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6 Tips for Writing a Higher Education Academic CV

6 Tips for Writing a Higher Education Academic CV

These writing tips will show you the fundamentals of writing an academic CV to secure a position as a college instructor or university professor. An academic curriculum vitae, or CV, is a lot like a resume; however, it is longer and more detailed.

Higher education instructors typically have amassed more publications, presentations, and potentially professional affiliations than the average classroom teacher. Therefore, choosing to use a CV provides the job candidate with a better format for showcasing their relevant credentials. Don’t forget how important the perfect cover letter is for applying for higher education jobs. 

If you are a beginning teacher, you may wish to check out how to write a new teacher resume or CV with no experience.

It gives you space and freedom to list things without necessarily explaining or expanding upon them, i.e., jobs can come in a list format without including the responsibilities that went along with them. However, if you wish to highlight a few teaching accomplishments that went along with select jobs, you may do so. Furthermore, a CV allows the reader to skim through the document to find the information needed easily.

Discover these six tips for creating an effective higher education curriculum vitae.

Include a Focused Professional Academic Resume Profile

A professional summary, or introductory paragraph, provides you with the opportunity to highlight soft skills that don’t easily fit into the traditional areas of a higher education curriculum vitae. For instance, you may want to include descriptors that you know are your top characteristics to show what you value in your talents.

They may include diligent, goal-driven, collaborative, compassionate, student-focused, or dedicated. Your academic curriculum vitae profile also allows you to convey your strengths in meaningful statements, not just cold, hard facts, like in the rest of your CV.

Below are sample one-line statements from an introductory paragraph that might spark your interest:

* Goal-driven, professor with 10 years of hands-on teaching experience and a commitment to higher education.

* Well-rounded instructor dedicated to helping all students develop a genuine appreciation for higher learning.

* Hardworking academic leader with a talent for facilitating all types and levels of learners to ensure student success.

* Student-focused educator with the ability to incorporate real-world examples and present students with potential career choices.

* Results-oriented professor with a demonstrated capability to help students cultivate the skills, information, and motivation needed to succeed in today’s working world.

* Dynamic educator with a talent for cultivating a highly inclusive and interactive learning environment, where students are eager to be engaged and actively participate in class discussions.

Academic CVs Can Include an Areas of Expertise Section

This is up to you, but I recommend this section, which is similar to a profile. This section is dedicated to your areas of expertise and highlights your hard skills directly related to the academic field. Ensure you are aware of the different academic CV or resume formats you could use.

Come up with 8-10 core competencies to include in either a list or chart format. These talents will service as keywords and could also be beneficial to integrate into your higher education cover letter or application letter.

What you include in this area will depend on your background and what position you wish to secure in higher education. If you were writing a CV to transition from a college instructor to a dean position, you would focus on skills relevant to the sought-out profession.

If you are entering higher education in a new college instructor job, you will include a different skill set. It is critical to tailor the CV’s content to match what the education institute is seeking a new faculty member to bring to the community.

General examples of areas of strength to include in a college adjunct professor curriculum vitae could include:

  • Mental Health Awareness
  • Student Connections
  • Real-world applications
  • Differentiated instruction
  • Higher-order thinking
  • Creative problem-solving
  • Post-secondary careers
  • Student motivation
  • Confidence building
  • Multidisciplinary lessons
  • Academic Policies
  • One-on-one assistance
  • Classroom management

Integrate Presentations
When you present topics or papers to an audience, you utilize many of the same teaching skills required when instructing a class of students. You must be able to grab the audience’s attention, communicate the subject at hand, and answer questions that might stem from your discussion. If you have been asked to deliver talks or presentations, you have been recognized as a source of knowledge or expert in your field; therefore, it is a good idea to include all presentations you have delivered, particularly as they relate to the post-secondary topic you wish to teach.

Highlight Publications in an Academic Curriculum Vitae CV
Publications are written form of presentations; if published in an academic journal, your credibility soars. As such, if you are applying for a position as a college instructor or adjunct professor, you must integrate your publications in your higher education curriculum vitae. Make sure you write these journal articles in the proper format, including the title, journal name, date, and so forth. This process is the one when including presentations in your CV.

Include Your Thesis Statement
Within your academic CV, there will be a section dedicated to your formal education and credentials. If you have obtained a Master’s Degree or doctorate, you will want to include your thesis’s title. If your thesis directly correlates to the subject you wish to teach, you may want to incorporate a brief synopsis – if your summary is more than a few lines long, you can showcase it at the end of your document.

Use Quotes or Testimonials
Another resume writing tip is implementing quotes from fellow academics or former students to demonstrate your teaching skills concretely. You may use these in your higher education CV or application letter. Quotes should be one or two sentences that highlight your commitment to education, profound teaching skills, or dedication to helping students succeed. They can either be placed at the end of your document or strategically used as section breaks if they fall oddly between pages. Do not forget to include the name of the person giving the testimonial.

Implement these resume or CV writing tips to increase your education job interviews.

Need help, don’t hesitate to reach out to us toll-free at 1 877 738-8052 or email. Learn more about Candace or how the resume writing process works.

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