Transforming Your
CV to a Resume
Transforming Your CV to a Resume 2
Transforming Your CV to a Resume
Where do I start?
Ensure your CV has all the up-to-date academic
activities and accomplishments you have accumulated
since college. This will serve as your master CV.
You can develop industry or role-specic resumes by
taking relevant elements out of your master CV and
modifying them. This step-by-step guide help you
build and format a strategic and targeted resume
highlighting your relevant experiences and skills to a
specic career beyond academia.
How do I covert my CV to resume?
Always start with a job you are planning to apply to.
Thoroughly review the job description to identify which
transferable skills and experiences are considered
more important than others.
Once you have a list of core skills and experiences for
the position, consider and write down the relevant
knowledge and skills you’ve gained through your
training (e.g., research, teaching, fellowships). Don't
forget to consider your volunteering work (e.g.,
graduate student group engagement, mentoring
undergraduates, services to your department), and
any freelance work you may have involved within or
outside of academia.
Once you have compiled this information, ask
yourself how you achieved success in your work and
what specic tools you used to reach your goals.
These questions will help you develop impactful
accomplishment statements from your experiences.
This process will be covered in more detail throughout
this guide.
What do I include in my resume?
Skills: During your graduate career, you develop
valuable transferable skills that build upon research or
teaching. Examples include collaborating with peers
and identifying emerging trends/patterns from data
to offer evidence-informed insights for improvement.
These may also include specic equipment, software or
capabilities used within each experience such as SAS,
Python, R, and Illustrator.
Accomplishment Statements: These are
impactful descriptions conveying your skills and
accomplishments under each of your most relevant
experiences. Start with an action verb. You should
qualify and quantify your achievements in each of
your accomplishment statements. Highlight your most
relevant transferable skills in your accomplishment
statements in a way that a hiring manager can easily
understand.
Relevant Experience: This section includes full-time
or part-time employment, volunteering, extracurricular
activities, teaching, research and/or eld experiences.
Names and locations of employers and dates of
employment should be included. Create a bulleted list
of accomplishment statements detailing the level of
responsibility, knowledge and acquired skills relevant
to the position to which you are planning to apply
Headings: Create specic headings to break down
your experiences by functional area. Examples include:
Archival Research, Lab Management Experience,
Leadership Experience, Teaching Experience or
Technical Skills.
Step 1: Identify Key Transferable Skills
Graduate students develop transferrable and technical skills throughout their Princeton experience. Whether
it’s through teaching, research/eld work, campus engagement, some of the skills graduate students may
develop during their training may include:
Data analysis and interpretation
Abstract reasoning
Research
Project management
Synthesis of ideas, data or existing literature
Communication (verbal and written)
Self-management, initiative and motivation
Ability to express complex information
Collaboration and leadership skills
Critical thinking/problem solving
See the next page for some examples of more specic skills you may have developed during your academic career.
Transforming Your CV to a Resume 3
Data analysis and interpretation Research
Dene a problem and identify possible causes Identify sources of information applicable to a problem
or situation
Consolidate or synthesize large amounts of information
into a coherent argument
Design qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-method
research and analyze the data
Identify emerging trends and offer evidence-informed
insights for improvement
Develop organizing principles to sort and evaluate data
Self-Management and Work Ethic Collaboration and Leadership Skills
Work effectively under pressure and meet deadlines Motivate, train and coach individuals to accomplish
learning goals
Consider the impacts of my actions on the broader
community and make responsible decisions
Identify and apply the strengths of others to maximize
team outcomes while achieving a common goal
Be resourceful and build an effective line of
communication with your adviser
Build relationships with others to collaborate, share
resources and brainstorm ideas
Communication Program Management and Organization
Effectively facilitate group discussions by keeping them
constructive
Manage and categorize large assortments of
information and data
Write and edit in forms ranging from brief abstracts to
book-length manuscripts
Identify goals and tasks to be accomplished in a
realistic timeline
Articulate ideas, presentations and ndings to a wide
variety of audiences under time constraints
Prioritize tasks while maintaining exibility to address
potential and unexpected problems
Transforming Your CV to a Resume 4
Identify Key Transferable Skills Worksheet
Based on a thorough review of the job description of your interest, list your top relevant transferable skills in the
far left column and then note the context(s) in which you demonstrated each skill. These can be brief. Although the
example below illustrates a skill that has been used in all three types of contexts, some of your specic skills may have
only been used in one or two different settings.
