CVs Done Right: The Original Dr. Dani Babb’s 2025 DIY Faculty CV Tips

By Dani Babb, PhD

You know what’s wild? It’s 2025 and I’m still reviewing CVs from clients — sometimes written by other “professional writers” — that are functionally unusable in the current job market. We’re talking outdated formatting, clunky bullet points, redundant course listings, and wasted space on content that search committees skip entirely. These are from folks that aren’t talking to hiring managers constantly to see what’s working and what isn’t.

The truth? Nearly 97% of CVs I’ve reviewed in the past six months (even ones written this year!) would not make it through the first screening at the schools I know and work with.

As the founder of Faculty Job Tools and someone who has worked directly with hiring deans, provosts, academic search committees, and HR departments for over two decades, I can tell you this: today’s CVs require a completely new approach.

This blog is your guide to writing a CV that actually works in 2025 — with honest, research-informed, and industry-backed advice directly from me, Dr. Dani Babb.

Bullet Points Are Out. First-Person Narrative Is In.

Here’s the #1 mistake I see: bullet points listing responsibilities.

Faculty hiring teams do not care that you “taught undergraduate business courses using Canvas LMS.” That’s a given. If you were hired to teach, they assume you taught.

Instead, write a short, polished, first-person paragraph describing the impact of your work — not just what you did.

Example (Bad!):

• Taught BUSU 310: Data Analysis and Decision Making Full course description
• Provided feedback within 24 hours
• Helped students understand Excel

Example (better, in first person):

I designed and delivered data analysis content to graduate students in a fully asynchronous online environment, using Canvas LMS and weekly video case studies. I focused on building student confidence with Excel and SPSS, while maintaining a 24-hour feedback turnaround and an 88% end-of-course evaluation score.

See the difference? The second version is:

• Searchable
• Human
• Professional
• Results-oriented

If It Ended, Move It to “Previous Faculty Experience”

Another red flag I see constantly is leaving former roles in the current teaching section. If the job ended in 2020, it doesn’t belong next to your current roles. New hiring folks quickly think you’re overworked.

Instead, create a section called Prior Faculty Appointments (or Previous Teaching Experience) and list only currently active roles under “Current Academic Roles.” It immediately tells the reader what you’re doing now — and it keeps your CV clean and current.

Call It What It Is: Educational Training

If you’re listing conferences, certifications, or instructional design training under “Education,” stop.

Universities now distinguish between:

• Education (your degrees)
• Educational Training (professional development, pedagogy, certifications, LMS credentials, etc.)

List things like Quality Matters training, ACUE certification, Canvas or Blackboard mastery, and instructional design workshops under an Educational Training heading. This gives hiring teams a quick visual signal that you’re up to date and have invested in professional growth.

Delete the Educator Attribute Section (Yes, Really)

A few years ago, I included an “Educator Attributes” section in most CVs because committees wanted to see specific attributes in one place.

Not anymore.

This section has become redundant with your Teaching Philosophy Statement and often makes your CV too long. Some CV writing companies are still using it — but we’ve moved on.

Let your experience, narrative, and philosophy speak for you.

Keep the Teaching Philosophy — But Keep It Honest

Your Teaching Philosophy section still matters. But skip the fluffy language and canned buzzwords.

What works in 2025? Honesty. Brevity. Authenticity.

A few sentences — 10 to 12 max — about your values, how you show up for students, and what you believe about online education.

Here’s an example that lands well:

I believe engagement is the heart of online learning. My goal is to connect students to material in meaningful ways, personalize instruction to meet their needs, and help them apply coursework to real-world challenges. I view teaching as a reciprocal relationship: I grow from them as they grow from me. I do this through .. «insert your methods»

Cut the Course Listings. Summarize Instead.

Hiring teams do not want to see 15 pages listing every course you’ve ever taught. Not anymore.

Instead, write a summary paragraph for each university or program you’ve worked for. Keep it keyword-rich for applicant tracking systems (ATS), but concise enough that a dean can get the gist without scrolling for an hour.

Example:

At University of Alabama, I taught undergraduate and graduate courses in business analysis, management, and quantitative methods. I consistently applied active learning strategies and used Canvas, Turnitin, and embedded video for real-time engagement. I contributed to curriculum updates and helped onboard new faculty.

This works 10x better than listing:

• BUSU310: Data Analysis
• MGT510: Organizational Leadership
• BUSU102: Strategic Management…

That formatting is no longer effective. Don’t let your CV look like a course catalog.

Separate “Works Cited In” from “Publications”

This one’s important: Google Scholar can help you identify citations of your work — even if you haven’t formally published with peer-reviewed journals.

Many of my clients are cited in dissertations, white papers, industry publications, blog posts, and even doctoral programs that reference their course design or research.

Create a section called Works Cited In and list these with links if available.

This is an impressive but underutilized strategy that sets your CV apart and shows your influence, even outside of traditional academic publishing.

Clean. Up. The. