TMI?

January 12, 2012 2:27 PM

I'm a recent engineering PhD applying for jobs in industry. I have both a 1 page resume and a 4 page CV. Many sites give me the option to upload multiple files to support my application, with a label for each file uploaded. What combination of files should I use; cover letter and resume, cover letter and CV, or all three.
posted by pseudonick to Work & Money (8 answers total)

If you are applying for private sector jobs I would say cover letter + resume. If you are applying for Research/University jobs cover letter + cv.
posted by magnetsphere at 2:31 PM on January 12, 2012

Cover letter + resume; put the CV on your website (which can be linked from your resume or cover). Unless the job is something really esoteric (research, particularly). Then upload the CV, too.
posted by introp at 2:37 PM on January 12, 2012

And if possible, you could amalgamate the cover letter and resume together in a single prf document and then add two additional documents - publications, portfolio items, writing samples (not sure what would be appropriate in your field) - that would highlight your skills and experience.
posted by lulu68 at 3:21 PM on January 12, 2012

Yeah, I've also heard the consistent advice that an academic CV (including all talks, minor publications etc) is unnecessary overkill for an industry position. This PhD Comic illustrates your problem nicely. Hiring managers will only spend so much time on your documents, so don't distract them with unnecessary information.
posted by Sfving at 3:54 PM on January 12, 2012

I recommend not sticking the cover letter at resume into one document. It will make your resume look overly-long (which means good odds of ending up in the trash). Any company with an online hiring system can manage to keep the documents together and anyone reviewing your resume will have all the attached documents just a mouse click away.
posted by introp at 4:33 PM on January 12, 2012

Response by poster: Thanks for the advice. I have been submitting cover letter and resume separately and I'll continue to do so. I will put something on the resume that points to a full CV available on the web.

The attach more documents button always tempts me, but it's probably best to include only the highlights on the resume and let them look for details if they want them. The positions I'm applying to are generally very technical positions in a military industrial complex context, if that informs anyone's answers.
posted by pseudonick at 4:51 PM on January 12, 2012

I used a cover letter and resume as the standard upload, and my resume included a url in the contact info section. I basically created a "professional me" site just for the job search (conveniently I was working for a university at the time so that was the perfect place to host it), that had a main page that was mostly links: the resume and CV, copies of my dissertation and all publications, powerpoints of a few poster presentations I'd given, links to my grad, undergrad, and postdoc universities/employers, a quick synopsis of my interests with a few keywords/names linked to key articles/sites. I was actually told at a job interview that it was a good resource, so I don't feel bad about recommending the idea.
posted by aimedwander at 5:01 PM on January 12, 2012

40% of my company hold PhD's. If I'm hiring a PhD I generally read the whole CV as long as the candidates field & research are relevant to the job. I expect with a PhD candidate to get an 'academic' style resume/CV rather than the short 1-pager I'd get from a BS or MS candidate. To me the whole reason for hiring at the PhD level is to get the benefit of the years of blood sweat and tears they went through to get those three letters. Thus I expect to see all that in the CV.
posted by Long Way To Go at 9:38 PM on January 12, 2012