Resumes, Cover Letters, and CVs
A strong resume, cover letter, and/or CV have the power to get you in the door to the interview stage. These documents are essential to making the case for why you have the skills and experience to excel at the job and within the organization and team.
Resumes, cover letters and CVs should be tailored to the job at hand and should be checked thoroughly before submitting to make sure you are putting your best foot forward.
Resumes & CVs
A resume is a dense, fact-based document that provides information on your educational background, details your past professional experience, lists your top skills, and showcases your achievements.
- Resumes: Writing about your skills
- Enhance your resume (with templates)
- Action verbs
- Resume checklist
- Sample resumes
- PhD resumes for industry jobs (with examples)
A CV is similar to the resume in that it details achievements and history but does not have the same space limits that a resume does. Since CVs are often requested in international professional contexts, it’s a good idea to learn about the conventions for CVs in the country where you are submitting your application documents.
Cover Letters
Your cover letter is, first and foremost structured in the format of professional correspondence and should emphasize why you want to work for that particular organization and why you would be a good fit. You can often articulate this by sharing the most valuable transferable skills you bring (and brief examples to prove it).
Other career writing
Whether you are requesting an informational interview with an MIT alum, sending a thank you email after an email, declining a job offer, or simply writing an email to a professional contact, review our professional correspondence samples to help get started.