Key Transferable Skills Outside Graduate School Research & Teaching Campus Activity
Public speaking End of summer
presentation to
department staff at
organization A where I
interned
Conference
presentations to share
my dissertation ndings
for researchers and
faculty members
Proposal for graduate
student leadership council
Transforming Your CV to a Resume 5
Step 2: Create Accomplishment Statements
Writing concisely about your experiences and skills in
the limited space on a resume can be challenging. To
write effective accomplishment statements, start with
an Action Verb, then provide the Context for that action
using quantitative and qualitative terms and share the
End Result of your actions to show the value of your
contributions. Examples of accomplishment statements
by skill include:
Writing and Planning
Planned and implemented each phase of research,
including experiment design, data collection and
analysis, and written reporting of ndings
Co-authored 5 articles published in peer-reviewed
journals such as the Journal of Biological Chemistry
Developed technical reports to disseminate
preliminary ndings of a research project
examining the impacts of political culture on
women's political socialization
Collaboration and Leadership Skills
Lead 3 undergraduate researchers to complete
project goals on time and within budget for
developing an effective treatment technology
Collaborate with several postdoctoral researchers
and graduate students to develop and submit a
proposal for a community-building research grant
Oversee budget and manage programming and
events to raise awareness about equity issues on
campus
Research, Interpretation and Analysis:
Analyze a secondary data set of 200,000+ U.S.
immigrants to identify historical immigration trends
Conducted 3 longitudinal research projects from
design to completion in 4.5 years
Design lab protocol and revise approaches during
genetic proteins in senior research projects
Communication Skills
Managed and mentored 2 undergraduate
researchers in senior research projects
Presented research at multiple conferences to
share primary ndings with fellow researchers and
faculty members
Converting research “jargon” to accomplishment statements
It is important to be able to effectively communicate your skills and experiences to readers who may not possess
a similar academic background and may not be familiar with eld-specic jargon. Consider the example below:
Scientic accomplishment statements:
Department of Physics, Princeton University September 2016 - Present
Derive the long-time diffusion coefcient in disordered systems with trapping and releasing mechanisms
Predict permeability of random media by their tomographic information
Alternative statements for less scientic readers:
Department of Physics, Princeton University September 2016 2016 - Present
Independently assess mathematical models to conceptualize and evaluate trapping and releasing
mechanisms
Apply technical tools to hypothesized outcomes related to random media
Transforming Your CV to a Resume 6
Create Accomplishment Statements - Worksheet
List your top 5-10 skills in the left column, then note the context where you demonstrated each skill.
See sample action verbs in the Additional Resources section on pages 9 & 10 for assistance.
Action Verb Context End Result
Authored 5+ articles on the correlation
between atoms and perception
of physical spaces
Published in the Summer 2019
IEEE Journal
Transforming Your CV to a Resume 7
Step 3: Format Experiences
Now put it all together and add your employer, location, position and employment timeframe. Here are a few examples
that contain these elements:
Research Experience
Princeton University, Engineering and Applied Sciences, Princeton, NJ | 2015 - Present
Graduate Researcher
Develop protein binding interactions involved in the signaling pathway of apoptosis
Conduct extensive literature reviews of patent and scientic trends
Analyze innovative binding interactions involving apoptosis to better understand cellular lifecycles
Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. | September 2017 - May 2018
Brookings Research Fellow
Awarded rst pre-doctoral fellowship for dissertation research granted by the Metropolitan Policy Program
Created a dataset compiled from government sources on municipal nances and socioeconomics for sub-committee
on nance
Programmed rare-events regressions to measure the impact of scal control boards in small cities
Performed qualitative case studies on the control boards of Miami and Washington, D.C. through interviews with key
actors, archival research, and evaluating nancial reports
Presented at 2 national academic conferences for Political Science (7,200 attendees) and Planning (1,000 attendees)
Teaching Experience
Princeton University, Department of History, Princeton, NJ | September 2015 - Present
Teaching Assistant
Conduct study sessions, facilitate discussions and contribute to curriculum design
Teach philosophy and history of science to over 70 students
Medical Communication Experience
The Merck Index, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ | June 2016 - August 2016
Associate Editor
Wrote original scientic monographs for The Merck Index using a broad scientic background in chemistry and
biomedical sciences
Edited the chemical structure content of The Merck Index for publication
Managed staff of 3 working on editorial projects to write new material, update existing material and to enhance
The Merck Index web and digital versions
Represented the Merck Publishing Group at national and international scientic and professional meetings,
seminars and exhibits
Leadership Experience
Princeton Graduate Consulting Club, Princeton, NJ | January 2018 - December 2019
Co-President
Led one of the largest clubs on campus with 12-person executive board and 150+ active members
Developed strategic partnerships with major consulting rms and alumni to build sustainable talent pipelines
Co-organized 20+ weekly case-practice sessions and won 2 Ivy case competitions in 2019
Transforming Your CV to a Resume 8
Format Experiences – Worksheet
Organization, Location Timeframe
Position
Accomplishment Statement 1
Accomplishment Statement 2
Accomplishment Statement 3
Organization, Location Timeframe
Position
Accomplishment Statement 1
Accomplishment Statement 2
Accomplishment Statement 3
Organization, Location Timeframe
Position
Accomplishment Statement 1
Accomplishment Statement 2
Accomplishment Statement 3
Organization, Location Timeframe
Position
Accomplishment Statement 1
Accomplishment Statement 2
Accomplishment Statement 3
Organization, Location Timeframe
Position
Accomplishment Statement 1
Accomplishment Statement 2
Accomplishment Statement 3
Transforming Your CV to a Resume 9
Additional Resources: Helpful Headers and Action Verbs
To prioritize your experiences and effectively tailor your resume, use headers to differentiate each of your past
work/research experiences. Headers allow you to draw the reader’s attention to key sections of your resume.
