tea.mathoverflow.net - Discussion Feed (What items MUST appear on a mathematician’s CV?)

Scott Morrison comments on "What items MUST appear on a mathematician’s CV?" (16687)

2011-10-25T14:06:46-07:00

I'm fairly happy with this question. I expect that the answers that will accumulate will be somewhat disjointed, with overlapping or even contradictory advice. Since the question is now community-wiki, hopefully people will freely edit others' answers where appropriate.

voloch comments on "What items MUST appear on a mathematician’s CV?" (16686)

2011-10-25T13:12:56-07:00

@theojf: I was referring to this thread (as correctly pointed out by quid), which is not a question and is not specifically about CV's:

http://tea.mathoverflow.net/discussion/1140/plight-of-the-anxious-graduate-student/

quid comments on "What items MUST appear on a mathematician’s CV?" (16685)

2011-10-25T12:03:50-07:00

Question is open again. I cast the last vote to reopen.

As said in voloch's thread (@theojf: this meta thread is what voloch means, I am virtually certain) I vote on advice questions depending on the question. If it is somewhat specific to mathematics and asks for facts more than pure opinion, I have nothing against the (general type of) question.

According to these criteria this particular question, in particular in its edited form, I think is a reasonable (for MO) advice question. Why not collect some general advice on CV-writing as applicable to early career mathematicians. It is at least somewhat specific to mathematics and it asks for facts more than opinions (it asks for 'musts' so standard things, not something super-specific, like, should I or shouldn't I include this or that activity tangentially related to maths in my CV). To me this is also a key difference to the other question mentioned by voloch; which I voted to close (btw, as too localized, differing from the official reason).

Of course, the quality of the answers will determine a lot whether the question is actually useful. But so far things look good to me. (Except for the suggestion to include ones MO reputation, not activity, but reputation; or is this meant as a joke and I did not get it.)

Where it will end? IMO that occassionally there is some reasonable advice question answered on MO and others are closed; as AFAIK done all along its history (with some discuassion regarding what is or is not 'reasonable' for MO). Okay, it is not the main purpose, but then, while for this particular question not of much direct personal use to me I can at least see how it could be helpful to somebody, and MO seems a somewhat well-suited medium to collect this type of information.

thierryzell comments on "What items MUST appear on a mathematician’s CV?" (16684)

2011-10-25T11:48:20-07:00

Better than the letterhead question is placing the bar rather low...

Still, I think the hardest thing to do for a job candidate is to manage to put oneself in the place of the shadowy mysterious hiring committee. So having a few answers that show the broad range of expectations might actually be helpful to quite a few users.

theojf comments on "What items MUST appear on a mathematician’s CV?" (16683)

2011-10-25T11:32:14-07:00

@voloch: I don't remember a question from you about CVs. I agree that one can have too many career-advice questions on MO. Then again, I am also an "anxious graduate student". There have been times when Secret Blogging Seminar has collected this type of career advice, but it hasn't been too active recently, and most of us cannot post there. I think this question is much better than "do letters of recommentation need to be on official letterhead?".

voloch comments on "What items MUST appear on a mathematician’s CV?" (16682)

2011-10-25T11:23:21-07:00

I have voted to close, because I think is off-topic for MO. It's yet another case of an anxious graduate student trying to cover all possible bases and I've opened a thread on this a few months ago. Another question in this vein that was asked today was whether letters of recommendations had to be in official letterhead. Where is this going to end?

theojf comments on "What items MUST appear on a mathematician’s CV?" (16681)

2011-10-25T11:19:34-07:00

This thread is for discussion of the appropriateness of http://mathoverflow.net/questions/79044/what-items-must-appear-on-a-mathematicians-cv.

My thoughts: I don't recall this question before, and like it. I think that CV questions are appropriate in many disciplines, and there is much that's discipline-specific. Since there is clearly no uniquely correct answer, I hope that answers specify their scope. In any case, I have edited the question, and voted to reopan.