Does anyone have experience with using scrivener for creating a CV? Specifically, I am creating (actually currently revising) an academic CV that needs to be reformatted for various institutions (for instance education might need to go before or after work experience, or contents need to be in chronological or reverse chronological order). Does anyone have experience (or a template they can recommend) to use with scrivener? Any other writing software that you can recommend for this purpose? I have run into problems with both Microsoft word and pages, although I might simply not have discovered the proper template. Thanks!
Generally speaking, Scrivener is probably not the best choice for highly formatted documents like a resume or CV. If you choose to use Scrivener, I would recommend editing in Page View mode (View -> Page View) and using the Original Compile preset. This combination is as close as Scrivener gets to WYSIWYG editing.
Word and Pages are going to have vastly larger template libraries for business documents like this. What did you run into with those programs?
Katherine
Here’s what I did.
In my binder I created a folder for each area, text on container was title. Each folder had a sub folder for each entry, text on container was date, title, extra. Each sub folder contained one document for each sentence. I used labels on the folders/docs to indicate focus area (business, technical, etc). From there I just rearrange the folders to the order I want. In compile I include or exclude as needed. I compile to doc then format for “pretty” in pages/word.
I like Scriv for the thought development, but it is NOT a word processor. At least it wasn’t when I adopted it and I still think of it as a way to organize my thoughts before I have to focus on look and feel.
YMMV
I’d written out a long screed. Then I saw what Jaysen has written above, and it was much better, especially his last paragraph. So I gave my effort the bullet. What Jaysen is saying is that you’re probably going to have to return to MS Word for prettification, and I think that’s right too. But Scrivener for thought development - yes!
(And by the way - I’m fairly sure that Microsoft itself used to publish c.v. templates for Word if you decide to go down the template route, but in any case I’d expect that in putting your c.v. together you’ll be best advised to follow the customs and practices of your particular neck of the academic woods, whatever they may be.)
Agree with Jaysen and Hugh.
Scrivener is a great database for storing data and then compiling whatever you need for different applications or publications, with final design in Pages (or similar) if necessary.
Before writing CV or Resume, just to know the difference between CV and Resume. A Curriculum Vitae (CV) is an entire record of you experience and career while Resume is tailored to the particular position that you are applying to. It mainly lists relevant experiences as they relate to the position of interest. Resumes are standard in most career fields , while curriculum vitae are more common in academia and for positions that value an applicant’s portfolio, publications, speaking engagements, etc.
In the end, remember to save your CV in PDF
I HIGHLY disagree. I use Scrivener for both “thought development” and as my main Word Processor. It works nearly flawlessly as one.
All good in theory, but many job ads ask for a CV and in reality are after a Resume.