What is an Academic CV?
An academic CV is a comprehensive documentation of your educational and academic accomplishments. This is different from your regular CVs as seen in its uses:
- Applying for jobs in academic industries
- Applying to universities for post-graduate studies or even a scholarship.
An academic CV helps you showcase your educational background, professional appointments (if any), research and teaching experience, publications, grants, and other key academic achievements. With it, you will be emphasizing how much you would add to the institution you are looking to join. It is important to not confuse this with a standard CV or resume for professional reasons.
How is an Academic CV different from a Standard CV and Resume?
- Academic CVs are comprehensive and usually does not have a page limit, unlike Standard CV’s
- An academic CV contains information such as your relevant publications, conferences, affiliations, and fellowships that you would not find on a regular CV.
- Standard resumes, are concise and usually limit the amount of information they can contain.
Tips on How to Prepare an Academic CV
Tip 1: Content of An Academic CV
The following are key things that your Academic CV should include:
- Contact Information
- Research Objective
- Education
- Professional Appointment
- Publications
- Awards and Honors
- Grants and Fellowships
- Conferences
- Teaching Experience
- Professional Affiliations and Additional activities
- Languages and skills
- References
For scholars and researchers with little or no teaching experience, you can skip that section. The same goes for those without proper Professional appointments. Your contact information should include your Full name, Professional title, Institutional address, email, home address, and any relevant means of contact.
The research objective section should contain your research plans. You have to make sure this is very close to the beginning of the CV as it would attract the reader. The professional appointment section can be similar to the work experience section on a standard CV or resume.
For grants and fellowships, it is important to have them as it is proof of your research being incisive enough to attract funding.
Tip 2: Fonts and Format
Just like standard CVs and resumes, an Academic CV has to look professional. Selection committees for academic institutions have to go through a lot of CVs, applications, and so forth. For that reason, your CV has to be able to stand out (for good reasons) to outdo the competition.
Here are ways to achieve this;
- Fonts: Use consistent font sizes. 11 or 12 for regular texts, 14 or 16 for relevant headers, and your name at the top of your CV. Don’t forget to make it bold.
- White Space: When used correctly, white space can turn a basic document of any kind into a professional top-tier one. A double-black line before headers will do the trick. One-inch margins on all four sides of the CV also help, especially when printed on paper.
- Bigger is better: Try to make your Academic CV as long as possible. There isn’t a page count limit, so be as elaborate as possible as you try to showcase your illustrious academic career.
Other Tips to Note are:
- Avoid bullet points
- Be concise with your educational experience
- Let your research objective be brief.
- In your list of achievements, let your most prestigious and competitive ones come first.
- Make your CV legible and clear
- Save your CV in a PDF as it prevents it from distorting when opened on another device.
5 Best Academic CV Writers for UK Study Application
Sometimes it is better to seek professional help with sensitive documents like this, especially if you don’t trust your abilities. That said, we are going to identify 5 of the best academic CV writers for UK study application you can employ when applying to academic institutions in the UK.
For us to have picked the CV writers in this list, we considered the following:
- Their success stories
- Years of experience
- Versatility
- Accessibility
So, in no particular order, here are the 5 best academic CV writers for UK study application;
1. Fasthire
Price: $35
Fasthire is a career brand competent in CV/Resume Writing amidst other services offered. They have more than three years of experience helping young professionals build their careers. Initially a one-man freelance CV/Resume writing service, currently, they provide services to clients in Nigeria, USA, China, UK, etc. Regardless of the industry of the client, Fasthire is capable of providing top-quality CVs and Resumes. They also help clients prepare for interviews all to make sure customers get their dream jobs and into the institution of their choice. The countless positive reviews from their clients have led to their immense growth over the last three years.
Contact Fasthire:
Email: info@fasthire.com.ng
Tel: +2348138235629
2. Spartan CV
Price: £120 – £225
With a team of highly esteemed business executives, HR experts, and seasoned authors, Spartan CV provides CVs that inspire confidence. With over 6700 satisfied customers, they have a reputation for meeting and sometimes exceeding expectations.
Contact Spartan CV:
Email: info@spartancv.co.uk
Tel: 07493449671
3. Grieves Pryce Executive CV Services
The UK’s leading specialist in CV/Resume writing. With over 15 years of service, they offer quick and professional telephone-based CV consultancy services to clients across the UK and overseas. They are ideal for individuals looking to work or get into a UK educational institution.
Contact Grieves Pryce:
Email: enquiries@gpcvservices.co.uk
Tel: +44 207 129 1097
4. Gold Star Applications
Price: £35
Another fast-growing career company. Gold Star has a reputation for making applications to academic industries in the UK a seamless process. They also offer student discounts as well as referral discounts. They aim to grow the careers of academics and professionals.
Contact Gold Star Applications:
Email: writingservices@goldstarapplications.co.uk
Tel: 07871679818
5. Purple CV
Price: £45 – £195
Another writing service provider with a lot of experience. Since 2012, when its founder decided to share years of experience in the HR business. Now Purple CV is a household name in the UK’s career-building industry. They work closely with clients to write CVs from scratch.
Contact Purple CV:
Email: info@purplecv.co.uk
Tel: 0203 504 3111
Conclusion: Best Academic CV Writers for UK Study Application
With these tips and companies, you cannot go wrong with your Academic CV. If you insist on curating your Academic CV yourself after all these, always remember to be as elaborate as possible with it.
