Writing yourCurriculum Vita

David GoldbergInstitute of PsychiatryKing’s College, London

Meeting for Young Psychiatrists

Addis Ababa, 27th April 2006

When might you need a good CV?

When you need a good CV…

You’re moving to a better job, where you’re not known

You’re up against stiff competition

You are applying for research

funding

You are applying for promotion

None of these will ever apply?

Really?

OK, so don’t bother….

When it matters...

If you are up against competition, the big hurdle is to get yourself short-listed

Your CV should be striking, well set out, easy to read and without ANY spelling mistakes. Check it over, twice

Is the lay-out and the font used attractive, and is it printed on high quality paper?

Then asks someone who knows you well how it might be further improved

The Main Headings

• Personal details• Details of education, with dates & grades• Qualifications• Details of professional training• Special awards & prizes• Teaching experience• Research Activities• Publications

Other good headings

• Why you’ve applied for THIS job• Career intentions• Languages spoken, how fluently• Computer literacy• Any teaching experiences, and training

• Referees names, addresses and phone numbers, one of whom MUST be from your present employment.

Other good headings

• Why you’ve applied for THIS job• Career intentions• Languages spoken, how fluently• Computer literacy• Any teaching experiences, and training• Referees names, addresses and phone

numbers, one of whom MUST be from your present employment.

Why is that?

Let’s look at the CV of a young psychiatrist who has just completed his clinical training, and now seeks a new job….

The main heading he used were:• Title page• Personal details• Previous clinical appointments education

and qualifications, awards• Summary of clinical training• Additional clinical experience• Teaching experience• Research experience• Publications• Career aims• Referees

What else could he have said?

The main heading he used were:• Title page• Personal details• Previous clinical appointments education

and qualifications, awards• Summary of clinical training• Additional clinical experience• Teaching experience• Research experience• Publications• Career aims• Referees

What’s missing?

Special awards and prizes

Why he applied for this job

Language skills (how fluent in each)

Computer skills

Management experience

Optional Extras

• Research grants held

• Postgraduate courses attended

• 3 best publications

• Any special interests

TITLE PAGE

Curriculum Vitae

Dr Sebastian Tomkins

PERSONAL DETAILS(doesn’t need own heading)

Full name, maiden name if married woman

Postal address

Telephone, fax and e-mail numbers

Nationality (if foreign, whether qualifications are recognised in the country you are applying to)

Date and place of birth

GMC Registration number

(Temporary address at present)

PERSONAL DETAILS

If appropriate:

Visa status

You should not tell them:

whether you are divorced or separated

how many children you have

or (if female) whether you intend to have any

DETAILS OF EDUCATION(reverse order, starting from present)

Give month and year on starting and stopping. Mention any outstanding things during basic schooling, but only high lights!

Give reasons for leaving jobs

Go right back to your secondary school (but few details here)

Explain any gaps in your life - between courses or jobs.

QUALIFICATIONS

Give only public degrees, diplomas and so on

Unless very poor, give grade awarded

Special Awards & PrizesThese go in now, with sub-heading

QUALIFICATIONS

MB BS (1992) Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, University of London

M.Sc. 1st Class with Honours in History of Medicine Institute for the History of Medicine, University of London

M.R.C.Psych Royal College of Psychiatrsists

AWARDS & PRIZES(infact, he had these:)

• 1984 Welsh Representative, 25th International Youth Science Fortnight, London.

• 1989 Wellcome Scholarship to study history of medicine, London.

• 1995 Janssen-Cilag Psychiatric Registrar Prize for Excellence, Auckland, NZ

CLINICAL TRAINING

Psychiatric Training• Specialist Registrar Training: The

Maudsley Higher Training Scheme• Auckland Regional Psychiatry

Training Scheme• Medicine and Surgery• What did he miss?

CLINICAL TRAINING

• Psychiatric Training• Specialist Registrar Training: The

Maudsley Higher Training Scheme• Auckland Regional Psychiatry

Training Scheme• Medicine and Surgery• What he missed:• Post-graduate training courses

Auckland Regional Psychiatry Training Scheme –

1• Dec’96-Jul’97 Registrar in Old Age

Psychiatry,Middlemore Hospital, Auckland, NZ. Consultants: Dr Strachen, Dr Aimer

• June’96-Dec’97 Registrar in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Campbell Lodge, Auckland, NZ Consultant: Dr Rimm

• Dec’95-June’96 Registrar in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, Auckland Hospital, NZ. Consultants-Dr Goodwin, Dr Fisher

Auckland Regional Psychiatry Training Scheme - 2

June’95-Dec’95 Registrar in Community Psychiatry. The Cottage CMHC, Auckland, NZConsultant: Dr Van der Klift

• Dec’94-June’95 Registrar in Inpatient Psychiatry. Kingseat Hospital, Auckland, NZ. Consultant: Dr Samaru

• June’94-Dec’94 Registrar in Inpatient Psychiatry Kingseat Hospital, Auckland, NZ. Consultant: Dr Law

• March’94-May’94 SHO in General Adult Psychiatry Conolly Unit, Auckland, NZ

ADDITIONAL CLINICAL EXPERIENCE

Psychotherapy:

Audit:

Committees:

Management activities:

DETAILS OF CLINICAL TRAINING - descriptive

Probably only necessary just after training is complete?

