The CV that got me my first university job [All the MISTAKES]

This is the CV that got me my first university position as a PostDoc after my PhD. Here are all the mistakes!

▼ ▽ Sign up for my FREE newsletter
Join 19,000+ email subscribers receiving the free tools and academic tips directly from me:

................................................

▼ ▽ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – introduction
0:56 – CV run through
11:46 – CV for SciComm
15:35 – PhD CV inclusions

................................................

▼ ▽ TOOLS

[Tebsana]

The timing of this could not have been better! I have been working on my first academic CV this week for PhD applications and this video is so useful. Thank you!!!

[jc-tupg]

andy, have you considered doing one-on-one coaching for grad students? you'd be really good at it!

[rodolfosantiago]

Andy awesome video and so helpful! IF you ever have a time could you do a similar video on a CV for industry?! IM pretty sure a lot of people would find it helpful! Keep up the good work!!

[eimienwanlanibhagui]

One of the things I have come to ❤ not like about your videos here is that you lay it bare. Maybe this is so because you are 'unencumbered'! Thanks for sharing, Dr. A. S.

[mauricioalvarez]

Great tips! would love if you go deeper into building connections, especially during undergrad. Sometimes it can be tricky to know who one should ask for a letter of recommendation or even be a reference.

[snlvl]

This video came in the very right moment I droped from my current PhD position. I still don't know at all if I should try again another PhD or try industry, but I am editing my CV so all your suggestions will be super helpful.

[katto]

Thanks for sharing the dirty laundry Andy - really helpful. I am interested in becoming a pure maths lecturer/researcher. I'm doing my masters (coursework) - thesis year next year. I'm wanting work at a university while I'm doing my PhD. I'm having trouble finding any sort of job that I would be suitable for. So many uni jobs require a phd with a research angle or lecturing with teaching experience (which I can't be considered for at this point).

My undergrad was maths/physics. I'm thinking - tutoring, demonstrator or some sort of science lab tech job. I would like something that exposes me to university life (100% online university student for the last seven years - started uni when I was 15 so it's all I've ever known). I would like something that gives me a chance to interact with staff and student and share the joy of learning about nerdy stem stuff. The whole university career path is really confusing - so hard to know what to search for ? Anybody got any ideas ?

[joseferreirapinto]

There are features you may have explained in other videos: visual Cv, video Cv, links as proof (videos?). How to pass the ATS algorithm or ATS friendly Cv. Matching the keywords with what you have and highlight it (up in the sections?). The friends test is great and preferable with three to five people with similar backgrounds and diverse backgrounds. A one-page or multi-page? I had a bigger challenge because I worked 25 years in corporate and doing my phd and graduating at 50… so the Cv will be different comparing to the majority of your audience. Last but not least, the cv as a proxy of the interview: to what extent it provides a good or a bad start? These are just some thoughts that came to my mind. Should we use ORCID and other links that summarise all academic endeavours?

[Kelvin-edce]

Is it necessary to have industrial jobs before getting a tenure track, say in fields like theoretical physics, pen and paper math kinds of field? Any industrial job wouldn't be a good fit for a mathematical physicist. And then my supervisor doesn't have enough funds to support me being a teaching assistant, so i can't get a record of teaching in my CV. So the CV looks just pure research research and research. What do you think? Just get more papers published and that's it? Thanks

[riyamehta]

Hey. Can the same format of the CV be followed while applying for a PhD program?

[chemistryphysics]

Your CV doesn't matter that much as you think. Who you worked for and their letter of recommendation means way more. I know of many cases where the CV was very weak with only 1 or 2 mediocre publications but the PI is extremely famous and says the student is the best in 25 years. The kid interviews and is very average but that letter lingers in our minds. I have been on many search committees where this person gets interviewed and the job is theirs to lose.

[chemistryphysics]

This CV is extremely weak. only 2 publications in mediocre journals. 1 first author paper. This guy thinks he can get a tenure track faculty job? Geez. I had 6 JACS papers, 2 Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. and 1 PNAS. 2 of them highlighted in nature and science and C&E News during my PhD at a top 10 program. I had another 4 papers published from my PhD while I was a postdoc in langmuir and JACS. I then went on a got a damon runyon postdoc at Harvard and then a faculty job at a top 10 department. Now a tenured full prof. I'm sorry Andy, but you were way delusional to think you could have gotten a faculty job and survived. I have a meeting each year with my grad students individually and ask what they want to do in the future and give them a reality check if they are on or off that trajectory. This is the fault of the PI not the student.