Fresh formats showcase researchers’ work more effectively.
In response, researchers are learning how to rework CVs to emphasize quality over quantity, and to include narratives about their broader impact. Meanwhile, hiring panels and grant evaluators need to rethink how best to assess these documents.
Pillai Riddell would welcome a résumé revolution that cuts down on reading for those who assess applicants. “I’m thinking about reviewer burdens,” she says. “In my dream scenario, you’d pick two papers and provide a 200-word summary of the importance of the paper. It allows for contextualization.”Kaltenbrunner notes that many academic jobs require a covering letter, which gives applicants another opportunity to tell the story of their careers and highlight their most important papers.
• “Alongside scientific goals, I also follow leadership ones. A four-day professional leadership course and three months of personal coaching in 2020 taught me to reflect on myself, develop my scientific vision and learn about key attributes of successful teams. I also sent my postdocs on similar courses. As a result, my team is extremely productive, with two manuscripts at the submission stage only 2.5 years after the launch of my own group.
The term ‘narrative CV’ is gaining traction, but Kaltenbrunner says he’s not actually a fan of that label. “It’s binary,” he says. “It suggests that a CV is either narrative or not narrative.” He prefers ‘contextual CV’: “It’s more about supplementing traditional CVs with other elements.” He notes that the use of alternative CV formats by research councils in the Netherlands and Luxembourg has dismayed some, more senior, researchers.