This article is part of the “Resume tips” series.
Depending on whether you’re at the beginning of your medical career or an experienced doctor, your CV should be 2 to 8 pages long. In the U.S. recruiters often prefer resumes to CVs. But outside of it, healthcare employers usually expect you to submit a Curriculum Vitae.
This is basically your professional biography and its main point is to show your best side. A CV should contain your skills, job experiences, and academic achievements. And if your goal is to make an excellent paper, here are 5 secrets of a perfectly written medical CV.
- Tailor your CV
One of the most common mistakes people do is writing a generic CV with an idea to fit any job they could find. The recruiters recognize such practice immediately and conclude that you are not looking for their specific place. Instead, you should spend some time reading the prerequisites of the medical position you are after. Your CV should explain to the reader why you are the perfect fit for this position. And since not every doctor has the writing skills needed for this task, consider hiring a medical CV writing service. This writing company knows exactly how to tailor your professional biography to the needs of the workplace you seek.
- Structure it shrewdly
Recruiters usually spend very little time reading an individual CV. That means you have to structure your paper to make the most impressive things visible. Start your CV with your name, address, and contact information. Next, place your education, certification, licenses, and professional training. These things should create a focused impression, or else the recruiter could think that you have no plan for your professional medical development. After that, write a section about your job experiences. Avoid or explain gaps in this timeline.
The next chapters of your CV should be filled with teaching experience, honors and awards, and your publications if any. Take care about formatting too. Use only the most accepted fonts, like Times New Roman, Arial, Georgia, or Verdana. Do not mix fonts in your document to avoid looking unprofessional.
- Make yearly updates
A professional is bound to collect new items in their biography every year. That’s why you should revise your CV annually and make it reflect any developments in your career. In this revision, you should take a look at the things that could have become old or irrelevant to your current medical job seeking. Also, make sure to update your skills, because a year hardly passes without teaching you something new. Another important item on the list is keywords. These specific words have a special value in the context of job hunting. Your prospective company’s hiring board would be the place to look for the right keywords.
In some cases, you might find that your old CV has phrases that do not sound good or professional this year. Remove them. And finally, the style rarely stays the same over time. So, take a look at modern formatting trends in CV-writing.
- Include personal interests
Your curriculum vitae is not just a list of professional facts about you. It’s a document about your personality. Write not only about your work but also about the things you are interested in and why. Include hobbies, volunteer activities, and other projects you might be involved with. The point is to show your reader that you are a well-balanced individual who has professional interests. Moreso, your extracurricular activities may show the qualities needed for the job you are after.
- Heighten your words with evidence
It goes without saying, that your CV should contain only true facts. But it would be even more efficient if you prove the facts with numbers, dates, and names of people involved in your professional history. First, you want to include every relevant achievement you had along your career path. Tell the exact things you have achieved, where, when, and how much. Second, use at least two referees in your document. That is, a couple of words from an authoritative individual in your industry about you. Put their contact information as well, so the readers of your CV could get in touch with these people. But of course, you should reference only people who have agreed to do so.
Final words
Having an excellent curriculum vitae is crucial for getting a job. Now you know the secrets of how to make it perfect. Tailor your document according to the job you seek. Pay attention to the rules of structure. Revise your CV every year. Do not be shy to put your personal interests among your professional information. And build your narrative out of impressive and proven facts.
