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Getting Started: Cover Letters, CVs and Resumes
Your success at getting a job or funding are only furthered by a good cover letter, CV, or resume, and application. Most American institutions and organizations are especially sensitive to these issues and it is useful to keep two simple rules in mind: follow the directions given and check your spelling! This does NOT mean that you should hide your ideas and abilities under a standardized format. It does mean, however, that the paperwork associated with asking for funding or a job requires more than an afterthought. With that in mind, the following examples are offered as guidelines. These are not models that should be copied as if they were templates. Use them to help think through what may be missing in your proposal or application.
Cover Letters
A cover letter is a letter that introduces yourself and your interest in the organization where you are applying. It is usually short (1-2 pages) and is used to highlight the most relevant information from your CV or resume.
Example of a Cover Letter
September 6, 1999
Specific Consulting Group (a fictitious company)
123 L Street
Boston, MA 02139
Dear Ms. Smith:
I am very interested in a management consulting position in the Specific Consulting Group's New York office. My PhD from MIT refined my ability to think critically and to approach problems from an intellectual and strategic framework. What was missing was the opportunity to make an immediate impact on tangible problems. Thus my interest in your firm. SCG's emphasis on an intellectual approach to problem solving appeals to me very strongly, as does its reputation for creative and unconventional thinking. This good impression has been reinforced in my conversations with MIT alumni who have positions at SCG. They speak of a combination of knowledge building, innovation, and real world practicality that appeals to me greatly. To give you a better sense of my qualifications I have attached my resume. I would greatly appreciate any opportunities to meet with you and appreciate SCG's willingness to consider individuals from outside the traditional business recruiting process. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, (sign your name here) Joanna Appleton, PhD
CVs and Resumes
The length of CVs varies greatly. Sometimes it is appropriate to include only selected publications as opposed to all of them. Also, sometimes the names and contact information for references are required. Often, however, you will be asked to provide these later on in the application process. Resumes are much shorter than CVs and usually go to different types of organizations. For example, the business community prefers resumes while academic jobs traditionally ask for CVs. Again, these are examples only. For more information on CVs and resumes, check out Other Career Resources on the Web.
| | Example of a CV (Curriculum Vita)
| | | | | | | | | David C. Wright
June 1999
| Union of Concerned Scientists
Two Brattle Square
Cambridge, MA 02238-9105
phone: 617-547-5552
fax: 617-864-9405
email: dwright@ucsusa.org
| | Security Studies Program
MIT
E38-600
Cambridge MA 02139
| | 2 Windermere Lane
Arlington, MA 02476
phone and fax:
781-643-8029
|
Education | Cornell University (8/78-8/83) | | | M.S. (Physics) 1981
Ph.D. (Physics) 1983 Advisor: N. David Mermin
Thesis: Cholesteric Liquid Crystals: The Blue Phase and the Analogy with 3He-A | | University of Wisconsin-Madison (9/74-5/76; 9/77-8/78) | | | B.A. with honors 1976
M.S. (Physics) 1978 Advisor: Frederick L. Roesler
Thesis: Multichannel Quantum Defect Theory: A New Calculational Approach | | Miami University, Oxford, OH (9/72- 6/74) |
Current Positions
Senior Staff Scientist, Union of Concerned Scientists (1/92- )
Research Fellow, Security Studies Program, MIT (10/92- )
Previous Positions
Senior Research Analyst, Federation of American Scientists (9/90- 12/91)
SSRC-MacArthur Fellow in International Peace and Security, Center for Science and International Affairs, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and Adjunct Fellow, Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (9/88-8/90)
Research Fellow, Physics Department, Cornell University (8/87-8/88)
Research Fellow, Physics Department, Univ. of Pennsylvania (9/85-8/87)
Research Fellow, Physics Department, Ohio State University (9/83-8/85)
Selected International Security Publications
"Cut North Korea Some Slack," D. Wright, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (March/April 1999), 54-58.
"An Analysis of the North Korean Missile Launch of 31 August 1998," D. Wright, INESAP Information Bulletin, No. 16 (November 1998), pp. 23-25.
"The Rumsfeld Report: What they didn't do," L. Gronlund and D. Wright, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (Nov/Dec 1998), pp. 46-51.
"An Analysis of the Pakistani Ghauri Missile Test of 6 April 1998," D. Wright, Science and Global Security 7 (1998), pp. 227-236.
"An Analysis of the North Korean Missile Program," D. Wright, in Appendix III of Report of the Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, July 15, 1998), pp. 345-355. Reprinted in Inside Missile Defense 14 (18) (September 2, 1998), pp.18-20.
"Will North Korea Negotiate Away Its Missiles," D. Wright, Breakthroughs VII (1) Spring 1998, p. 29-36.
"Will North Korea Negotiate Away Its Missiles," D. Wright (Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists, April 1998), 24 pages.
"A Cost/Benefit Analysis of Ballistic Missile Defenses," D. Wright, Current Decisions (Oxford Research Group Report #18, July 1997), pp. 43-47.
"Missile Defense: The Sequel," L. Gronlund and D. Wright, Technology Review 100 (4), May/June 1997, pp. 28-36.
"Threat Assessment of Third World Missiles," L. Gronlund and D. Wright, in The Last 15 Minutes: Ballistic Missile Defense in Perspective, ed. J. Cirincione and F. von Hippel (Washington, DC: Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers, May 1996), pp. 16-21.
"The Weakest Line of Defense: Intercepting Ballistic Missiles," L. Gronlund, G. Lewis, T. Postol, and D. Wright in The Last 15 Minutes: Ballistic Missile Defense in Perspective, ed. J. Cirincione and F. von Hippel (Washington, DC: Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers, May 1996), pp. 45-60.
Selected Unpublished Reports
"A Technical Assessment of the Launch Hazard Area in Cudjoe Key, Florida" (6 March 1998), prepared for a 12-13 March 1998 public hearing on Theater Missile Defense Extended Test Range Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement-Eglin Gulf Test Range (draft).
"Estimating Chinese Stockpiles of Fissile Material for Weapons," D. Wright and L. Gronlund, Union of Concerned Scientists Technical Report (February 1996).
Recent Published Letters and Opinion Pieces on Security Affairs
Letter to the Editor, New York Times, "Helsinki Deal Doesn't Insure Arms Reductions," L. Gronlund and D. Wright, 4/2/97, p. A24.
Letter to the Editor, Defense News, "Study Defended," D. Wright and T. Postol, 4/3/95, p. 18.
Op-ed, Defense News, "Changes Would Doom ABM [Treaty]," L. Gronlund and D. Wright, 12/5/94, p. 23.
Letter to the Editor, New York Times, "Changing ABM Treaty Reverses Arms Efforts", D. Wright, 11/1/94, p. A26.
Letter to the Editor, Washington Post, "Clarifying My Thoughts on Defense Planning," D. Wright, 10/31/94, p. 20.
Op-ed, Defense News, "N. Korea's Nodong Presents Threat but Suffers Limitations," T. Kadyshev and D. Wright, 4/11/94, p. 19.
Letter to the Editor, New York Times, "North Korea Remains a Missiles Novice," D. Wright and T. Kadyshev, 2/13/94, p. E13.
Selected Physics Publications
"The Space Groups of Axial Crystals and Quasicrystals, D.A. Rabson, N.D. Mermin, D.S. Rokhsar, and D.C. Wright, Rev. Mod. Phys. 63, 699 (July 1991).
"A Constrained Spin Model of Phason Dynamics in Quasicrystals," L.D. Gronlund, D.C. Wright, J.P. Sethna, and D.S. Rokhsar, Phys. Rev. B42, 8517 (1990).
"Stacking Quasicrystallographic Lattices," N.D. Mermin, D.A. Rabson, D.S. Rokhsar, and D.C. Wright, Phys. Rev. B41, 10498 (1990).
