Curriculum Vitae Question

[pharmrx33]

What are your thoughts on CV's and how they should be written? I have a buddy that just landed a great residency and he's a firm believer in not putting any descriptions of your services, but he also has a ton of national leadership position experience.

For me, I have a lot of local leadership experience (i.e school President, started interprofessional student committee with medical school, etc.). So since these are a little more obscure things that might not stick out on paper with just a title, I thought that putting the descriptions would help out. Are descriptions overkill? An example from my CV is as follows:


1. XXXXXX Co-Founder and Pharmacy Chair (2015-2016)

· Co-founder of inter-professional committee consisting of medical and pharmacy student leaders at the University of XXXXX whose focus is to increase synergy between the medical and pharmacy schools.
· Initiated partnership which matches a pharmacy student and a medical student together for the course of their education to enhance students’ holistic learning
· Facilitate collaboration between the two schools’ respective organizations to improve community outreach, which has resulted in numerous events and fundraisers.

It's just tough because there's no real parent organization. And I've always been taught that if you do a description for one item on your CV then you have to do it for all items. Thoughts? Opinions? Thanks!

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[Caffeine QAM]

I prefer seeing descriptions if I'm reading a CV, otherwise it's just a list.

 

[BMBiology]

Are you applying for a job or residency? For a job, I don't really care about your extracurricular activities. I just want to see your work experiences and how long you have worked there. Whether you get the job or not depends on your interview, not your CV or resume.


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[MindGeek]

If you held a leadership position move it under Leadership Experience instead of Community Service or Professional Organizations.

Have separate sections for everything and be as descriptive as possible (it's a CV not a resume)...

My CV is ordered as follows:

• Education
• Registrations
• Certifications
• Professional Employment
• Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences
• Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences
• Research Experience
• Peer-Reviewed Publications
• Scholarships & Awards
• Leadership Experience
• Professional Enrichment
• Community Service
• Professional Organizations
• Professional Networking

My LinkedIn is ordered as follows:

• Experience (combine all Professional, APPE, and IPPE with most recent at top).
• Education
• Certifications (combine Registrations and Certifications)
• Projects (for Research Experience)
• Publications
• Honors & Awards
• Organizations (for Leadership Experience)
• Volunteer (for Community Service)
• Organizations You Support (for Professional Organizations)
• Courses (demarcate all that you achieved an A or A-)
• Skills & Endorsements
• Additional Information (I welcome inquiries at...)

Personal branding is important!

• Come up with a brand or you'll be left in the dust in this pharmacist job market.
• Make sure that your LinkedIn URL, professional email, and professional twitter are all in alignment with your memorable brand and of course linked to each other.
• pwc has a great personal branding workbook for you to go through if you're stumped.

Good Luck!

[Disclaimers: I am not a CV guru or CV expert, but I have received great interest in and feedback from mine. I did not apply for a residency.]

 

[monkieez]

I am kind of in between and have descriptions for my residency rotations and list my appe rotation. However I am considering adding it back because my student experiences are quite different than my residency so still deciding.

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[pharmrx33]

I am kind of in between and have descriptions for my residency rotations and list my appe rotation. However I am considering adding it back because my student experiences are quite different than my residency so still deciding.

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Oh, there are supposed to be descriptions for rotations, as well? I'm just nervous cause I have a lot of stuff and do not want a super long CV for residency where they are like 'what the hell'. Although I have been fortunate to do a lot. I guess its a good problem to have, but still I'm sure some understand my point. I guess I'm just not trying to take myself "too seriously".

 

[Caffeine QAM]

Oh, there are supposed to be descriptions for rotations, as well? I'm just nervous cause I have a lot of stuff and do not want a super long CV for residency where they are like 'what the hell'. Although I have been fortunate to do a lot. I guess its a good problem to have, but still I'm sure some understand my point. I guess I'm just not trying to take myself "too seriously".

I would recommend descriptions for your work experience and leadership experience...APPEs and IPPEs mainly are there to see what you were exposed to, what sites you were at, and if we know any of your preceptors.

Actually, whenever possible, better would be to outline what you accomplished rather than what you did.

 

[MindGeek]

outline what you accomplished rather than what you did

I agree with @Caffeine QAM .

• Keep a little notebook on you and write down everything you do all day as you do it.
• From that include the accomplishments, key projects, out-of-the-ordinary duties, formal write-ups, formal presentations, etc.
• Sure once you're a pharmacist a few years out this won't go on your CV, but that's a good problem to have and to have to worry about later.
• No one is going to communicate what it is that you've accomplished other than you!
• A long prose description or simple "240 hours completed" either loses the reader's attention or communicates nothing.

 

[pharmrx33]

I would recommend descriptions for your work experience and leadership experience...APPEs and IPPEs mainly are there to see what you were exposed to, what sites you were at, and if we know any of your preceptors.

Actually, whenever possible, better would be to outline what you accomplished rather than what you did.

Okay, cool, I will do this. Thank you very much.

 

[BenJammin]

I don't believe in descriptions on a CV. Doesn't really make sense. You only need one line of information. If you're the Co Founder and Pharmacy Chair of ABC Pharmacy Organization then just put it simply as that. My mentor has a CV of 12 pages. You guys in pharmacy school should not have a CV that even approaches half of that. If an interviewer wants to discuss something in your CV then you can talk about it. It's not appropriate to put that on a CV. They are outlines that can be used to bring up discussions. If you put a description on every CV item then it would balloon to 40-50 pages. Don't have time for that.

My CV uses this outline:

Education

Awards and Professional Recognitions

Professional Experience

Teaching Experience

Professional Organizations

Non-Professional Organizations

Professional Licensure

Board Certfication

Non-Board Certification and Registration

Professional Service

Non-Professional Service

Publications

Invited Lectures & Presentations