When I dropped you 3 steps to design a widely acceptable CV/Resume Using Microsoft Word, people returned to thank me for that. I was quick to spot some errors on job seekers’ CVs which I couldn’t but put to light as well. There, I said, “number 7 would surprise you”. Weren’t you surprised really?
If you haven’t read them, take a moment to go through the posts linked above.
Now, by popular request, some readers demanded to have clues on how to prepare and design CVs when going out to chase academic positions such as the post of lecturers, or non-academic staff such as school bursar, account officer, office assistant, etc.
As a matter of fact, academic and non-academic position adverts are usually different from other vacancies being advertised by companies from other industries such as manufacturing, banking, information technology, etc
Universities, Polytechnics, and Colleges of Education are categorized here. Their CV templates are usually different. Below is the standard your CV has to follow for such jobs.
Before then, let’s take some important details seriously.
Don’t forget errors on CVs are one of the setbacks depriving job seekers. Yet, most are not aware of this cankerworm. Take time to read the post I linked above to get this in detail.
Don’t also forget that I had earlier recommended that, CV doesn’t have to be static, especially the career objective part. You have to tailor the content of your resume to a particular company/business you are chasing at the moment. Don’t use the same CV for all positions and companies.
This now takes us to the design of CVs for job searching at a University, Polytechnic, or College of Education
Order of Items/Headings that Must Be Included in Academic and Non-Academic CVs
- Name (Surname first in CAPITAL)
- Date and Place of Birth
- Nationality
- Pate of Origin/LGA (If Nigerian)
- Permanent Home/Contact Address
- Current Postal Address
- Phone/GSM No
- Marital Status
- Number & Ages of Children
- Name & Address of Next of Kin
- Telephone No and E-Mail Address of Next of Kin
- Present Position/Date
- Date of Confirmation of Present/ Current Appointment
- Institutions Attended with Dates
- Academic Qualifications with Dates
- Work Experience with Dates
- Journal Publications with Dates
- Research Interest and Activities
- Workshops/Conferences/Seminars Attended with Dates
- Workshops/Conferences/Seminars Papers Presented
- Other Activities Outside Current Employment
- Membership in Professional Bodies
- Extra-Curricular Activities
- Names, Address, Telephone No, and E-Mail of Three (3) Referees
- Date of Availability for Duty
- Signature and Date
NOTE
- Most adverts for positions in a school will detail exactly these or more/less.
- Each of the lines above can be numbered (1, 2, 3, etc.) or otherwise. Stick to the requirements as detailed in the advert.
- Times New Roman is the widely accepted font appropriate for this type of CV
- Academic and non-academic positions usually require REFEREES from a candidate’s field of studies such as project supervisor, instructor, etc. This is because these people may be contacted or be required to send a report about you.
- You will find this post on how to convert your CV to PDF useful if need be. It may be required if the application is through the internet rather than the submission of hard copies of your credentials