How to build the perfect STEM resume or CV

The resume can be an intimidating beast. Depending on where you are in your career, it’s hard to know what information to include: a fresh college graduate may want to incorporate extracurricular activities, while a postdoctoral candidate is trying to decide which professional memberships to include. To make things even more difficult, some internship, fellowship, or job applications may require a Curriculum Vitae (CV) rather than a resume. Keep reading to learn some of the key differences, how to create yours and a few examples of when you should use each one.

Resume vs. CV

Even though they serve the same purpose, these two documents are very different. A resume is generally one page, though those with 10+ years of relevant experiences and key roles may need to use two pages, with basic information about your education, internship/fellowship or research experiences, volunteer and work history and campus or community involvements. The average length of a CV may be two to five or more pages in length, and can be longer depending on years of experience, publications, awards, certifications, skills, etc., and typically it is much more detailed than a resume.

They are also used for different types of jobs. CVs are standard in many STEM research fields, such as scientific appointments, fellowships and academic faculty roles. In most industry and federal settings, resumes are the standard. When applying for an internship or fellowship opportunity through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) at Zintellect.com, resumes are typically requested but you may use the format that best fits your experience and showcases your skills and interests to the selecting mentor at the federal agency.

Building a resume

Assuming that you are early in your STEM career, let’s look at what you should consider since you’ve only got one page to communicate your relevant information. According to Indeed, employers only spend six to seven seconds looking at each resume, so you have to be sure your resume is eye-catching and easy to understand. That also applies to mentors who are reviewing applicants in Zintellect for opportunities in a research or non-research internship or fellowship program offered by ORISE for the Department of Energy and 25+ other federal agencies. Your resume should include:

• Name (If you have a common name, such as John Smith, include a middle initial or middle name)
• Contact information – including a professional email and phone number with voice mail that is regularly checked
• Summary of qualifications – similar to a mission statement, this is a two- to three- sentence paragraph at the beginning of a STEM resume sharing your expertise, career goals, past experience, etc. which quickly summarizes your “brand” for the reviewer and guides them to see why they should select you and how you will bring value to the role
• Education – including the degree you received, year you graduated or will graduate, and your major and minor
  • Education should be listed first on a resume if you are a current student or recent graduate with less than one-year relevant experience or if you are changing career paths and need to emphasize your degree over your professional experiences.
  • Start with your currently attending/most recent degree (which is usually your highest).
  • Generally, you should only list your GPA on your resume if you are a current student or recent graduate and it is >3.5. Students/recent grads may also include GPAs for major/discipline area, core curriculum, etc. if clearly labeled and relevant (e.g. Physics Courses GPA: 3.7/4.0, Cumulative GPA: 3.6/4.0).
  • This section may also include relevant coursework but only if it adds capabilities and/or areas of research interests related to the opportunity.
• Professional experience – this can include jobs, internships, fellowships, and volunteer experience or you may choose to pull those into separate sections (Relevant, Internship, Research, etc.,). List the position title, your employer/organization, and the location (city and state) and the dates you were employed or completed the experience (reverse chronological order is the most common)
  • This section will be listed first on the resume for most early career professionals who have at least one-year of relevant experience.
  • When writing this section, include three to five bullet points under each entry describing your duties using this formula:
    • “Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y], by doing [Z]” – Example: Conducted laboratory experiments to optimize protein purification protocols, reducing processing time by 15% and improving yield by 10%, and assisted mentor by contributing valuable data to a larger research project while learning about enzyme functionality
  • You can find examples of STEM action word lists online or through your university career center, including those that are specific to your major or research area.
• Certifications or professional memberships – particularly if adding relevant skills/experiences that show leadership, problem solving, communication, adaptability, or other core competencies
• Optional – extracurricular activities, honorary societies, publications, presentations, languages, etc. These may also be listed in other sections.

