Activity #4 – Converting your CV to a Professional Resume

Objective

In this activity, you will create or refine a strong resume that sells your most relevant skills and experiences to prospective employers.

Individual Activities

Unlike your CV, which paints a portrait of your academic history and accomplishments, a resume is a marketing tool that selectively emphasizes those skills and experiences most relevant to the job or internship you are applying for.  Depending on the job, it may be the transferable skills that you have built, and not your academic expertise, that you will want to highlight.

If you are in the early stages of your time at Yale, doing a resume is a productive exercise anyway! By evaluating the narrative you can present with your current experience set, you will be in a much better position to strategically determine what skills to invest in while at Yale.

For this activity, work on a draft of your resume. To get started, review  the resources below.

  1. Evaluate your transferable skills:  For example, see Transferable Skills and How to Talk About Them, Connected Academics, Modern Language Association.
  2. Review examples of how to tailor a resume to a job description for 15 job families at ImaginePhD.
  3. Read resume tips from OCS and download a template.
  4. Watch our presentation on crafting an effective resume on Yale Connect.
  5. Craft resume entries with impactful resume bullet points and strong action verbs
  6. Upload your resume to Big Interview for instant feedback via their AI resume review tool.

Once you have a solid draft, make an appointment with an OCS adviser on the Yale Career Link for revisions and additional feedback.

Group Activities

For the 1st half of the session, do a peer resume review. You may use this Resume Rubric to evaluate each other’s resumes.

  1. What skills stand out? Are experiences well-described to sell relevant skills?
  2. Do descriptions of research highlight how you executed the work, or do they primarily describe the topic?
  3. Does the resume follow a consistent and clear format that uses descriptive headings?

For the 2nd half, brainstorm ways to enhance your resume while at Yale, and reflect as a group on next steps so that everyone has an action plan.

  1. Start by recapping each group member’s career exploration: Did you have any thoughts of what careers you might be interested when you came into this program, and how have your thoughts changed?
  2. Create Smart Goals:  What skills and experience do you hope to obtain by the time of your graduation that will make you a stronger candidate for a job you’re interested in?
    1. Brainstorm as a group on how to build relevant skills and experience during your time at Yale.
    2. What skill-building strategies work with your academic priorities?
    3. How will you monitor your progress?