"The Cholesteric Blue Phases: Crystalline Liquids," D.C. Wright and N.D. Mermin, Rev. Mod. Phys. 61, 385 (April 1989).
"Scale Equivalence of Quasicrystallographic Space Groups," D.S. Rokhsar, D.C. Wright, and N.D. Mermin, Phys. Rev. B37, 8145 (1988).
"The Two Dimensional Quasicrystallographic Space Groups with Rotational Symmetries Less Than 23-Fold," D.S. Rokhsar, D.C. Wright, and N.D. Mermin, Acta Cryst. A44, 197 (1988).
"An Explanation of Peak Shapes Observed in Diffraction from Icosahedral Quasicrystals," J.E.S. Socolar and D.C. Wright, Phys. Rev. Lett. 59, 221 (1987).
"Beware of 46-Fold Symmetry: The Classification of Two Dimensional Quasicrystallographic Lattices," N.D. Mermin, D.S. Rokhsar, and D.C. Wright, Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 2099 (1987). Reprinted in The Physics of Quasicrystals, ed. P.J. Steinhardt and S. Ostlund (Singapore: World Scientific, 1987), pg. 169.
"Rudimentary Quasicrytallography: The Icosahedral, Decagonal and Pentagonal Reciprocal Lattices," D.S. Rokhsar, N.D. Mermin, and D.C. Wright, Phys. Rev. B35, 5487 (1987). Reprinted in The Physics of Quasicrystals, ed. P.J. Steinhardt and S. Ostlund (Singapore: World Scientific, 1987), pg. 160.
"Scale invariance and the Group Structure of Quasicrystals," S. Ostlund and D.C. Wright, Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 2068 (1986). Reprinted in The Physics of Quasicrystals, ed. P.J. Steinhardt and S. Ostlund (Singapore: World Scientific, 1987), pg. 156.
Testimony and Selected Talks on Security Issues
Testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the maturity of ballistic missile defense technology, 5/4/99.
"Missile Defenses and the Crisis in Arms Control," Peace Studies Seminar, Cornell University, 4/15/99.
"The New Missile Defense Debate," Department of Physics, University of Pennsylvania, 3/31/99.
"The North Korean Missile Program," Sixth ISODARCO-Beijing Seminar on Arms Control, Shanghai, 10/31/98.
Panelist on "The Rumsfeld Report: How Soon Might the US Homeland Face a Threat from Ballistic Missile Proliferation?," Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 9/17/98 (with Steve Cambone and Robert Walpole).
"Missile Accuracy and the Global Positioning System," Tenth International Summer Symposium on Science and World Affairs, MIT, 7/14/98.
Presentation to the Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States ("Rumsfeld Commission"), Washington DC, 4/2/98.
"The North Korea Ballistic Missile Program," MIT Lincoln Laboratory, 3/23/98.
"Are the North Korean Taepodong Missiles a Bargaining Chip?," Ninth International Summer Symposium on Science and World Affairs, Cornell University, 8/2/97.
"The North Korean Missile Program," Workshop on China, Japan, and Missile Defenses, MIT, 6/11/97.
"A Cost/Benefit Analysis of Ballistic Missile Defenses," Oxford Research Group conference on Working Towards a Nuclear Weapon-Free World, 4/29/97.
"The Costs and Benefits for Proposed US Missile Defense Deployments," 26th Pugwash Workshop on Nuclear Forces, Geneva, 2/8/97.
"US 'Upper-Tier' Missile Defense Programs: Overview and Analysis," ISODARO Beijing Seminar on Arms Control, Beijing, PR China, 11/13/96.
"A Technical Analysis of the North Korean Taepodong Missiles Program," Technical Seminar Series, MIT Security Studies Program, 9/18/96.
"An Introduction to Current Missile Defense," Eighth International Summer Symposium on Science and World Affairs, Beijing, PR China, 7/28/96.
"ABM Treaty Demarcation: Technical Analysis and History of Negotiations," China Defense Science and Technology Information Center, Beijing, PR China, 7/22/96.