SAMPLE EDUCATION HEADERS
SAMPLE RESEARCH HEADERS
SAMPLE TECHNICAL HEADERS
FIELD-DRIVEN WRITING/CONSULTING HEADERS
TRANSFERABLE SKILL-DRIVEN WRITING/CONSULTING HEADERS
Academic Background
Educational Background
Education and Training
Related Coursework
Select Coursework
Completed Coursework
Academic Accomplishments
Scholarships
Grants Awarded
Academic Projects
Research Experience
Lab Management Experience
Conference Presentations
Scholarly Contributions
Publications
Leadership Experience
Independent Research
Archival Research
Genomics Research Experience
Data Research Experience
Invited Talks
Coding Experience
Software Development Experience
Technical Experience
Programming Languages
Hardware Experience
Technical Skills
Consulting Experience
Medical Communication Experience
Publishing and Editorial Experience
Healthcare Industry Experience
Instructional Design Experience
Teaching Experience
Leadership Experience
Teamwork Experience
Project Management Experience
Pharmaceutical Research Experience
Entrepreneurship Experience
Local Government Experience
Community Outreach and Services
Mentoring & Advising Experience
Data Analytic Experience
South-Asian Literature Writing Experience
Transforming Your CV to a Resume 10
Management
& Leadership
administered
appointed
approved
assigned
attained
authorized
chaired
consolidated
controlled
coordinated
decided
delegated
directed
eliminated
emphasized
enforced
enhanced
executed
handled
headed
hired
hosted
increased
instituted
led
managed
merged
overhauled
oversaw
planned
prioritized
produced
recommended
streamlined
strengthened
supervised
Communication
addressed
advertised
articulated
authored
claried
communicated
composed
condensed
conferred
consulted
contacted
conveyed
convinced
corresponded
dened
described
discussed
drafted
edited
elicited
enlisted
expressed
inuenced
informed
instructed
interacted
interviewed
joined
judged
listened
mediated
moderated
motivated
negotiated
observed
outlined
persuaded
presented
promoted
proposed
publicized
recruited
reinforced
reported
responded
solicited
specied
suggested
synthesized
translated
wrote
Research
analyzed
compared
conducted
critiqued
detected
determined
diagnosed
evaluated
examined
experimented
explored
extracted
formulated
gathered
identied
inspected
interpreted
investigated
located
measured
researched
searched
summarized
surveyed
tested
Technical
adapted
assembled
built
constructed
converted
debugged
engineered
fabricated
installed
maintained
operated
programmed
rectied
regulated
remodeled
repaired
replaced
solved
specialized
studied
upgraded
Financial/Data
adjusted
allocated
analyzed
appraised
assessed
audited
balanced
calculated
computed
conserved
corrected
estimated
forecasted
marketed
projected
reconciled
retrieved
Helping /Teaching
advised
advocated
answered
cared for
coached
collaborated
contributed
cooperated
counseled
demonstrated
educated
enabled
encouraged
ensured
expedited
explained
facilitated
familiarize
furthered
guided
intervened
motivated
provided
referred
rehabilitated
simplied
supplied
supported
taught
trained
tutored
volunteered
Organization/
Detail
arranged
cataloged
categorized
charted
classied
coded
collected
compiled
distributed
generated
implemented
incorporated
logged
monitored
obtained
ordered
organized
prepared
processed
purchased
recorded
registered
reserved
reviewed
routed
scheduled
submitted
standardized
systematized
updated
validated
veried
Creative
acted
combined
conceptualized
created
customized
designed
developed
displayed
drew
entertained
established
fashioned
founded
illustrated
initiated
integrated
introduced
invented
modeled
modied
originated
performed
photographed
revised
revitalized
shaped
Accomplishments
achieved
completed
expanded
exceeded
improved
pioneered
reduced
resolved
restored
transformed
Action Verbs
Transforming Your CV to a Resume 11
Sample Resume #1
Thalia is interested in the pharmaceutical industry, especially R&D and medical communication. She highlighted her
most relevant research and transferable skills by including research, communication, and leadership skills.
