This week’s pop-up was our busiest yet – a walk through the process of adapting an academic CV for non-academic opportunities. Using a current vacancy (for a commercial project manager) I explained how to extract the employer’s wish list from an advert and other sources, then gave a quick overview of what I look for when reviewing a CV and recruiting. A huge thank you to the two researchers who volunteered their precious life stories for me to score through with red pen.
The session includes a number of opinions that I have about CVs and applying for jobs which are likely to be quite personal. I don’t know how widespread is my mild irritation about people telling about how great my job offer is for them (don’t care – I want to know why you are great for me!) and others may be less relaxed than I am with knowing why there might be career breaks in your history. The point is that by talking to people who recruit you’ll be able to work out the general common thoughts and what are strange foibles.
The session recording includes my responses to questions, which I hope are easy to follow and below are the links mentioned on my final slide.
Session Recording in MediaHopper
CVs for non Academic Jobs slides
The session also explains the workshop mascot- the Tangram Man – try to keep this image in mind as you construct your CV and give the employer what they want (a rabbit?) not what you are at the moment (a boat!).
The IAD Website includes a careers section and skills audit to help populate a CV with fresh ideas
https://www.ed.ac.uk/institute-academic-development/research-roles/research-only-staff/career-management
Graduate Prospects is a great resource – don’t be put off by the Graduate label. The advice can be developed for more experienced CVs
www.prospects.ac.uk > Careers advice / CVs and covering letters
Science (magazine) includes lots of articles about career transitions and will give you some of the insights I mentioned about what employers need
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org Articles and career resources
And there’s more to jobs.ac.uk than academic vacancies – also lots of articles and tips for recruitment
www.jobs.ac.uk/careers-advice
This training was developed to support our research staff including our Train@Ed cohort of fellows. Train@Ed has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska‐Curie grant agreement No. 801215