"An Analysis of the North Korean Missile Program," Joint MIT-IAPCM Workshop on Missile Defenses, Institute for Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics, Beijing, PR China, 7/18/96.
"ABM Treaty Demarcation: Technical Issues and History of Negotiations," Joint MIT-IAPCM Workshop on Missile Defenses, Institute for Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics, Beijing, PR China, 7/17/96.
Selected Activities
Associate Editor of Science and Global Security (1993-)
Member of advisory committee for the Technology and Security project of the Cornell Peace Studies Program (1995-)
Co-organizer of International Summer Symposiums on Science and World Affairs - Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, August 6-16, 1990
- Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow, June 24-July 4, 1991
- Center for American Studies, Fudan University, Shanghai, PRC, August 22-30, 1992
- MIT, Cambridge, MA, July 22-30, 1993
- Kiev, Ukraine, September 16-25, 1995
- Beijing, PRC, July 24-31, 1996
- Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, July 24-August 2, 1997
- MIT, Cambridge, MA, July 13-21, 1998
- Center for American Studies, Fudan University, Shanghai, PRC, July 28-August 5, 1999
Secretary of the Board of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) (1993-1996)
Member of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) Committee on International Peace and Security (1991-1995)
Co-organizer of conference entitled Technical Expertise and Peace and Security Studies in the Post-Cold War Era, held November 6-7, 1992 in Washington, DC.
Member of Screening and Selection Committees for Round 10 of the MacArthur Foundation Research and Writing Grants, 1991.
Co-organizer of two conferences entitled The Role of Scientists and Technologists in Making Security Policy, held October 28-29, 1988 at the University of Illinois-Urbana, and April 14-15, 1989 at Cornell University.
One of four physicists who organized the national boycott of SDI research funds by university researchers in which over 7,000 university scientists and engineers pledged not to solicit or accept SDI research funds (1985-6).
List of References: Provided on Request | |
Example of a Resume
(this resume is for a fictitious person)
Ima Person
| | | | | Phone: +1-617-547-5552 | | | | | | Fax: +1-617-864-9405 | | | | | | Email: iperson@us.org.uk | | | | | | | |
| | Professional Interest | | Design, implementation, and analysis of policy studies and projects.
| | | Education | | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | | Cambridge | | | | | Ph.D. in Rocket Science, 1998
| | | | | University of Lancaster | | Lancaster, UK | | | | | M.A. in International Relations, Graduated with distinction, 1987.
| | | | | Truman State University | | Kirksville, MO | | | | | B.S. in Economics, Summa Cum Laude, 1986.
| | | Related Experience | | Program Assistant
Union of Scientists, Anytown, England
Designed and implemented communications networks between scientific unions in England and Europe. Audited and reported budgets of unions and made recommendations for savings. 1999-present.
| | | | | Researcher
Rocket Sciences Program, MIT, Cambridge, MA
Published and presented the first comprehensive analysis of the organization of the U.S. rocket forces and the history of rocket propulsion in the United States during the Cold War. Assessed the adaptation of military strategy and planning to changes in rocket technology and international security. 1991-1998.
| | | | | Consultant
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM
Researched, published and presented analyses of space policy, planning, and budgets and correctly predicted how these would respond to changing strategic and political conditions. 1991-1995.
| | | Languages | | Native English speaker, fluent in Spanish, reading knowledge of Vietnamese.
| | | Computer Skills | | C+, HTML, Fortran
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Other Career Resources on the Web
There are numerous places to find advice on resumes and CVs. The following sites are offered as suggestions. Neither UCS nor the Summer Symposium necessarily endorses the advice these sites offer. Rather, these links are provided for your information only. A useful source for on-line advice about cover letters, CVs, resumes, and other matters is MIT's Careers Handbook. A similar on-line resource can be found at Princeton University Career Services. There are several on-line services devoted to offering advice about resumes and CVs. Examples include Jobsmart; CareerLab and CVTips. The Social Science Research Council also has a useful guide to writing fellowship proposals.
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