Thalia Tiger
123 Tiger Street, Princeton, NJ • thalia.tiger@princeton.edu • 555-555-5555 linkedin.com/in/tigerthalia
EDUCATION
Princeton University Princeton, NJ
Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical Engineering Expected December 2020
University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA
Master of Science in Chemical Engineering May 2012
University of Dayton Dayton, OH
Bachelor of Science Chemical Engineering, Minor in Marketing May 2010
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Computer: Proficient in C++, Java, HTML, Linux, C, Python
Writing: Proficient in AMA Style, MS Office, PubSTRAT, Datavision, PubMed, Reference Manager,
Documentum and Adobe Photoshop; experience with medical/regulator reviews
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Princeton University, Chemical and Biological Engineering Department Princeton, NJ
Graduate Researcher September 2015-Present
Design and fabricate advanced microfluidics to generate well-defined physical and chemical environments to
study cellular chemotaxis
Characterize response of chemotactic cells to various well-defined static and dynamic chemical environments
Collaborate with 2 graduate research assistants and a postdoc to identify and assess ability of motile cells to
determine path of least hydraulic resistance
Lead undergraduate researchers to discover novel phenomenon of directional persistence in migrating neutrophils
Present findings at national conferences and departmental seminars to audiences ranging from 8 to 50 participants
University of Pittsburgh, Chemical Engineering Department Pittsburgh, PA
Graduate Research Assistant September 2010-April 2012
Collaborated with postdocs and PIs to analyze and determine mutations with tested DNA and RNA samples
Discovered 80% correlation between mutations and decreased amount within the tested DNA and RNA
Mentored 5 undergraduate research assistants to support their professional and personal development
University of Dayton, Kettering School of Engineering Dayton, OH
Undergraduate Research Assistant September 2002-April 2005
Collaborated with U.S. Air Force to investigate the impact of lead paint on jet fuel efficiency
Awarded the Wright Brother Innovation Award for accomplishments in research partnerships
MEDICAL COMMUNICATION EXPERIENCE
Bristol-Myers Squibb Plainsboro, NJ
Medical Writer Intern June 2018-August 2018
Developed clinical and preclinical publications, including primary manuscripts, review articles, product
monographs, slide presentations, abstracts and posters
Participated in global publication planning and operations meetings with domestic and international clients
Developed strategic materials including publication plans, communication platforms and key clinical findings
Princeton University Press Princeton, NJ
Editorial Assistant Volunteer January 2017-August 2018
Served as a medical science liaison between authors and the Press to support key aspects of editorial processes
involved in academic book publishing
Transforming Your CV to a Resume 12
MedErgy Health Group Yardley, PA
Medical Communication Liaison September 2012-August 2015
Coordinated multiple projects on therapeutic areas including diabetes, psoriasis, rheumatology, pain management
and opioid abuse/addiction
Collaborated with senior research scientists to develop actionable publication plans and directly communicated
the plans to senior management and executive board members
Co-authored technical reports and journal articles to communicate key research results to scientific communities
Managed timelines and submission requirements for publications in peer-reviewed medical journals
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS
T. Tiger and S. Jones. “The Likelihood Encoder for Scientific Streamlining” IEEE Transactions on Information
Theory (Volume: 62, Issue 4) April 2019
T. Tiger and R. Jones. “Rate-Distortion-Based Physical Layer Secrecy with Applications to Multimode Fiber”
IEEE Transactions on Communications (Volume: 62, Issue 3) December 2018
T. Tiger and P. Jones. “Joint Source-Channel Secrecy Using Hybrid Coding” Presented at ISIT 2017
T. Tiger. “Differentiation Between Atoms and Molecular Activity Within Cell Culturing Environments”
Presented at ASEE 2011
OTHER COMMUNICATION EXPERIENCE
Princeton University Princeton, NJ
Co-Instructor, Chemical and Biological Engineering Department September 2017- December 2018
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Keller Center January 2016 December 2016
Developed and updated curriculum, materials, and assessment plans aligned with learning outcomes
Taught and facilitated 5 lab and discussion sections for a total of 150 grad and undergraduate students
Courses taught: High-Tech Entrepreneurship; Design, Synthesis and Optimization of Chemical Processes; An
Integrated Introduction to Engineering, Mathematics; Physics, Incompressible Fluid Mechanics
LEADERSHIP & COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Princeton University, Graduate Engineering Council Princeton, NJ
