Tyson Candidate’s CV - Before

This candidate graduated in the summer of 2010 with a Ph.D. in physiology from a flagship state university’s school of medicine. He is applying for postdoctoral positions at universities associated with local hospitals because his current research is clinically related. In addition, he is interested in combining his love of science and business and is applying for nonacademic positions.

Tyson says, “I think there is an unmet need to bridge the gap between science and business. Knowing how to speak the languages of both fields would be beneficial.” He plans to apply for analyst and consultant positions at investment banks, venture-capital firms, and management-consulting firms.

This CV needed a fair amount of rewriting.

CURRICULUM VITAE1.

Tyson G. Candidate, Ph.D.
Graduate Assistant

2.Personal Information:

Middle State University College of Medicine
Biomedical Institute
Street address
City, State, Zip code
Phone number
Fax number
tgcandidate@msu.mail.med.edu

Office Address:

Street Address
City, State, Zip code
Phone number
Web site

Home Address:

3.Education:

4.5.

6.Other Professional Positions:

Professional Affiliations:
7.

Honors and Awards:

8.Instruction

9.Other Professional Activities

Institutional Service at Middle State College of Medicine

Grant Funding

10.Current:

Scholarly Activities

A. Publications

Journal Articles, refereed

1. Candidate, T.G. and J.J. Doe. Modulation of muscle sympathetic nerve activity to muscle heating during dynamic exercise. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Comparative and Integrative Physiology 296: R1439-1444, 2009.

Manuscripts Submitted

1. Candidate, T.G. and J.J. Doe. Melatonin attenuates the vestibulosympathetic but not vestibulocollic reflexes in humans: selective impairment of the utricles. Journal of Physiology (London)

Manuscripts in Preparation

1. Candidate, T.G., Name 2, and J.J. Doe. Melatonin differentially affects vascular blood flow in humans.

2. Candidate, T.G., Name 3, and J.J. Doe. Circadian rhythm of muscle sympathetic nerve activity: implications for melatonin.

Published Abstracts
11.
1. Candidate, T.G. and J.J. Doe. Melatonin attenuates the vestibulosympathetic reflex in humans. Clinical Autonomic Research 19:303, 2009.

2. Candidate, T.G., Name 3, Name 2, and J.J. Doe. Is there diurnal variation with the vestibulosympathetic reflex? The FASEB Journal 24:616.5, 2010.

3. Candidate, T.G., Name 3, Name 2, and J.J. Doe. Evidence of a circadian rhythm for muscle sympathetic nerve activity in humans. The FASEB Journal 24:802.1, 2010.

4. Candidate, T.G., Name 3, Name 2, and J.J. Doe. Effect of melatonin on the vestibulocollic reflex in humans. The FASEB Journal 24:1020.1, 2010.

B. Scientific Presentations

1. Candidate, T.G., Name 2, and J.J. Doe. Endurance training attenuates the vestibulosympathetic reflex in runners. Middle State College of Medicine Graduate Forum, City, State, March 2009.

2. Candidate, T.G., Name 2, and J.J. Doe. Endurance training attenuates the vestibulosympathetic reflex in runners. Middle State College of Medicine Physiology Faculty/Student Meeting, City, State, May 2009.

3. Candidate, T.G., Name 2, and J.J. Doe. Endurance training attenuates the vestibulosympathetic reflex in runners. Middle State College of Medicine Physiology/Medicine Research Day, City, State, June 2009.

4. Candidate, T.G. and J.J. Doe. Melatonin attenuates the vestibulosympathetic reflex in humans. Middle State College of Medicine Physiology/Medicine Research Day, City, State, June 2009.

5. Candidate, T.G. and J.J. Doe. Melatonin attenuates the vestibulosympathetic reflex in humans. 20th International Symposium on the Autonomic Nervous System of the American Autonomic Society, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, November 2009.

6. Candidate, T.G., Name 3, Name 2, and J.J. Doe. Evidence of a circadian rhythm for muscle sympathetic nerve activity in humans. Middle State College of Medicine Graduate Forum, City, State, March 2010.

7. Candidate, T.G., Name 3, Name 2, and J.J. Doe. Evidence of a circadian rhythm for muscle sympathetic nerve activity in humans. Annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology (Experimental Biology 2010), Anaheim, CA, April, 2010.

