Career Preparation

Two documents get confused constantly: the academic CV, which is a complete and growing record of scholarly output, and the professional resume, which is a short targeted argument for one specific job. They have different lengths, different conventions and different readers. Submitting one where the other was expected is a common and entirely avoidable rejection.

This section covers both formats in detail, then moves to the harder problem: getting the experience that fills them. Internships, industrial placements and undergraduate research positions are allocated through processes that are far more predictable than they appear, with application windows that open earlier than most students expect and selection criteria that reward preparation over credentials.

Wherever we describe a hiring or selection practice, we describe how the process works structurally. We do not publish salary figures, employer rankings or placement statistics, because those vary by market and year and are best taken from the source that measures them.