Do you need a neuroscience CV that will blow the employer’s mind? We can help.
In such an important and highly skilled industry, recruiters are only looking for the best of the best. So you need to prove that you’ve got what it takes to succeed.
Using our comprehensive writing guide and neuroscience CV example below, you can create a powerful CV that will secure you an interview.
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Neuroscience CV example
This CV example demonstrates the type of info you should be including within your Neuroscience CV, as well as how to format and structure the information in a way which looks professional and is easy for time-strapped recruiters to read.
This is the look and feel you should be aiming for, so remember to refer back to it throughout your CV writing process.
Neuroscience CV layout and format
Your CV is the first impression you’ll make on anybody who reads it.
A disorganised, cluttered and barely-readable CV could seriously decrease your chances of landing interviews, so it’s essential to make sure yours is slick, professional and easy to navigate.
You can do this by using a clear structure and formatting your content with some savvy formatting techniques – check them out below:
CV formatting tips
- Length: Recruiters will be immediately put off by lengthy CVs – with hundreds of applications to read through, they simply don’t have the time! Grabbing their attention with a short, snappy and highly relevant CV is far more likely to lead to success. Aim for two sides of A4 or less.
- Readability: Help out time-strapped recruiters by formatting your CV for easy reading. Using lots of bullet points and lists will help them to skim through your info, while clearly formatted headings will allow them to navigate towards the content which is most useful to them.
- Design: It’s generally best to stick to a simple CV design, as funky or elaborate designs rarely add any value to your application. A clear, modern font and a subtle colour scheme work perfectly and allow your skills, experience and achievements to speak for themselves.
- Avoid photos: Logos, profile photos or other images aren’t necessary and rarely add any value – save the space for written content, instead!
Quick tip: Formatting your CV to look professional can be difficult and time-consuming when using Microsoft Word or Google Docs. If you want to create an attractive CV quickly, try our quick-and-easy CV Builder and use one of their eye-catching professional CV templates.
CV structure
When writing your own CV, break up your CV content into the following key sections:
- Name and contact details – Place them at the top of your CV, so that employers can easily get in touch.
- CV profile – A punchy sales pitch of your key experience, skills and achievements to reel readers in.
- Core skills section – A bullet-pointed snapshot of your abilities.
- Work experience – A well-structured list of your relevant work experience.
- Education – An overview of any relevant qualifications or professional training you have.
- Hobbies and interests – A short description of any relevant hobbies or interests (optional).
Now I’ll tell you exactly what you should include in each CV section.
CV Contact Details
Start off your CV with a basic list of your contact details.
Here’s what you should include:
- Mobile number
- Email address – It’s often helpful to make a new email address, specifically for your job applications.
- Location – Share your town or city; there’s no need for a full address.
- LinkedIn profile or portfolio URL – Make sure the information on them is coherent with your CV, and that they’re up-to-date
Quick tip: Delete excessive details, such as your date of birth or marital status. Recruiters don’t need to know this much about you, so it’s best to save the space for your other CV sections.
Neuroscience CV Profile
Your CV profile is the first thing recruiters will read – so your goal is to give them a reason to read onto the end of the document!
Create a short and snappy paragraph that showcases your key skills, relevant experience and impressive accomplishments.
Ultimately, it should prove to the reader that you’ve got what it takes to carry out the job.
Tips for creating an strong CV profile:
- Keep it concise: Recruiters have piles of CVs to read through and limited time to dedicate to each, so it pays to showcase your abilities in as few words as possible. 3-4 lines is ideal.
- Tailor it: Not tailoring your profile (and the rest of your CV) to the role you’re applying for, is the worst CV mistake you could make. Before setting pen to paper, look over the job ad and make a note of the skills and experience required. Then, incorporate your findings throughout.
- Don’t add an objective: You only have a small space for your CV profile, so avoid writing down your career goals or objectives. If you think these will help your application, incorporate them into your cover letter instead.
- Avoid cliches: If your CV is riddled with clichès like “Dynamic thought-leader”, hit that delete button. Phrases like these are like a broken record to recruiters, who read them countless times per day. Hard facts, skills, knowledge and results are sure to yield far better results.
Example CV profile for Neuroscience
What to include in your Neuroscience CV profile?
- Summary of experience: Start with a brief summary of your relevant experience so far. How many years experience do you have? What type of companies have you worked for? What industries/sectors have you worked in? What are your specialisms?
