Creating a CV

Print-Friendly Page
Authors & Contributors

Knowledge of the specific job you are seeking helps you decide how best to present your experiences and accomplishments to the search committee. Understanding the job setting and surrounding community can be helpful as well.

As an example of the importance of knowing your audience, consider an applicant for an associate professor position whose interests include cultural studies and secondary school education. That CV can demonstrate that the candidate is qualified to teach literature in an English department that offers cultural studies coursework. But researching the job itself, the job setting and the surrounding community would reveal that this university's English department is closely related to the Education department, which works closely with secondary schools in the community. With this information, the candidate can craft her CV to reflect that her experiences, accomplishments and interests qualify her more than other candidates.

The more you know about the position and the working environment, the better able you will be to relate your experiences and accomplishments, so researching your audience is an important first step.

• Tips for Researching CV Audiences