If you’re a nursing student fresh out of school and you’re looking to apply to positions that will take your career to the next level, you’re in the right place. Jobs in the medical profession aren’t like other jobs, and the requirements for what constitutes a competitive and professional-looking medical curriculum vitae (CV) are a little different from CV’s for jobs in other industries. Getting professional help by a CV writing provider like PurpleCV might be a good option for you. If you’ve never designed a medical CV before, or if you’re a medical professional just looking to give yours a tune-up, you’re at the right place.

Read on for a few tips on constructing an industry-ready CV.

Formatting and Your Professional Ethos

One way that medical CVs are very similar to CVs and resumes from other industries is the need for creating and maintaining a professional ethos. You want the recruiting manager at whichever position you apply for to take a look at your CV and think that you’re serious, self-motivated, and a solid investment for their company. There are retargets available for doctors out there that will give you a good look at what a CV is supposed to look like, but here are a few basic rules for now:

  • Make sure your formatting is uniform and easy to follow. At first glance, your CV should be one cohesive, neatly sectioned-off piece that will be easy to breeze through. Make sure that nothing appears odd or out of place in how you’ve formatted your CV from section to section, as any oddities will be chalked up to carelessness on your part.
  • Double and triple-check your spelling and grammar. This is for much the same reason as making sure your formatting is uniform: there should be no typos in your professional CV. You should comb it over relentlessly until you are sure you’re turning in a perfect product, as any typos also negatively affect your professional ethos, giving off the vibe that you don’t care.
  • Keep your font type and colors basic. You want your CV to stand out, but not at the expense of readability. Keep your font size around 10-12 pt (depending on how much you need to fit in your CV) and choose something darker for the color; that way it remains easy to read. For the font itself, choose something like Arial, Times New Roman, or anything that you feel might be easy to read: as long as it isn’t Joker or Wingdings, you’re probably fine.

The Information Itself: A Brief Crash Course

A good rule of thumb out the gate is to only include the essentials: you don’t need to provide paragraph-long explanations for everything you did that include the most minute details of your accomplishments. Go with what’s relevant to the position you’re applying for and add detail as needed. Your CV should be around 1-5 pages long based on how much experience you’ve accrued, with the average being around 2-3 pages. Don’t stress it if your CV falls on the lower end of this spectrum: that won’t disqualify you. That only means that you have less experience than someone who has been practicing for years.

When it comes to your education or any other experience you may have, make sure you get the dates as spot-on as possible: accuracy is everything, and even if the details on what you did at a given place have to be scant to save space, you want your record of your accomplishments to be accurate. Feel free to include any online coursework you may have done as well, as online courses have been found to augment professional CVs occasionally. The important thing is that you have a complete and accurate record of everything you have done so far that may be relevant to the position you’re applying for.

On a final note, avoid wasting space with a references page, title page, or anything that may seem redundant, like including your contact information on more than the first page. Make sure everything you put on your CV is vital and builds your professional ethos.

Submit that Application

These are just a few of the basics for designing or expanding your medical CV. No doubt, you’ll have questions as you consider whether to include things that this article didn’t quite cover. Remember the basic rule of thumb: your CV should be brief, easy to read, and be an accurate record of your achievements. Anything that interferes with that missive should be cut.

Now, what are you waiting for? Go, and start applying for your dream jobs today.