The ABCs of a scientific career
“Where do we even start?” — is the question everyone asks at the beginning of building their career path. A bachelor, master, or graduate is chaotically gathering information from social media, and information resources and interrogating acquaintances about their life path, coming across a lot of incomprehensible words. What is the difference between an academic and an industry CV, and what is the difference between motivation, cover, and recommendation letters? Let’s find out in this article.
What’s the difference between an academic and an industry CV?
Academic CV is a format of biography related to your pathway to science required for submission to University study programs, internships and conferences attendance, and grants and scholarships applications. The main CV blocks include education, research experience, publications, and achievements. The achievements section lists: participation in conferences, awards, scholarships, volunteering experience, and internships.
Compared to an academic CV, an industrial CV is a document that lists the education, work experience and skills fitted to a particular position in a company or start-up. An industrial CV is focused on jobs in industry, so it may also include soft skills and a more detailed description of duties the employee had at a previous job.
Making a readable and up-to-date CV is important for any stage in your career!
A tip: write a CV that shows absolutely all of your experience in all the areas that are relevant to you. Such a master CV will allow you to always have both academic and work experience at your fingertips, not forget anything worth mentioning, and periodically update the information by adding new lines. You may keep it handy so you can show it to a potential employer at any time. So, for example, you can store it in the Cloud, on your phone, and carry it around on a flash drive. I keep it in a pdf on Telegram and in word on Google Disk.
The application includes different letters which are often confusing. Let’s sort it out!
What to write in different letters?
A motivation letter is an essay on why you are perfect for a scholarship/grant/position/internship. A letter where you sell yourself arguing why you are a worthy candidate for participation or funding, and explaining your motivation for applying for that particular position.
A tip: Start writing the letter 3–4 weeks before the deadline, take breaks and ask your colleagues and friends to review it and assess the transparency and literacy of your writing. Give yourself time to write your motivation letter.
A cover letter is a short version of a motivation letter that you send to, for example, your employer, where you explain the purpose of your letter and also draw their attention to you. This letter is often sent when there is a need to write directly to the employer.
A tip: Since dozens of applicants might apply for the position, an employer will have limited time to review the application, especially if he does not have any HR help available. Be sure to include the subject line and be succinct and concise in the body of the letter so the recruiter can quickly assess the relevance of your application. Include a CV and a motivation letter in the attachments so that the recruiter can review it if your letter is of interest to him.
A recommendation letter is a letter from your teacher/former boss/research project leader detailing their experience working with you, your strengths and weaknesses, and describing why you are a good candidate for the position.
And another tip: Offer to help your referral write a draft for the letter. You’ll write a structure and list the main points that are needed in the letter, especially if they are asked for in the application. This will save time for the often busy boss and you will know roughly what the letter will say about you.
What else can be on the application form?
Skills, soft and hard, are necessary for a successful start and integration into the workflow. Soft skills are personal skills that include stress tolerance, teamwork, creativity, and so on. These skills are often mentioned in job descriptions when the employer cares about your communication skills, teamwork skills, openness, motivation, and so on. Academic vacancies are predominantly required to list the hard skills/professional skills that you already possess. What do you know, what methods do you use, your programming skills, etc.
Eligibility or Requirements is a list of personal data that an employer requests in a job description. This can be like a restriction on citizenship — some scholarships are intended only for residents, and some only for residents of third countries; age limit — often found in the description of grants for young scientists. The most widespread limitation was for the educational level. So, some internship programs accept only bachelors of 2–3 years of study, and some — graduate students and young postdocs.
Although the list can be continued, here we will limit ourselves to the main terms that are most often encountered when applying for studies or vacancies. However, there is another word that last but not least.
Deadline is a time limit set for your application anywhere. The time frame is probably one of the main parameters that you need to keep in mind. The application will not be considered if it arrives later than the deadline, and therefore all the intensive preparation for filing will be irrelevant.
A tip: make tables filled with all deadlines, documents, and other important information. Give yourself time to prepare everything, and set reminders on the deadline to bring your application closer to a positive result. And by staying with Connectome, you will learn a lot of useful tools for your future career! Good luck!
Author: Alena A. Kozlova
Edited by: Timofei Ryko
