As the saying goes, you never get a second chance at a first impression. To make the best impression, you need to regularly review and revise your curriculum vitae (“course of life” in Latin and commonly referred to as a CV), which often serves as your initial introduction to staffing companies and facility representatives. This exercise is particularly beneficial if you are a physician seeking new professional experiences.
Before submitting your CV, check out these tips for polishing this important document to help it stand out among the others:
- Ensure your information is current. When you apply for a new opportunity, you need to verify that your CV is up to date. To simplify the task, get in the habit of revising it every few months. You will be able to recount the details more easily, and it should take only a few minutes of your time.
- Be concise and thorough. While the length of your CV is not limited to a page or two like a standard résumé, space is at a premium. Use it wisely and include only relevant information. Create a careful balance, making the details comprehensive but succinct.
- Follow a widely used format. Whether you are creating your CV from scratch or sprucing up an existing document, present your CV in a way that is favored by most recruiters and facility or practice managers. Your name, degree (i.e., MD or DO), credentials, and contact information (i.e., address, phone number, and email address) should appear at the top of the document. Next, provide particulars by section as follows:
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- Education – schools attended, as well as the names of degrees and dates earned, and details on post-graduate training and CME credits
- Licenses and Certifications – licenses with numbers and expiration dates, as well as board and other certifications
- Work History – full name of facility/practice with start and end dates, specialty, and responsibilities; be sure to note whether a job was locum tenens or a permanent position
- Memberships and Honors – professional affiliations, achievements, appointments, and awards
- Publications, Research, and Presentations – professional accomplishments, published articles, and research (use standard MLA format)
- References – name, position, address, phone number, and email address of three clinicians in your specialty with whom you have worked over the past five years
- Mind the gaps. Be prepared to account for any interruptions in your work history that exceed a month. For example, if you took time off to care for a sick or injured family member, note the month(s) and year and explain.
- Don’t be too open. Some providers wish to include personal information, like a favorite hobby, marital status, or photographs. This information is not required. Also, remember that particularly personal information—such as your date of birth, social security number, license numbers, and political or religious affiliations—should never be included.
- Omit a summary of qualifications. This information is extraneous, taking up valuable real estate on your CV. Similarly, you do not need to provide an objective; it’s clear that you are seeking a locum tenens opportunity in your area of practice.
- Proofread each update meticulously. Spellcheck is not foolproof; you could easily miss typos and grammatical or punctuation errors. Look beyond the section(s) you revised to review your entire CV. You may discover additional information that needs to be changed, added, or removed.
- Make it easy to read. Something as simple as using the “wrong” font can be distracting. While many people continue to use Times New Roman, best-ranked styles for today’s CVs include Calibri, Helvetica, Georgia, Arial, and Garamond. A font size between 10 and 12 is ideal for body text and between 12 and 14 is optimum for subheads. Additionally, headers, bullet points, and clean margins greatly improve your CV’s readability.
These eight recommendations are great guidelines for preparing your CV. Feel free to call Optimum Permanent Placement Services at 603.288.1624 to explore permanent opportunities with a knowledgeable recruiter, and check out our blog for the latest news and other helpful information.
