How does your research experience translate to a science resume? Here are 10 tips to help you write better science industry resumes. Increase your chance of getting hired!
10 Science Industry Resume Writing Tips:
1. Resumes are very different from CVs. A CV is a list of all your work whereas a resume should be only information that pertains to that specific job. Science industry resumes should be one to two pages and skimmable for easy reading. Most applications will let you know whether they want a resume or CV.
2. A resume is useful for many purpose. You can use a resume for networking, job sites like LinkedIn, etc. Your resume is usually a starting point for an interviewer to ask you questions about yourself.
3. Format your resume. One page is likely enough if you are new to the market. Make your resume nice and "clean" allowing for plenty of white-space to make it very easy to read. Employers simply want to know, do you match the job description. Don't include any fancy fonts, emojis or other clutter. Focus on making your resume easy to read.
4. Tailor your resume to the job description. Identify which skills and experience the job is asking for and include the skills and experience you have that match the job posting. Order these attributes based on the relevance to the employer/application.
5. Use keywords. Some companies will use software programs to filter through resumes. To appear near the top of any automated list, use the same wording found in the job posting for experience, skills, etc.
6. Put contact information at the top. Name, title (MD, etc.), permanent address, phone number, email. Create a job application specific email via Gmail or other service so that you can avoid spam after the application. Use your name the email address, no made-up names like sciencegeek1234@email.
7. Following your contact info, include a summary of qualifications, 3 to 5 bullet points that highlight your top skills. This might be the most important part of your resume as this is often where an employer will make a decision to move forward or not. List any job related accomplishments.
8. Don't list education at the top, list your work experience. List post docs, internships, research assistantships as you would list a job. Use bullet points to list what you accomplished in that experience (e.g. did you get a grant, develop a specific method, etc.).
9. Publications. In academia a publication is an accomplishment, in industry it doesn't usually matter. These are better saved for LinkedIn profiles or separate documents attached to your resume if requested.
10. Be prepared to talk about and answer questions from your resume during an interview. Sit down with your own resume and imagine what questions an interviewer will ask you based on what you've included. If you have something in your resume and you can't explain it, that's a problem. Don't embellish the facts. People will call your references so let those references know you have listed them, stay in touch with them a couple times a year and ask if they would supply a good reference, if not, ask someone else.
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