The best way to prepare your CV…

𝟏. 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬: In the personal information section at the top of your CV, include links to your online profiles such as google scholar, LinkedIn, DBLP, homepage, and research gate. It will help the assessor to view your profile via a familiar forum.

𝟐. 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬: After the personal information section, mention your 4-5 research areas such as machine learning, cyber security, big data analytics, and so on. This directly shows whether or not your profile is relevant to the advertised position.

𝟑. 𝐍𝐨 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐬: Do not include paragraphs in your CV. It makes it hard to read. Instead of paragraphs, include concrete bullet points.

PhD students — Do this and 90% of your PhD problems will disappear.

𝟒. 𝐍𝐨 𝐨𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬: Often students mention one big paragraph at the start as an objective/aim. This is not required as the assessor already knows the position for which you have applied. Hence, this becomes redundant.

𝟓. 𝐇𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤:  As much as possible, add hyperlinks. For example, you can add links to your university, your workplaces, and so on. This helps the assessor to directly check where you studied or worked.

𝟔. 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐬:  If you have something in your profile that makes you unique, bring it to the first page. For example, if you are a gold medalist in your undergraduate or you have won some programming competition, add them as achievements on the first page. This will make you stand out in comparison to other applicants.

𝟕. 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: If you have publications even under review, do mention them upfront. If the papers are already online, add a link to each paper so that the assessor can directly check it out. Add all relevant details to each publication such as journal/conference ranking and impact factors.

𝟖. 𝐍𝐨 𝐌𝐒 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭:  Do not share or submit your CV in MS word format. It does not look good even at times MS word formatting is distorted. Submit or share your CV in PDF format.

𝟗. 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞:  If you have undertaken IELTS/TOEFL kinds of tests, do mention your scores. These English scores are one of the admission requirements and help a professor in student selection.

PhD students — How to 10x your PhD productivity?

𝟏𝟎. 𝐀𝐬𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐕: At least ask 2 experienced people to review your CV. This will help to polish your CV by removing any typos, grammar, and evident issues.

Writer: Faheem Ullah
Assistant Professor
Computer Science, Australia