What is a curriculum vitae?
A curriculum vitae (CV), Latin for “course of life,” is a detailed professional document highlighting one’s
education, experience and accomplishments. A CV may also include your professional references, as well
as coursework, fieldwork, hobbies and interests relevant to your profession.You might also choose to add
a personal profile to your CV that lists your skills and positive attributes to ensure employers have a well-
rounded view of your personality and achievements. Posting your CV to your Indeed profile can provide
employers with a full overview of your experience, and they may be more likely to call you in for an
interview.
CV components
Your CV should include the following sections:
Contact information: Include your full name, address, phone number and email address.
Academic history: List all schooling from high school through postdoctoral (if applicable). Include
the title of the degree you earned, the year you graduated and the name of the school.
Professional experience: Include the organization where you worked, the job title, the dates you
were employed and a summary of your experience and achievements.
Qualifications and skills: List a combination of hard and soft skills you’ve developed throughout
your career.
Awards and honors: For each award, add the name, year received, the organization that gave
you the award and any pertinent details (such as how often it’s presented).
Publications and presentations: For publications, provide a full citation including your co-
authors, date, summary, volume, page, DOI number. For presentations, provide the title, date
and venue where you presented.
Professional associations: List the organization’s name, location or chapter and the dates of
active membership.
Grants and scholarships: Provide the name of the grant or scholarship, date awarded and the
institution that provided the award.
Licenses and certifications: Include the name of the license or certificate, the date you earned it
and the institution that awarded it.
2. Check your margins
A good rule of thumb is to keep your margins between 0.5 - 1 inch. Margins that are too large will leave
too much white space while margins that are too small can make the page look busy and overfilled. Both
may be distracting or off-putting to recruiters and hiring managers.Tip: While the PDF format will save
your CV’s formatting, not all ATS can parse this format correctly. To ensure all of the information on your
CV is able to be scanned correctly, choose a .docx format.
3. Utilize your space effectively
CVs can become lengthy, especially if you’ve been in your industry for several years and have amassed a
great deal of experience. To ensure you’re using space effectively and your CV is easy to read, consider
using the following techniques:
Organize with bulleted lists: Make lists, (such as your collection of skills or awards) easier to
consume by adding small bullets.
Use section headers: Distinguish section headers from the rest of your CV content by making
them bolder, larger or underlined.
Bold keywords: In addition to section headers, consider bolding other important words, such as
your name and job titles, to set them apart.
Remove irrelevant information: Use the limited space on your CV to promote only the most
relevant and impressive information about your background. Remove experience older than 15
years and dates from your education section if you have five or more years of professional
experience.
