Tips for Writing a Professional Curriculum Vitae

Writing and maintaining a professional CV is critical to your career. It is quite often the first impression a future medical director or employer will have of you. A good CV requires detailed crafting to appropriately convey education, training, and practice experience. The quality of your CV can affect future opportunities and professional growth. It is important to follow a few helpful tips as you craft your curriculum vitae for your job search in California.

Curriculum Vitae

Listed below are professional suggestions that will help you create a polished, dynamic curriculum vitae. For additional career assistance, feel free to contact the team at Tracy Zweig Associates.

What to include

There are several essential components to any curriculum vitae:

  • Personal information: Start your CV with this basic information. Provide your general contact information that others would need in order to reach you.
  • Education: Include your degrees and the awarding institutions. The best presentation of a CV is chronological, therefore the next items on your CV will be your undergraduate degree, followed by medical school, followed by residency, and if applicable, fellowship or fellowships.
  • Practice Experience: To maintain the chronological flow of your CV, follow your educational information with the first position that followed your residency or fellowship. Include the name of the practice or medical group, the city and state in which you worked, and a very brief description of your work. Repeat this information for each position you have held.
  • Gaps: If there are any gaps in your education, training , or practice experience, list these where they occurred chronologically with a very brief explanation of the gap such as family leave, medical leave, maternity leave, or sabbatical.
  • Skills: Include all types of training and experience that will demonstrate your skills. List any research, technological skills, EMR software experience, foreign language knowledge, publications, presentations, licensure, certifications, and memberships.

What not to include

As you create your CV, omit the following information:

  • Personal details: When you provide your basic contact information, do not include extra details such as marital, parental, or religious status.
  • Photo: While many online profiles typically include a photograph, a CV does not need one.
  • Salary history: As you list your prior professional experience, omit any information regarding compensation.
  • References: Potential employers may request references as you move through the interview process, however it is not necessary to include these on your CV. List them separately and provide them upon request.

More curriculum vitae writing tips for California Practitioners

  • Length: The ideal CV is no more than one or two pages. Publications may be listed separately on a second or third page in order to maintain a concise CV.
  • Style: Be concise. Use bullet points and summarize experience and education as briefly as possible, rather than include many details. Use professional language, avoiding abbreviations and slang.
  • Format: Review your completed CV, edit for misspelled words, and make sure it is not cluttered. White space is appealing for the reader/reviewer of your CV. Check that formatting is consistent with spacing and bullets. An appealing format will convey an overall impression of a polished professional.
  • Letter: A cover letter, if you choose to include one, will be a brief statement regarding your qualifications that are specifically relevant to the position for which you are applying.

Discover more

For additional curriculum vitae writing tips for positions in California, please contact the professionals at Tracy Zweig Associates, Inc. A great many medical practitioners have found permanent work through our firm. We are dedicated to the placement of physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants in both locum tenens and permanent positions in California. Contact us today for more information.