- Relevant skills: Employers need to know what skills you can bring to their organisation, and ideally they want to see skills that match their job vacancy. So, research your target roles thoroughly and add the most important Neuroscience skills to your profile.
- Essential qualifications: If you have any qualifications which are highly relevant to Neuroscience jobs, then highlight them in your profile so that employers do not miss them.
Quick tip: Struggling to write a powerful profile? Choose from hundreds of pre-written profiles across all industries, and add one to your CV with one click in our quick-and-easy CV Builder. All written by recruitment experts and easily tailored to suit your unique skillset.
Core skills section
In addition to your CV profile, your core skills section provides an easily digestible snapshot of your skills – perfect for grabbing the attention of busy hiring managers.
As Neuroscience jobs might receive a huge pile of applications, this is a great way to stand out and show off your suitability for the role.
It should be made up of 2-3 columns of bullet points and be made up of skills that are highly relevant to the jobs you are targeting.
Top skills for your Neuroscience CV
Neuropsychology – investigating the relations between brain processes and mechanisms, and cognition and behavioural control.
Medical knowledge – understanding the medical implications of neuroscience and how this pertains to neuroscientific research.
Physiological psychology – studying the neural mechanisms of perception and behaviour through direct manipulation of the brain.
Statistical modelling – creating visualisations of data to assist in identifying relationships between variables and making research predictions.
Scientific writing – communicating scientific information to other scientists in a document, book or presentation in written form, requiring a lot of research and exact wording, and can include grant requests, peer reviews and summarised findings.
Quick tip: Our quick-and-easy CV Builder contains thousands of in-demand skills for every profession that can be added to your CV in seconds – saving you time and greatly improving your chances of landing job interviews.
Work experience/Career history
By this point, employers will be keen to know more detail about you career history.
Starting with your most recent role and working backwards, create a snappy list of any relevant roles you’ve held.
This could be freelance, voluntary, part-time or temporary jobs too. Anything that’s relevant to your target role is well-worth listing!
Structuring your roles
The structure of your work experience section can seriously affect its impact.
This is generally the biggest section of a CV, and with no thought to structure, it can look bulky and important information can get lost.
Use my 3-step structure below to allow for easy navigation, so employers can find what they are looking for:
Outline
Start with a 1-2 sentence summary of your role as a whole, detailing what the goal of your position was, who you reported to or managed, and the type of organisation you worked for.
Key responsibilities
Follow with a snappy list of bullet points, detailing your daily duties and responsibilities.
Tailor it to the role you’re applying for by mentioning how you put the target employer’s desired hard skills and knowledge to use in this role.
Key achievements
Round up each role by listing 1-3 key achievements, accomplishments or results.
Wherever possible, quantify them using hard facts and figures, as this really helps to prove your value.
Example job for Neuroscience CV
Outline
Working for the St Helen’s Neurological Research Facility in Hull leading research and studying psychiatric disorders based on the nervous system, investigating the nature of neurological diseases and disabilities and developing solutions and pharmaceuticals to treat patients.
Key Responsibilities
- Prepare tissue and cell samples, utilising dyes, antibodies, and gene probes to identify the components of the nervous system
- Use a variety of tools and equipment to monitor the brain and nerve activity
- Conduct behavioural experiments on insects and small mammals to investigate the neural mechanisms of a variety of cognitive disorders, using electrophysiology, optogenetics, pharmacology, and molecular biology techniques
- Collaborate with other neuroscientists to study how different parts of the brain communicate with each other
Quick tip: Create impressive job descriptions easily in our quick-and-easy CV Builder by adding pre-written job phrases for every industry and career stage.
Education section
Next up, you should list your education and qualifications.
This can include your formal qualifications (a degree, A-Levels and GCSEs), as well as sector-specific Neuroscience qualifications and/or training.
While school leavers and recent grads should include a lot of detail here to make up for the lack of work experience, experienced candidates may benefit from a shorter education section, as your work experience section will be more important to recruiters.
Interests and hobbies
This section is entirely optional, so you’ll have to use your own judgement to figure out if it’s worth including.
If your hobbies and interests could make you appear more suitable for your dream job, then they are definitely worth adding.
Interests which are related to the industry, or hobbies like sports teams or volunteering, which display valuable transferable skills might be worth including.
Writing your Neuroscience CV
A strong, compelling CV is essential to get noticed and land interviews with the best employers.
To ensure your CV stands out from the competition, make sure to tailor it to your target role and pack it with sector-specific skills and results.
Remember to triple-check for spelling and grammar errors before hitting send.
Good luck with the job search!