CV template for Google Docs

From the builder to a Google Doc

1. 1Build the CV in the builder. Add a custom section for each list your field uses (Publications, Grants, Presentations, Teaching) and rename core sections where needed, such as Education and Training.
2. 2Download the .docx. Building and previewing cost nothing; the download is a one-time payment.
3. 3Upload the file to Google Drive with New, then File upload.
4. 4Open it and choose File, then Save as Google Docs. Edit that copy and keep the original .docx as a backup.

The Word file is built from real Heading styles, normal paragraphs and native bullet lists, with no tables or text boxes, so Docs has nothing to rearrange. Ledger's date margin comes across as a tab stop with a hanging indent rather than a table, which keeps the dates lined up when you add an entry in Docs.

The Doc and your ResumeFinch CV are separate copies from then on. Changes you make in Docs do not flow back to the builder, so pick one place to keep the master version.

Add page numbers and a header with your name

A three or four page CV gets printed, stapled and shuffled by committees, so every page after the first should say whose it is and where it falls. The download does not add these for you; Google Docs does it in a minute.

1. 1Check the document is in pages format. Headers and page numbers do not work in pageless documents; the switch is under File, then Page setup.
2. 2Choose Insert, then Page elements, then Page number, and pick where the number goes. More options lets you apply numbers to specific pages or sections and change the alignment.
3. 3For "Page 2 of 4", type "of" after the number and choose Insert, then Page elements, then Page count, which adds the total wherever your cursor is.
4. 4Choose Insert, then Page elements, then Header, and type a short running line such as your name followed by Curriculum Vitae.
5. 5Click into the header and tick Different first page. Page one keeps your full contact block with no header above it, and later pages show the running line.

Google has moved these commands before. If your menu shows Insert, then Headers & footers, or Insert, then Page numbers, those are the same features under an older menu layout.

Formatting publications in Google Docs

• Each publication arrives as one bullet in a native list. To number them instead, select the list and choose the numbered list button on the toolbar; Docs renumbers as you add papers.
• If you prefer citations with no bullets and a hanging indent, the look of an APA reference list, remove the bullets and then use Format, then Align & indent, then Indentation options, and set Special indent to Hanging.
• Builder list items are plain text. In Docs, bold your own name in each author list and italicize journal titles if your citation style calls for it (AMA style, common in medicine, italicizes abbreviated journal names).
• Keep each group newest first and label unpublished work as in press, under review or in preparation.
• Avoid rebuilding the list as a table to line things up. Tables are what break when a CV is edited by someone else or pasted into an online application form.

Letter vs A4 in Google Docs

ResumeFinch exports US Letter pages only (8.5 x 11 in). There is no A4 option in the builder. For an application in the UK, Europe, India, Australia or anywhere else that uses A4 (210 x 297 mm), change the paper size after uploading: File, then Page setup, then Paper size, then A4, and select OK.

A4 is about a quarter inch narrower and nearly three quarters of an inch taller than Letter, so lines rewrap and page breaks move. Scroll through the whole CV after switching and make sure no section heading sits alone at the bottom of a page. Then save a PDF with File, then Download, then PDF Document.

Margins come from the spacing level you chose in the builder. You can change them in the same Page setup dialog if an application asks for something specific.

CV section order for an academic medical CV

1. 1Name with degrees, current title, email, phone and city.
2. 2Education and training: fellowship, residency, medical school and undergraduate degree, newest first, with honors on the details line.
3. 3Board certification and licensure: board, specialty and year; license type, state and status.
4. 4Academic and clinical appointments, including program leadership roles.
5. 5Grants: role, project title, funder, amount and years.
6. 6Publications: peer-reviewed articles first, then abstracts, reviews and chapters.
7. 7Presentations: oral abstracts, posters, workshops and invited talks.
8. 8Teaching and mentoring: courses, curricula you direct, trainees you mentor.
9. 9Clinical and research interests, procedures and research skills, then professional memberships.

Training and credentials go near the top because they are checked first: a reader confirms board status and licensure before looking at anything else. For a research or faculty CV outside medicine, education still comes first but appointments, publications and grants carry the page; the CV template page lays out that academic order.

What the sample CV shows

• Residency and fellowship sit under Education, renamed Education and Training. Each entry has a degree line, institution, dates and one details line, which suits training programs well.
• Board certification names the real issuing board (the American Board of Internal Medicine) and the year. The license line gives the state board and status without the license number, which credentialing forms ask for separately.
• Grants lead with the role, so Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator stand out before the funder and amount.
• Appointment bullets describe clinical load, curricula and committee work rather than sales-style outcomes, because the grant and publication lists carry the output.
• The physician, institutions, journals, funders and all numbers in the sample are fictional placeholders.

Frequently asked questions