How will you know when your CV is strong enough?

It's very common to be unsure if your CV is competitive enough, and if you're consequently ready to apply for a job or funding. But there are ways to assess the strength of your CV to allow you to make a balanced judgement about whether to apply or wait a little longer - and upskill a little more.

Know what your audience is looking for

This is critical! Ensure you meet the core criteria and check for 'deal breakers' - for example, if a funding instrument requires you to have published one paper without your supervisor, you will need to have done this to be competitive. If you haven't yet, it's worth waiting. Longer term planning and up-skilling is critical here.

Know your competition

It's extremely useful to find out how you compare with your peers. Soliciting appraisal from trusted senior colleagues can be extremely useful here (supervisor, PI, academic mentor, trusted senior colleagues). Sharing your CV with trusted colleagues in a similar position within and beyond your institution (and the country where you work ) can also be helpful to get an overview of your standing in comparison to your peers.

Don't wait for perfection!

Whilst you need to populate core areas of an academic CV template, you don't need to be able to offer significant evidence covering all areas. This will, again, depend on the opportunity you're applying for. For example, if the job description for the position you are applying for requires significant teaching load, you would expect to need to demonstrate teaching experience. Conversely, if you are applying for a mobility grant, significant time spent working in other countries might make you appear over qualified for this type of opportunity. Remember that you will only ever be evaluated commensurate with your experience, and each year you wait to apply is a year you will need to justify in your CV.