But, if fairly junior, and unknown, here is an opportunity to give them important information

Here are some excerpts from his CV

….in Bermuda I worked within a well functioning multi-disciplinary team. The post gave me excellent experience of general adult psychiatry, commonly having to treat florid and often very violent presentations of mental illness ….

…..the post exposed me to a wide cross section of the elderly population varying in culture and socio-economic status. I received a good introduction to child and adolescent psychiatry, working under a systemic family therapist and psychiatrist …..

….this was also my first opportunity to carry out research. An opportunity I have embraced. My post with Professor Mann’s team was a unique and enlightening experience in how to manage patients with ‘untreatable’ neurotic illnesses….

…..I have had wide exposure to differing methods of service provision, working within different health care systems. This has allowed me a level of objectivity in assessing the proficiency of different models of health care delivery…

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

If you’ve been to a course on “How to teach”, start with this.

But – like many of you – he has been pressed into doing some teaching anyway…..

TEACHING EXPERIENCE - 1I have been keen to teach throughout my training and find teaching very rewarding. The remit of my current post is developing primary care mental health education and training packages on a national level. This includes delivering ‘Teach the Teachers’ courses. These courses teach primary care professionals the tools for delivering effective local primary health care initiatives. This is done by …. The post also involves organising and running skills based workshops for primary care professionals and delivering lectures/teaching to uni- and multi-professional primary care workers.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE - 2My other teaching experience includes:

·      Teaching and supervision of practice nurses running a depression clinic in primary care (Waller Clinic).

·      I am currently a 3rd year medical student tutor for GKT Medical Schools. This involves didactic teaching, inter-active tutorials, and case-based teaching. I am also responsible for examining them. I have recently produced a video to demonstrate a psychiatric interview.

·     

TEACHING EXPERIENCE - 3·      I have given talks to health professionals (nurses and occupational therapists) on how to manage difficult patients on medical wards.

·      I have run study groups for psychiatric and medical SHOs/ registrars preparing for examinations.

·      I help organise and teach on the MRCPsych course at the Institute of Psychiatry

·      I give half-day seminars twice yearly to the international pharmaceutical industry for TPI (Teaching for the Pharmaceutical Industry), on anxiety disorders and the neuroses.

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

If you’ve been to a course on any research skills, start with this.

But – like many of you – he has not done any formal courses.

But he is not deterred…..

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE - 1

Through my experience working on the Maudsley Higher Training Scheme, I have developed a keen interest in research and have been involved in the following research projects:

Completed Studies: Tomkins S., Choudhury, P., Moran, P., Mann,A., A comparison of informant and patient accounts of personality disorder. For submission to The Journal of Personality Disorders (Principal Investigator). Supervisor: Prof A Mann

Pilot Study of practice nurse led walk-in depression clinics in primary care. Involved as trainer and supervisor to study practice nurses. Principal Investigator: Prof A Tylee

But he is not deterred…..

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE - 2Current studies:

Pathways to psychiatric and social care in the elderly. (Principal Investigator). Funded by grant from Department of Health Services Research, Institute of Psychiatry. Supervisor: Dr M Philpot

Study to validate a brief personality disorder screen. (Collaborator). Involved in administering screening questionnaire and structured personality disorder assessments. Department of Health funded project. Principal Investigator- Dr P Moran; supervisor Prof A Tylee

Study of mental health service use by people with personality disorder. (Collaborator). Department of Health funded project. Principal Investigator- Dr P Moran; supervisor Prof A Tylee

Other research: Dissertation on a History of Pernicious Anaemia, catalogued at Wellcome Institute for History of Medicine library.

CAREER AIMS

My major interest is in primary care psychiatry. In the short term I want to consolidate my teaching and research skills and intend to do this by applying for a research training fellowship and undertaking a higher degree focusing on an aspect of primary care mental health i.e. treatment resistant depression in primary care. In the longer term, I wish to pursue a career in academic psychiatry in the field of primary care mental health

PUBLICATIONS

List full references to REFEREED journal articles, which have either appeared or are “in Press”

Do NOT describe papers that are “submitted”

If you have other publications, list them separately. (Chapters, books, other..)

Ask whether they would like to see articles that are “in press”, and bring them with you to the interview if selected.

But he didn’t have ANY of these.So this is what he said:

‘Diagnosing Depression’ and ‘Managing Depression’ in General Practitioner, ‘Schizophrenia’ in Royal College of General Practitioners Handbook, 2003 (in press)

‘Depression’ editorial in Hospital Medicine (in press)

Tomkins S, Tylee AT. ‘Mood disorders in primary care. In Press.

‘Treatment Resistant Depression’ in Hospital Doctor. In Press.

So ,what is missing here?

Adapt your CV to your seniority

JUNIOR

Can include prizes at school & university

Tell them as much good about yourself as possible

SENIOR

What will you achieve if appointed?

Will you obtain grants in competition?

Are you slowing up in productivity?

The CV used to illustrate this lecture is 8 pages long