Military Experience and C.V.

[tscottturner]

I am putting together my C.V. prior to the start of my fourth year of med school and I'm curious as to how much of my military experience should be listed, and to what level of detail. Does anyone have any recommendations?

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[TheGoose]

im no expert but i would assume that if you are preparing it for military purposes you should list more detail but if its for civilian i would include experiences that show leadership or other qualities that can translate from military experience to be valuable in the civilian world (less detail here - more description of responsiblities/duties in general without the military jargon)

just my .02

 

[orbitsurgMD]

I am putting together my C.V. prior to the start of my fourth year of med school and I'm curious as to how much of my military experience should be listed, and to what level of detail. Does anyone have any recommendations?

As a rule, it is best to tailor your CV to your expected reader. If you are submitting it to a military reader, then details about the particular assignments you have had, the units you have been attached to and special military activities and assignments all have meaning. On the civilian side, not so much.

Also keep in mind, a CV for job application purposes is very different from the kinds of CVs that academic physicians often create, which contain every paper they have authored, co-authored, meeting they have spoken at, poster they have presented and so forth. Those can go into exhaustive detail and go on for dozens of pages.

The meat has to be in the first two pages, either way. You have to be able to summarize who you are and what you have done as a professional in that much space. Unless you have a lengthy career in the military, most doctors' military experience is condensed into two or three sentences in a bullet in their CV.

 

[sethco]

At the risk of sounding too cynical...

I would not list military experience at all on your civilian applications. Not all, but some PDs, may have a prejuidice upon military applicants for several reasons, such as may be pulled from the match, own military views, unlikely possibility of getting called up from IRR or prior bad experiences as examples. Some of these may be irrational thinking, but it is hard to change people's opinions. On the other hand, there may be a PD that views military experience as a bonus. I have certainly met a couple of these both types, even though most are neutral. Given this I would rather avoid turning program directors off based on my military background over an extra thing to put on your CV. It is hard to tell who you dealing with beforehand.

Just my .02