Blog Post Focus
This post explores CV building for residents. We finally made it to residency…and yet there is more work than ever to be done. Especially if we want to go the fellowship route. There are many ways to build a CV for fellowship, but it may make the most sense to tailor it toward the ERAS applications, since most fellowship programs participate in ERAS.
If not applying to an ERAS program, check that program’s website or governing body to see what activities appear to be weighted most highly and focus on those.
Personal Experience with CV Building During Residency
As a resident I was caught between two fellowships. So, I tried to build my CV with some specific experience for each specialty and also do some general experiences that would work for any specialty. I was fortunate to find physicians to work with and to be able to collaborate with some fellow residents to build my CV.
General Thoughts for CV Building in Residency: Focus on ERAS
What you want to do for CV building will ultimately depend on what is available to you and what fellowship you are working toward. To guide you, check out 2024 MyERAS® Applicant User Guide. Ultimately, you have ten slots to fill for experiences and many slots for publications.
ERAS Experiences
The experiences come in topics of education/training, military service, professional organization, other extracurricular activity, club, hobby, research, teaching/mentoring, volunteer/service/advocacy, and work.
ERAS Publications
The publications have the following predetermined designations: peer-reviewed journal articles/abstracts, peer-reviewed journal articles/abstracts (other than published), peer-reviewed book chapter, scientific monograph, poster presentation, oral presentation, peer-reviewed online publication, non-peer-reviewed online publication, and other articles.
Gaining Experiences
On the ERAS application one is limited to ten experiences, so you have the opportunity to get ten high-quality experiences rather than trying to get as many experiences as possible at the cost of quality. These experiences will depend on what is available to you and your own interests. If you are limited with opportunities take what you can get. If you have several opportunities then you may find it more enjoyable to take the ones you are best suited for.
You can reach out to attendings and senior residents and alumni for guidance or help. They can help you find worthwhile experiences to add to your CV. If you find projects or opportunities and can make yourself useful then you likely can become part of those opportunities.
If you reach out you can find several opportunities.
Volunteering Ideas for Experience
Volunteering covers a broad swath of opportunities. At this point in your life it can be frustrating to continue to need to work for free, but if it helps your chances for getting that desired fellowship training, then it may be worth it.
Academic Opportunities With Some Writing
These are some ideas that may not require that much writing. Help with live courses in your area of interest. Perhaps someone in your desired field gives in-person lectures or courses you may assist with. Help with online courses. Again, there may be a prominent member of your desired field doing online courses you can assist with.
Tutoring medical students can be a way to show academic initiative and can express that you have solid communication skills and desire to be in a teaching hospital. Abstract reviewing for professional societies is a way to get involved in scholastic activity and see what sorts of activities other residents are getting involved in, while playing an important role of filter for what projects are accepted for presentation.
Academic Opportunities with More Writing
These are some ideas that may require more writing. Offer to help with editing a site dedicated to your desired specialty. Write some guest blog posts on medical blogs or professional society blogs and websites. Submit questions to question banks of your desired specialty. Reach out about editing textbooks and online journals. Any of these are tangible examples of your work that others can see. In a sense, credentials of your academic interest.
Medical Volunteering Opportunities
Medical volunteering for races and other athletic events of interest to you can be a way to add volunteer experience to your CV while also showcasing your extracurricular interests. A similar idea would be to volunteer for injury clinics.
Elected Positions
You can reach out to professional societies and see if you can be a representative for your class or even run for a national position. One can reach out to board prep resources and ask to be a representative for your class and show assertiveness and an education focus. One can run for an elected position for a professional society to show dedication to the field. See if your hospital has any elected positions for residents in a more general setting, such as resident wellness or research. Perhaps you can be elected chief resident in your program.
Publications
Again, check out the 2024 MyERAS® Applicant User Guide to see all the options available for putting scholarly works on the CV.
These include case abstracts presented as posters and journal submissions and many more. Try to get involved with faculty who regularly pump out scholarly works and collaborate with your cohort to become involved in a high amount of high-quality scholarly activities.
Final Thoughts on CV Building as a Resident
Building a CV as a resident can be frustrating. You are already busy and you have to do all sorts of work atop your residency to build an impressive fellowship application. However, paying attention to what ERAS applications (or whatever society that guides the post-graduate training you desire) look like as soon as you start residency can help you prepare strongly for your fellowship applications. Collaborate with attendings and your cohort to build a strong and impressive application.