Young scientist queued up at the desks of 'Have your CV checked'. Advisors of two executive search companies, Derks & Derks and CLS Services were on hand to give practical advice.
That consisted, among other things, of drawing arrows on CVs that were brought along: "That should be put there and that belongs over here."

Personality

Isn't the massive interest surprising in a time when there is an abundance of jobs for young genomics researchers? Jan Derks of Derks & Derks: "No, not really. There is always a limited amount of attractive positions. You aim for a certain position and you only get one shot to do it right. It's not that hard to make a good application and CV: structure your CV neatly on one page, if necessary with appendices. And make every application personal. Make clear you understand what the company does and show something of your own personality."
 

Lazy

And don't forget: be clear. "Still, I don't know what you've done" Jan Paul Favier of CLS Services comments on a CV of a young researcher. "Tell what you do, why you do it and what the results of your research are. Don't just sum up names clinically, also try to show content. And be clear with periods: when did you did something and for how long you did it."
Next in line is Dorien Verhallen, biomedical scientist and toxicologist from Radboud University Nijmegen. Her CV is already pretty good: complete without being too extensive, clearly set up and without repetition. This may seem obvious, but Favier has seen examples of the same item showing up six times. He only points out some minor possibilities for improvement in Dorien's CV: "Toxicology was also a master? Well, put that down. You have to imagine: people at my side of the tables are lazy, so you have to make it easier for us. When you look at eighty CVs a day, you tend to get a bit lazy after a while."

[Leendert van der Ent]