and Cover Letter
Sample job description, resume and cover letter of a graduate student resume for a position in a consulting firm that outlines writing strategies to frame graduate experience and target application materials according to industry standards.
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Industry Resume and Cover Letter
Sample job description, resume and cover letter of a graduate student resume for a position in a semiconductor manufacturing company that outlines writing strategies to frame graduate experience and target application materials according to industry standards.
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Nonprofit Resume and Cover Letter
Sample job description, resume and cover letter of a graduate student resume for a position in a nonprofit organization that outlines writing strategies to frame graduate experience and target application materials according to industry standards.
Workshop Resources
Learn more about writing resumes, CVs, cover letters, and other application materials from these recent workshops.
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CV Writing 101
Learn how to articulate your academic accomplishments within the specific conventions of the academic CV. We will also explore the possibilities for tailoring and persuasively positioning elements within the CV to match certain academic opportunities including fellowships. Finally, we will reframe the CV as a tool and “to-do” list that indicates areas where scholars can bolster aspects of their scholarly identity with intentionality as they progress through their training.
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Polishing Your CV: Humanities and Social Sciences
This online, interactive session will address the nuances of CV writing specifically in Humanities and Social Sciences fields and how to frame your research, teaching and service accomplishments for different types of institutions and audiences.
Polishing Your CV: STEM
This online, interactive session will address the nuances of CV writing specifically in STEM fields and how to frame your research, teaching and service accomplishments for different types of institutions and audiences.
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Part 1: Demonstrating Institutional Fit
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Part 2: Elements of a CV
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Part 3: Search Committee Perspective
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Slides
The Academic Cover Letter
This session addresses the purpose of the cover letter, its format and necessary contents, along with tips on how to avoid common mistakes and missteps in order to provide the search committee the best first impression. Attendees will leave this session with clearly identified content to include and a concrete outline of their cover letters.
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Slides
Writing a Compelling Resume
In this virtual workshop, you will learn how to write a resume describing your graduate school experiences that is compelling to employers. You will be able to identify the format and components of a resume, tailor your resume to a job description, and communicate your skills by emphasizing your accomplishments.
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Slides
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Worksheet