Et Tu, Vitae? Practical Advice on the Curriculum Vitae

Let’s face it. Work has enough challenges without having to worry about your curriculum vitae (CV). The term “curriculum vitae” translates to the “course of one’s life.” It is a document that contains all manner of important professional details to impress upon colleagues and potential employers that you possess the necessary skills, engage in appropriate professional activities, and share knowledge with the community so others might benefit. It can be a tremendous amount of effort to build and maintain a detailed CV representative of the activities you have undertaken and the knowledge you have accumulated during your career. But it does not have to be.

The goal is to treat your CV as a living and constantly evolving document. In other words, instead of waiting until life changes necessitate an up-to-date CV requiring hours upon hours (or days upon days), get in the habit of continually adding detail as important professional activities occur. This effort takes mere minutes at most.

• Publish a new paper? Add it to your CV.
• Teach a new course? Add it to your CV.
• Speak at a scientific or professional conference? Add it to your CV.
• Promoted? Add it to your CV.
• Win an award? Add it to your CV.
• Complete a new degree or professional development short course? Add it to your CV.

Tip: Update your CV as important details emerge. It’s the best way to maintain an accurate and detailed history of accomplishments.

If you get in the habit of updating your CV in real time, it is much more straightforward to engage in important professional activities as they occur without a needed delay. For example, the following:

• Getting a job with a new employer
• Getting a new job or promotion with a current employer
• Obtaining tenure
• Applying for important grants or awards, such as Fellow of the American Statistical Association

Further, treating your CV as a living document is a practical defense against unanticipated life changes. For now, you may be extremely happy in your current position but changes sometimes occur that are beyond your control. It is always a good idea to be prepared! Consider the following:

• The company is sold, and the new owners drastically change the culture, making your day-to-day work extremely unpleasant.
• There is a new department head, and you do not agree on many important topics.
• Financial difficulties result in layoffs or a delay in promotion.
• There are no opportunities for growth internally.
• A new administration causes havoc with funding and grants.

The above scenarios are an unfortunate fact of life. What may be a comfortable and extremely rewarding job today (Why should I update my CV? I’m never leaving!) may not exist tomorrow.

Tip: Prepare for the worst. Have your CV up to date as if you need to apply for something tomorrow.

A further consideration is this: Failing to update your CV regularly might mean you forget crucial details worthy of a mention. It is hard to know what details may resonate with a particular audience, so it is best to be as comprehensive and detailed as possible. If it turns out some details are not relevant to a particular audience, they can be easily removed. For example, when I applied to become an ASA Fellow, I removed details about professional development courses from my CV, as they did not seem particularly relevant. However, it was particularly useful to have specific details about all the ways I contributed my free time to ASA activities and initiatives.

Tip: It is much easier to remove content that might not be relevant than to reconstruct the distant past for important content. Adjust your CV as necessary for your intended audience.

Maintaining your CV as a living document means organization is critical—all the detail can result in a lengthy document. Eventually, it may become necessary to group major categories into several smaller categories to highlight more important or relevant data. For example, you could separate the following:

• Publications by content, such as statistical methodology versus applied research
• Publications by type, such as manuscripts, book chapters, blog posts, software, or newsletters
• Presentations, whether they were contributed, invited, or short courses

Separating content as suggested might not make sense for a student or young professional when only a limited number of entries are available, but it certainly helps manage content the longer your professional career lasts or the more active you are in particular areas.

One final tip is to consider linking key details to relevant webpages. For example, links to the following:

• Certifications
• Awards (e.g., the ASA lists Fellows)
• Book webpages, journal articles, or code repositories

This effort makes it straightforward for your audience to verify details and potentially gain additional information beyond what is communicated in your CV.

Tip: Consider ways to organize your CV that make it easier for your audience to locate and confirm notable details. And be sure to check that all links work correctly.

While this post has focused primarily on how your CV can best communicate your background to employers and other professionals, there is one important audience member I have not yet mentioned: You! Your CV is the easiest way to remind yourself how much you have grown professionally over your career. Every so often, I spend time perusing the content and reminding myself about my achievements and the amazing collaborations I have enjoyed in my 20+ years as a professional biostatistician. This is an important reminder of our growth and accomplishments, especially during the periods that are a day-to-day struggle.

Tip: Take time to periodically review your CV and reflect upon your hard-won accomplishments. Pat yourself on the back!