Need help writing an academic resume? Not to worry; we'll help you find different ways to compose academic resumes that will grab the attention of recruiters. If you're applying to a Ph.D. program, looking to be a research assistant, or planning to teach at the college level, employers may request that you submit a CV instead. There are some key differences between a CV and a resume you'll want to know.
If you're still sure you need to write a resume, stick with us. We've reviewed hundreds of academic resumes and highlighted common mistakes job seekers make. We've used this information to create the perfect resume for applicants in various academic fields and practices.
Whether you're looking for a job as an academic advisor or wanting to advance your research or student career, we'll show you the best resume-writing practices for this profession. Here are five of the best academic resume samples that worked in 2023.
Academic Resume
Why this resume works
- Consider including a resume objective to highlight some of your key achievements. Remember, this section should be a snapshot of what recruiters need to know about you. For that reason, don't be too humble.
- Be specific and to the point while conveying your best.
- Customize your objective by mentioning the target business by name and sprinkling in some relevant keywords from the job description.
- Recruiters want to interview people they believe can positively impact the company.
- Use industry-specific terms in your academic resume and pepper it with solid metrics to demonstrate your impact.
- For example, saying you "prepared 3-4 genomic samples per week from DNA for sequencing" shows your industry familiarity while using numbers to offer an easy-to-read glimpse of your duties.
Academic Advisor Resume
Why this resume works
- Quantifying your impact provides a numerical overview of what recruiters can expect from you.
- If you struggle to find ways to express those metrics on your academic advisor resume, ask yourself:
- How many students did I advise?
- Did I help students obtain scholarship money? If so, how much?
- Did I get positive performance reviews?
- Don't exaggerate your results or resume skills, hoping to impress recruiters. It will break their trust and put too much pressure on you if hired.
High School Academic Resume
Why this resume works
- When writing your high school academic resume, try to be concise without leaving out important information. Using words like 'successfully' or 'skillfully' will only take up extra space and may be considered filler.
- In the academic world, your resume should shout, "organized!"
- We suggest using the reverse-chronological resume format for an easy-to-read, logical flow.
- Reverse-chronological formatting orders your work experience and education from the most recent to the oldest, so employers get to the most relevant stuff first.
- Double-check your resume work experience bullet points to ensure they take less than three lines and stick to between 20 to 200 characters per bullet.
College Academic Resume
Why this resume works
- The most critical sections in your college academic resume are the contact information, work experience, skills, and education.
- It's helpful to mention your proficiency in any industry-specific tool or skill. While at it, quantify your achievements to show your impact.
- For example, "Inspected, maintained, and ordered repairs for medical equipment, reducing repair costs by $27K in 2018" proves that you won't need a lot of training and will add value right away.
Grad School Academic Resume
Why this resume works
- Your grad school academic resume should highlight your dependability and commitment to excellence.
- You can achieve this by writing action statements:
- For example, "Developed action plans for 15 chemistry students based on academic goals and personal needs"
- Accentuate your power statements with a neat yet stylish resume template.
- Lastly, polish it off with a hint of subtle color for pop while remaining professional, and don't be afraid to have just a touch of white space.
How to Write an Academic Resume
No matter where you are in your academic career, we can walk you through in four easy steps how to write your own academic resume. As you work through these steps, you'll find the academic resume samples above will help you stay on track and give you the inspiration you need to make your own.
1. Choose the right resume format for your academic resume
Use a reverse-chronological format to list experience, volunteer efforts, and personal and academic projects. If you’re between early high school or post-graduate school, we bet you have academic and personal projects, like research, internships, mentoring, volunteering, etc. that you can talk about in reverse-chronological order. Functional and combo formats are tempting, but a reverse timeline will give recruiters the best insight into your skills and what you offer.
2. Emphasize your education
Especially if pursuing higher education, list the school, degree, and year you earned the degree in your academic resume. If you’re still studying, set the date to the anticipated graduation year. List relevant courses to your degree plan. For example, if you’re a Biology major wanting a research assistant position, Biology of Mammalian Cells and Tissues would be a relevant course. You can also include a high GPA as well as honors, awards, and affiliations.
3. Write a career objective if you’re looking for your first role out of school
Briefly explain how the skills you’ve gained from your academic background (UCLA graduate with 3+ years of assisting and supervising biological research) couple well with the role (collaborate with a multi-disciplinarian team in life-science research) you’re seeking at a specific organization. As you read a company’s job ad, what qualities and traits are important for the role that resonate with you? Let that be your springboard to write a customized career objective.
4. Focus on accomplishments, not on job duties
Share results whether the work you’ve done has been paid work, volunteer work, or even class projects. For example, maybe you volunteered to mentor students at a tutor center. Rather than say you developed lessons or communicated with parents, discuss outcomes that speak to your abilities. “Worked one on one with students to improve math scores by one letter grade” or “increased student enrollment by 8% with new referral program” speaks volumes about your work!
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