A few differences between academic CVs and industry resumes

A few differences between academic CVs and industry resumes

By: Lauren Celano, CEO, Propel Careers

Although a resume and CV both contain information regarding experiences, accomplishments, research and education, these documents differ in many ways. This blog will highlight a few of these differences and future blogs will dive deeper on this topic. Understanding these differences is critical for candidates applying to non-academic positions.       

Unlike CV’s, resumes typically have a page limit (one or two pages) and this depends upon an individual’s experience. A candidate with limited work or educational experience should have a one page resume. Candidates applying to large management consulting firms should also have a one page resume, regardless of their experience or educational credentials. Candidates with at least a few years of work experience can have a two page resume, especially if they have held multiple positions within an organization or worked at multiple organizations. Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows can also have a two page resume, if they have enough experience. 

While CV’s list everything you have done related to your field of study (research, awards, grants, teaching, mentoring, papers, presentations, peer reviewing, etc, resume lists all “relevant” information for a specific role. Resumes tell a story and are tailored for each role you apply to. A job seeker should have unique resumes for different roles. These versions contain the same basic information, such as position title, institution, and education, but the bullet points describing each experience are changed to highlight skills relevant to the role. As an example, a research focused resume would contain bullet points under each experience to highlight disease knowledge and research findings, along with specific skills and techniques used. A medical science liaison resume would highlight disease knowledge, big picture impact of the research, as well as communication, writing, and teaching experiences. A consulting resume would highlight disease knowledge as well as collaboration experience (to show teamwork), quantitative skills, communication, leadership, and significant awards. In terms of format for a resume, the first page typically includes information about each position which could include undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral research along with education. The second page could contain a skills and techniques section, peer review experience, selected awards, leadership, and papers and presentations. In some cases, a third page could be acceptable to list additional papers, publications, book chapters, etc, if this information is relevant to the role. These examples are meant to be a general guide, ultimately the job description dictates what information should be included in a resume. 

A CV typically includes the work (academic institution) address and work email address, while a resume includes the home address and personal email address. Education is typically listed near the top of the CV, but can be listed in different areas in a resume depending upon the role applied for. A CV typically contains little to no detail about the research performed because people reading your CV are usually very familiar with your papers and field of study. Many people reading your resume will not be an expert in your area, therefore it is important to list research detail, at least the high level/big picture, so that the reader can understand why the research is important and what you have accomplished. References are usually included in a CV, but do not have to be in a resume. References for industry are often provided in a separate document tailored for the specific role. A resume may list that you mentored and wrote / received grants, but mentees name and current status (i.e. Ph.D. candidate at UCSF) and details regarding grants, such as funding amount, funding title and date awarded are not typically included on a resume.  Lastly US resumes do not include a picture, personal information such as date of birth, family information or relationship status.

I hope you have found this information useful. I look forward to writing additional blogs on this topic. Feel free to contact me if you have specific points that you would like me to cover so that I can include these in future posts.