post-doc or job hunt, CV & cover(ing) letter writing - (Jul/12/2010 )

Hello,
I've (finally!) submitted my PhD thesis for the review about two weeks ago and now I struggle a bit with what to do next... First thing on my plan is to find a post-doc and if not succeeded - look for a "normal" job outside academia.

First things first
If anyone here knows about open post-docs for a person interested in proteins and/or peptides of any kind, purification & characterization, including testing on animal cell cultures (eg. Caco-2) & immunologic methods (antibody production, stimulation of PBMCs), especially if it's an offer from EU - send me PM or link here. Thank you in advance!

Other stuff
I have my CV translated into English but struggle a bit with its form. There seem to be few "templates" for CV and many of them don't really strike me as being right for applying for a post-doc or job in bio-tech/pharma/R&D industry. If anybody here has some experience in that matter I would be extremely grateful for help, tips, sources and examples.

Although a tidy and neat CV is more impressive, you don't necessarily need to use a template. In terms of format, you know what employers are most keen to know about you: your qualifications, experience and publications.

I agree with pcrman, important is that the essential information is included, but not your parents jobs and birthday like you find in many templates. Organising mine usually: core information about me (like birthday, address, name, title) then a table like information of my education (starting with university) then a section about work experience (where, list key tasks), then publications, scientific awards, community outreach etc. sorted by relevance.

it is very important that you find a proper form for your cv (like use the same font, format, same style for your papers, clear headings, highlight most important papers/parts of the cv). It should look appealing an professional and not like you just typed down what came to your mind.

Thanks for tips, guys!

Yes, I know you shouldn't put any irrelevant details.

Speaking of template I had in mind things like so-called "performance CV", "functional CV", and "targeted CV" - where you put specific set of details on the beginning of your CV in order to make right impression.

gebirgsziege, do you include list of conference presentations and/or posters?

My old CV I've made on some occasion looks like this:
- First/Last name, address, mobile phone, e-mail
- Professional experience - ie. previous jobs - real jobs, where I was employee and got paid
- Education
- Professional trainings - (is it correct expression?) - every kind of relevant trainings, crash-courses and internships.
- Skills - divided into groups like laboratory, IT and other - to some extent, especially laboratory skill-set, look similar to trainings

seems you have a very good organised cv already!

The conference presentation depends (but its long since i tried to get a "real job outside academia ....
but if you are applying for a job where talking and presenting in front of a lot of people is an essential task I for sure would include them (unless you do not fill 5 pages with them, the I just would state 15 (invited)presentations, 25 poster presentations at 17 conferences).

most important is the cover letter where you link your skills with what they want (ok you do this in the cv already, but in detail you do it in the cover letter).


hope this helped?

Yeah, but writing down all the info was easy - now I'm working on the proper form...

Presentations & posters - I was thinking only about CV for academia, for "industry" I would only put a number.

Ah, yes... Cover letter... My nemesis...

Thanks!

Ah cover letters ..everyone hates writing them I think.

I really do. If you answer to an add, then it's much easier than if you write a spontaneous one.
Good luck with your search.

I would say "Professional Development" or "Professional Development and Additional Training"

Maddie on Jul 21 2010, 05:37 PM said:

Thanks!

Yes, I'm answering to an add and I finally did it yesterday. After approx. 2 hours of struggle, reading templates, examples and tips it finally kicked. I had to stop myself from writing too much. What I got was quite impressive by my low standards.

I have shown this letter to my friend and he said it's ok, and I said to him - "YOU know me, YOU know my skills, I don't have to convince YOU - I have to convince THEM" Oh, well... We'll see...

leelee on Jul 22 2010, 10:05 AM said:

Thank you!

good luck kb, will keep my fingers crossed you get the job!