Vice President in Communication and Engagement September 2018-Present
Oversee budget and manage programming and events to raise awareness of graduate engineering opportunities
Collaborate with Graduate School and leadership board to plan and implement organization’s strategic plans
Princeton University, Chemical and Biological Engineering Department Princeton, NJ
Graduate Representative September 2019-Present
Collaborate with the director of graduate program to address graduate student academic and career concerns
Created a departmental communication committee to promote recent research work and events for grad students
Letters to a Pre-Scientist West Windsor, NJ
Science Mentor September 2017- June 2019
Advised a total of 150 students at low-income high schools by answering questions related careers in STEM and
hosting workshops highlighting various ways to pursue sciences
University of Pittsburgh Graduate Student Council Yardley, PA
Membership Chair December 2010- April 2012
Managed database to maintain up to date records of over 300 members and developed weekly member newsletters
Led 2 team members to develop and implement sustainable plans for membership retention and recruitment
SELECTED AWARDS AND HONORS
2019 Princeton Graduate School Outstanding Dissertation Fellowship
2018 Princeton Chemical Engineering Student of the Year Award
2013 MedErgy Colleague Recognition Award
2012 Chemistry Achievement Award, Organic Chemistry
Transforming Your CV to a Resume 13
Sample Resume #2
Haochan is interested in applying for a job at a management consulting rm that requested a one-page resume for
applicants with an advanced degree. In additional to his research, he emphasized his leadership and teamwork.
Haochan Tiger
456 Tiger Ave, Princeton, NJ haochan.tiger@princeton.edu • 555-555-5555 linkedin.com/in/tigerhaochan
EDUCATION
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ Expected Aug. 2020
Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology, GPA: 3.81/4.00
Princeton Merit Fellowship recipient | GRE Scores: 162 on Verbal, 160 on Quant
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX May 2014
Master of Arts in Social Anthropology, GPA: 3.78/4.00
Graduate School Master Thesis Award recipient
Peking University, Beijing, China May 2012
Bachelor of Science, Applied Sociology, GPA: 3.63/4.00
SELECTED RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Doctoral Researcher | Princeton University, Princeton, NJ Jun. 2018-Present
Design and conduct mixed methods research to investigate how information and communication technologies
(ICTs) transformed immigration process
Analyze a secondary data set of 200,000+ U.S. immigrants to identify historical immigration trends
Lead 2 undergraduate researchers to conduct 100-minute interviews with 30 immigrants to explore their
immigrant experience within the context of changes in ICTs
Present primary results at national and international conferences to audiences ranging from 50 to 100 participants
Graduate Research Assistant | University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX Sept. 2013-Apr. 2014
Collaborated with 2 principal investigators to examine impacts of social environments on human behaviors within
the context of immigration and migration
Advised and trained 5 undergraduate research assistants on research design and qualitative data interpretation
LEADERSHIP & TEAMWORK EXPERIENCE
Co-President | Princeton Graduate Consulting Club, Princeton, NJ Jan. 2018-Dec. 2019
Led one of the largest clubs on campus with 12-person executive board and 150+ active members
Developed strategic partnerships with major consulting firms and alumni to build sustainable talent pipelines
Co-organized 20+ weekly case practice sessions and won 2 Ivy case competitions in 2019
Grad Coordinator | Keller Center Innovative Forum, Princeton, NJ Oct. 2017- May 2018
Built partnerships with 5 angel investors and 15 industry representatives to invest in the Innovation Forum
Collaborated with Executive Director and 2 managers to evaluate impacts of the forum and develop reports
Teaching Fellow | Princeton University , Princeton, NJ Jan. 2017-Aug.2018
Taught and facilitated 5 discussion sections for 100+ undergraduates in gender studies, business anthropology,
anthropology and social innovation
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Tiger, Haochan. 2019. “'We Are All in Together: Migrant Workplaces and Culture of Work.” Anthropology of
Work Review, 80 (4): 303-34.
Jones, Deniz and Tiger, Haochan. 2017. “The Value of Anthropology in Social and Evidence-driven
Entrepreneurship.”
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 53 (2): 120-40.
SKILLS & INTERESTS
Computer: Proficient in SAS, GraphPad, and Tableau; experience using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop
Language: Chinese (Native) and French (intermediate)
Interests: Drawing, graphic design, and certified Yoga instructor (CYI)