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How I Transformed my Resume into a CV and Found Success

Dorothy Miraglia

The Curriculum Vitae

Dorothy Miraglia, Ph.D., VP of Academic and Professor Services

The Curriculum Vitae (CV) is the document that showcases an instructor’s professional and academic achievement. It is a transformation of the standard one page resume into pages of information reflecting the uniqueness of a teaching candidate. For my CV to be successful, it needed to reflect my experience, passion for teaching, and showcase qualities that made me stand out from other candidates. To transform my resume into a CV, I began with a Statement of Teaching Philosophy.

Statement of Teaching Philosophy

The Statement of Teaching Philosophy, which comes after the contact information, was my way to immediately catch the attention of recruiters or deans by conveying a first person message. I began reflecting on why I pursued a career in online education and why I enjoyed it. Looking back on my teaching experiences, I remembered how I worked with adult learners who put their education on hold to raise a family and were now pursuing their degree. I thought about the students in my class who were struggling and then had their “ah ha” moment when they understood course curriculum they were struggling with. To portray evidence of my philosophy in the classroom, I began writing about how I kept students engaged and focused in the classroom.

I described how I like to post additional information about a topic other than what the school requires an instructor to post. I included an example of how I posted a “movie of the week,” which consisted of a news segment, in my Introduction to Sociology course that coincided with the week’s topic, such as homelessness. I explained how doing this gave students a visual of what homelessness was about and provided a clearer and eye-opening understanding of the topic. I elaborated on how this approach allows the class to link the concepts to real events and makes the learning instantly relevant in their everyday lives. My teaching philosophy also consisted of what I think separates a good instructor from a mediocre instructor, such as being a strong communicator and displaying enthusiasm via dialogue in the classroom.

Personal Attributes

After my teaching philosophy is a section containing my personal attributes. This section outlines qualities that separate me from other candidates. In this section, I referenced my five years of online teaching experience along with my skills and abilities, such as having the capability of adapting teaching methods for students to achieve objectives and learning outcomes. Next, I added sections pertaining to my teaching experience, professional experience, formal education, educational training, memberships and affiliations, residencies and colloquia’s, honors and awards. Because I am published in both articles and books I created different sections. They are titled as Articles and Research, Books Published, and Chapter Contributions Published.

You might also like: 4 Ways a CV is Different from a Resume

Highly Competent Subject Areas

Next on my CV is a section called Highly Competent Subject Areas. This section has subsections that include computer experience, learning management systems (LMS) experience, and a list of courses that constitute me as a Subject Matter Expert (SME). My LMS experience consisted of being proficient in Blackboard, Cengage Learning/MindTap, and specific university proprietary LMS.

References

My CV concludes with a list of three references, all of who have earned a PhD.

Successful Showcase

My teaching philosophy, personal attributes, and highly competent subject area sections contributed to the success of my CV. A recruiter contacted me for an interview because the college was looking for adjunct faculty with a background in Psychology and Human Services. One of the lines in the e-mail read, “Your resume indicates teaching experience and a love of lifelong learning.” I spoke about being a life long learner and discussed my experience as an online instructor in my teaching philosophy. When I was interviewed via video chat, the recruiter mentioned my experience with Blackboard, which is the LMS used by the university, and referenced a few of the courses listed under my SME subsection. She also referenced some of my personal attributes listed on my CV such as, how I am skilled in many disciplines that includes Psychology, Sociology, and Social Media. She explained how the Dean was looking for a candidate who had experience in these three disciplines. After discussing my CV, I was offered the teaching position halfway through the interview and I begin teaching in the fall.

Transforming my resume into a CV was a success because I included the components recommended by the Babb Group. For over a year I was submitting my one page resume to colleges and universities only to receive rejection e-mails. When I began teaching in 2007, a one-page resume was acceptable.

Because online teaching is a rapidly growing and competitive field, a CV is required to showcase an instructor’s experience and passion for teaching.

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Dorothy Miraglia

Dorothy A. Miraglia holds a PhD in Advanced Studies in Human Behavior with a focus on social media behavior from Capella University in Minneapolis, MN. Prior to completing her doctoral studies in 2014, she earned an MS in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, an MA in Interdisciplinary Studies, Sociology Research and Writing and a BS in Sociology and Music.
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