8. Candidate, T.G., Name 3, Name 2, and J.J. Doe. Is there diurnal variation with the vestibulosympathetic reflex? Annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology (Experimental Biology 2010), Anaheim, CA, April, 2010.

9. Candidate, T.G., Name 3, Name 2, and J.J. Doe. Effect of melatonin on the vestibulocollic reflex in humans. Annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology (Experimental Biology 2010), Anaheim, CA, April, 2010.

Comments:

1. It is not necessary to start your CV with the words “Curriculum Vitae.” Begin with your name in bold type. Since the time you sent your CV to us, you have received your Ph.D. Congratulations. You can now put “Ph.D.” next to your name.

We would not recommend that Ph.D. students who have master’s degrees put “M.A.” or “M.A.” next to their name in the heading. Someone looking to hire a Ph.D. and reading the CV very quickly might not read further.

Omit “Graduate Assistant.” Instead, put the link to your LinkedIn Web site directly under your name. Return to résumé.

2. Remove the heading “Personal Information.” Again, it’s unnecessary, and not really accurate. What you have here is “Contact Information.” Personal information, which should not be included on a CV, involves details that are actually personal, such as your birth date, marital status, and citizenship.

In the interest of not wasting space, remove the headings “Office Address” and “Home Address” and reorganize the contact information so that the office information is on the left and the home information on the right — flush right if possible. Return to résumé.

3. Look at the headings of the various sections of your CV. Some have colons at the end of the section heading; others do not. You may have done that intentionally, but it ends up looking careless. Decide on one format—with colons or without—and stick to it. Return to résumé.

4. Sections of a CV (like sections of a résumé) should have entries in reverse chronological order, with the most recent information first. We urge you to revise all your sections to reflect that. It makes it easy for a potential employer to view quickly your most recent accomplishments in each area and then go back for a deeper read. For example, the “Education” section should start with your current degree program — your Ph.D. Return to résumé.

5. We also recommend that you change the format of entries in your “Education” section to something similar to what you did with your résumé. You might also include your dissertation title. The following format is so much easier to read:

Pennsylvania State University, College of Medicine
Ph.D. in Physiology, July 2010
Dissertation title:
Adviser: Chester A. Ray, Ph.D.

Some doctoral students applying for postdocs include a brief description of their research here.
Return to résumé.

6. The next section of your CV should be focused on research, and we encourage you to use a format similar to the one above. The title you have now, “Other Professional Positions,” is too vague. Consider renaming this section “Research Interests” and “Additional Research Experience” and including a few phrases that describe your future scholarly interests. Sure, you will have to include that information in a cover letter to potential postdoctoral advisers, but it doesn’t hurt to have it stated in your CV as well.

Also, you need to remove the information here about your experience as a teaching assistant, and move it to the “Teaching Experience” section, a little further along in the CV.

Since the two remaining entries in this section were at the same location, list that location only once and provide a short description. It might look like this:

Motor Development Laboratory, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Research Engineer, Summer 2007
Research Assistant, Fall 2005
Description
Return to résumé.

7. By now you have probably gotten the sense that we do not care for dates on the left side of a CV. We’ve discussed that many times in previous columns. Dates are important, but not as important as more-substantive information, like your position title, institution, or where you earned your Ph.D. So put the substantive information first. If you want to have your dates line up on the page, do so on the right side. Return to résumé.

8. Let’s change “Instruction” to “Teaching Experience” and start with what you taught when you were a teaching assistant in the fall of 2005. Also include here the graduate course you list, “Biomechanics Laboratory Techniques” and lab instruction. We understand that the other courses you list here were academic in nature, but you need to indicate where you taught them and when. Return to résumé.

9. Omit the heading “Other Professional Activities.” It doesn’t add anything. Instead call this section “Institutional Service.” Once again, we would recommend you put substantive information on the left, and the dates on the right.
Return to résumé.

10. It’s terrific that you have a grant. As only one grant is listed, remove the heading “Current” and just title the section “Grant Funding.” Return to résumé.

11. We also recommend that publications and presentations be listed in reverse chronological order. Return to résumé.