How to Write a Competitive CV for Your LLM Application: Stanford's Approach
There are many ways to write an effective CV for your LLM application. I have shared my experience evaluating hundreds of LLM CVs as a member of the admissions committee elsewhere: here and here. An actionable summary of my insights is also available as a downloadable guide.
One of my favorites is the Stanford approach. You can use it not only to write a CV for a job but also for your study applications.
The Stanford approach to CV and résumé writing consists of four steps. Let's discuss each in turn:
Step 1: decide what to include
In Step 1, determine what you want your audience to know about you and your experience.
For maximum effectiveness, you must be clear about the skills and experiences you want to communicate to your audience. To achieve this clarity, focus on two things:
- What the position you are applying for entails—whether it’s a job, a study program, or a scholarship; and
- Which experiences highlight the best fit between you and the position you’re applying for.
Step 2: Organize your experience into sections
In Step 2, organize the information you decided to communicate under descriptive headings that summarize your experiences. Descriptive headings help draw attention to the information you want to highlight.
Examples of descriptive headings include:
- Education
- Research
- Teaching Experience
- Writing and Editing Experience
- Nonprofit Experience
- Government Experience
- Project Management
- Community Service
- Leadership Experience
- Consulting Experience
- Business Development
- Advertising and Marketing
- Language Skills
- Social Media
- Customer Service
- Communications
- Computer Programming Experience
In contrast, examples of non-descriptive headings are:
- Education
- Professional Experience
- Work Experience
- Volunteer Experience
- Extracurricular Activities
- Other
The difference is that descriptive headings immediately give the reader a clear understanding of the type of work you did. Non-descriptive headings, being more general, require more effort on the reader's part to understand your background.
Step 3: describe your experiences
In Step 3, after organizing your experiences under descriptive headings, describe each one. Focus on the skills that demonstrate you are a strong match for the position you are applying for.
Ask yourself: What do you want the reader to know about each of the experiences you've listed?
Some universally valued skills you may want to highlight include:
- communication skills
- analytical skills
- computer/technical literacy
- managing multiple priorities
- leadership skills
- cultural awareness and sensitivity
- planning and organizing
- problem-solving, reasoning, creativity
- teamwork
When describing your experiences, you may find the C-A-R framework useful:
C for Context:
- Setting, if not clear from the organization's name
- Who you worked with, i.e. team or population served
A for Accomplishments:
- Overall task, project, or goal accomplished
- Relevant skills, methods, tools utilized to accomplish the task
R for Results:
- Outcomes of your actions, OR
- The purpose of the task, project, or goal
Following the C-A-R framework, I might describe my experiences as follows:
Example before the application of the CAR framework:
Research and Government Experience
Higher School of Economics - National Research University, Moscow, Russia
Junior Research Fellow at the Skolkovo Institute for Law and Development, April 2015 - February 2016
- Conducted research on the central counterparty and marginal requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives within the framework of the reform of the financial markets law by the Russian Central Bank
Example after the application of the CAR framework:
Higher School of Economics - National Research University, Moscow, Russia
Junior Research Fellow at the Skolkovo Institute for Law and Development, April 2015 - February 2016
- Conducted research on the central counterparty and marginal requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives in Germany to develop recommendations for the Russian financial markets law. Produced two 50-page reports. In collaboration with a team of researchers designed a law reform proposal implemented by the Russian Central Bank and Parliament.
Step 4: edit and format your cv
In Step 4, format your CV to highlight the important content.
After you've written everything, look at your CV and ask: What are the most important parts? What do you want the reader to notice immediately as they glance over your CV? Use bold, italics, or indentation to emphasize key information.
Actionable tips:
- Consider highlighting organization names and position titles.
- Avoid highlighting country, city, or dates.
- General formatting guidelines: 1 - 2 pages, 10 - 12 font size, 2 - 2,5 cm margins
- Use clean, familiar fonts that are easy to read, e.g. Times New Roman, Calibri, Arial, Garamond, Helvetica, Cambria.
If you'd like to learn more about it and look at CV examples styled this way, refer to the Stanford Career Guide.
Final Thoughts
As mentioned, there are many ways to write an effective CV for your LLM application, and Stanford's framework is just one example. I've written about my experience evaluating hundreds of LLM CVs as a member of the admissions committee elsewhere: here and here. An actionable summary of my insights is also available as a downloadable guide. If you'd like a personalized review of your CV, please reach out for a quote.