Improving Your CV

What makes a strong CV? Your CV or “curriculum vitae” is what will be presented to an attorney when they are searching for nurse expert witness. Susan K Smith wrote a great article titled “Developing a Professional CV” for The Juris Educational Resource Knowledge (JERK), with some very helpful tips.

When the Expert Witness Nurses team is reviewing CVs, there are a few areas that stand out for strong CV’s v. weak CV’s. We suggest a simple, professional looking CV including the crucial pieces of information about your career and experience and training.

Your CV may be presented to an attorney that is in a different state, so make sure you indicate the name of the facility where you were/are employed including the state. Be sure to include not only the name of your place of work, but the role you were in. If you were the charge nurse for the cardiac ICU it is important to clearly outline that fact. If you held multiple roles within the same facility note these separately in your CV. Similarly, when listing the educational institute you attended, include program name, city and state.

When attorneys are looking for an expert, their requests related to the lawsuit can be very specific regarding dates and role. It is recommended that you indicate the specific date including month and year for your professional work experience related to each role.

Expert Witness Nurses encourage you to review Smith’s article on the JERK website. There are helpful tips to help you improve your current CV with sections on formatting, finishing touches, does and don’ts, and there is a checklist to you can refer to in order to ensure you have everything you need in the correct order.

Try out the tips and send us your slick new CV to info@EWNurses.com! You can find the full article here.