
Academic CV: Template, Format, and Examples for 2023
A complete guide to writing an academic CV for graduate schools, fellowships, research programs, or grants. Use our academic CV templates and awe the committee.
You’ve been hitting the books with a vengeance, but now you need to bust out and join the workforce. Reference PhD resume examples better than most, get more interviews than ever.
Looking around for PhD resume examples—
You’ve probably noticed a common point of confusion:
A doctoral student CV, doctoral student resume, and a resume for a doctoral program are all very different things.
A PhD resume is what you want if you’re looking for a job outside of academia—
A CV is the way to go if you’re applying for a post, grant, fellowship, place, etc. at a university.
In this guide:
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A PhD opens so many doors, a lot depends on your field of study, what stage you’re at, and what you want to do. Check out some of our other guides, whether you’re:
Moving into these non-academic fields:
Entering one of the professions:
Sticking with teaching and research:
Going it alone:
Or still working towards or supplementing a PhD:
Finally, if you’re on an academic track, then an academic CV is what you’re after:
Patrick Labarge
Design Engineer
Personal Info
Phone: 630-354-4392
E-mail: patrick.labarge@reslab.com
linkedin.com/in/patrickclabarge
Summary
Passionate design engineer with 3+ years’ experience working in the industry, currently completing doctoral studies in industrial engineering and operations research. At GDC Allstorm, increased compliance by 17% while reducing manufacturing costs by up to $140,000 p.a. Seeking opportunity to apply proven PCB design and PM skills in helping RottenFruit increase margins.
Experience
Design Engineer
GDC Allstorm
October 2018–present
Senior Tutor
University of Illinois, Chicago, IL
September 2016–June 2018
Education
PhD in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
University of Illinois, Chicago, IL
2024 (anticipated)
MS in Electronics Engineering
University of Illinois, Chicago, IL
2018
BS in Mechanical Engineering
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL
2015
Software
Programming Languages
Key Skills
Now here’s how to write a PhD resume they’ll love:
You’ve got non-academic friends—
You know how their eyes glaze over when you start talking about grad-school politics or your plans for a monograph.
Don’t do that to the hiring managers who pick up your doctoral resume.
Make your resume format as quick and clear as a three-minute thesis final. Here’s how:
Life (and Microsoft) has taught you that the answer to the PDF versus *.docx debate for your resume is PDF.
But—
Always check the job ad and go with any file-type preferences listed there.
Some organizations usedeprecated ATSs (Applicant Tracking Systems) that can’t handle PDF. Keep that in mind when writing your ATS resume. If the jod ad asks for a *.docx file, just send them a *.docx file.
This is the elevator-pitch version of your resume.
Short and sweet and basically complete.
Write a career summary if you have some experience that’s relevant to the job at hand.
Use:
These career summary examples show how:
Who would you hire?
The first example presents past achievements as predictors of future performance—
It’s concrete, quantified, and all about bringing value to the organization.
OK, but what if you don’t have any relevant experience?
Write a resume objective and talk up achievements from your studies and indirectly relevant jobs.
Once again—
Focusing on what you hope to gain is not a winning strategy.
Feel a case of the dreaded writer’s block coming on?
Write your resume profile last—
It’ll be much easier and you’ll be able to do a much better job.
Show, don’t tell—
Make your resume work history section a showcase of accomplishments.
How to write a resume job description for a PhD resume:
These PhD resume examples show how:
Design Engineer
GDC Allstorm
June 2018–present
Design Engineer
GDC Allstorm
2018–present
Same candidate—
Huge difference.
The first example is all about achievements—
The second, duties.
Both make decent use of resume power words, though.
One more thing:
You’ll be needing a skills section.
The trick:
Be selective.
Let the job ad determine which skills to put on your resume.
And don’t overshoot the mark, at least not by much—
More is not more.
The following are just examples, yours will depend heavily on your field and line of work.
Hard skills
Soft skills
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Whatever your motivation for getting into doctoral studies—
Do your education justice.
Here’s how you can make sure it has maximum impact:
List degree names (including majors), school names, and years graduated.
Then:
Add a couple of bullet points that prove key skills or detail your theses.
This PhD resume example shows how:
PhD in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
University of Illinois, Chicago, IL
2024 (anticipated)
MS in Electronics Engineering
University of Illinois, Chicago, IL
2018
BS in Mechanical Engineering
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL
2015
Work history looking a little sparse?
Include projects, classes, and relevant academic accomplishments in your resume education section.
With all the talk of increasing the workforce readiness of postgrads—
You don’t want to pass up the opportunity to show your readiness.
Add one or two extra sections to fill in the blanks:
These two PhD resume examples show yes vs no no no:
Software
Programming Languages
Software
Hobbies and Interests
A-, meet D+.
Hobbies and interests are absolutely fine—
As long you follow the golden rule:
Every single thing you add has to be directly relevant to the position at hand.
One final step:
You’ll need to write a cover letter to go with your doctoral resume.
Irrespective of your field, a cover letter is part and parcel of any application process that requires a resume.
Consider yourself exempt only if you’ve explicitly been asked not to include one.
Double your impact with a matching resume and cover letter combo. Use our cover letter generator and make your application documents pop out.
Want to try a different look? There's 21 more. A single click will give your document a total makeover. Pick a cover letter template here.
For a doctoral resume that gets interviews:
Need more guidance on how to write a doctoral candidate resume? Not sure how to list doctoral candidate on a resume? Leave a comment, we’ll be glad to reply.
A complete guide to writing an academic CV for graduate schools, fellowships, research programs, or grants. Use our academic CV templates and awe the committee.
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