While a resume is just one (sometimes two) page(s), it should be a full page, with no empty space. If you’ve completed it and have some extra room leftover, include the optional elements. If you have less than one and a half pages, edit down to one page. If you have at least one and a half pages of relevant content, make sure all is really needed and then see if you can add anything and/or adjust your margins or fonts to fill in the two pages. Your formatting should be consistent in all sections, and you need to maintain some white space to allow the eye to easily scan/read and pick up the areas you want them to see. Strategically using bolding, italics, capitalization, etc., can lead the eye—but too much will have the opposite effect.

While your resume should include all the important information, it should also be a living document. Every time you apply for an opportunity, look for keywords in the  description that are relevant to your skills and  experience, and incorporate them into your resume. If the organization you are applying to is using any software to screen resumes, this will help your resume get through to the next round. That being said, you should never stretch the truth or lie on your resume. Finally, if you’re drafting a resume for a federal career opportunity, consider visiting USAJobs.gov or the agency website to learn more about any other specific requirements.

Building a CV

Curriculum Vitae is Latin for “course of life,” which is demonstrative of what type of information to include in this document. Because you have more pages to work with, your CV will include more detailed information and may include different types of information than a resume. A CV emphasizes involvement and academic accomplishments. Though all of the details of the resume mentioned above still apply, a CV does have a few differences.

 A CV should include:

• Name
• Multiple forms of contact information
• Education - Information on all current and previous degree(s) including thesis titles Professional Experience – Emphasis on academic, scientific/research, or other relevant experience, paid or unpaid
• Teaching experience – Any formal teaching experience detailing pedagogical approach
• Research experience – Any academic, class, experiential education, or other research experience with descriptions of projects, paid or unpaid
• Publications - Full citations with your name bolded
• Presentations – Conferences, posters, oral presentations, webinars, seminars, guest lecturer, etc.
• Departmental/community service and outreach – Associational/volunteer memberships and added information of roles you played: committees, leadership/chairs, boards, journal or peer reviewer, etc.
• Grant funding – Information on grants received as PI or co-PI
• Awards and honors – Award name, issuing organization, description, and date
• Mentorship – Details of student projects/programs you have mentored
• Professional development – Participation in activities (not listed elsewhere) to advance your knowledge and skills

It’s important to tailor your CV to the position you’re applying for. If you’re applying for an internship and/or have limited relevant experience in that research area, you will want to emphasize your degree—if it is relevant—by placing it at the beginning. However, if you’re applying for a research position and have had two previous internships or fellowships in the field or have more than a year experience in a relevant job, you may want to showcase your professional work experience more and would put that at the beginning. Use your best judgment. For either document, it’s a good idea to look up examples online—don’t forget your university resources - to help inspire your own format. For a CV especially, you may have a mentor or professor who would be happy to share their own CV with you as an example.

Are you a current or former ORISE participant? If so, below is an example of how you might format an entry for your research experience. Although ORISE appointments are considered “non-employment,” internships and fellowships may be placed under a heading such as “Research or Relevant Experience” or “Professional Experience” or alongside other applicable experiences.

Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Research Intern, Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), Dayton, OH (May 2025 – August 2025)

• Selected for a competitive full-time summer internship with the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance team participating in ongoing development of AFIT’s Sensor and Scene Emulation Tool
• Simulated Earth imagery and improved accuracy by X% using remote imaging data from space-based sensors through the application of principles of optical physics and astrodynamics
• Assessed factors causing sensor performance and degradation to troubleshoot issues in collaboration with AFIT research team and assisted in presentation of results leading to implementation plan that increased reliability by XX%
• Developed coding in MATLAB and C to improve model development and simulation results

For more tips on creating a resume or CV, we recommend you start with your university career services, alumni, or graduate/postdoctoral office. Many offer virtual and in-person support to assist you as well as discipline-specific templates and tips to guide you as you apply and interview for the next step in your career path. And don’t forget to explore the other career-related articles in the ORISE STEM Connections Blog.

References:

• Indeed.com: What is a CV?
• Indeed.com: How long do employers look at resumes?
• Indeed.com: How to write a STEM resume (with template and example)
• Purdue.edu: Writing the Curriculum Vitae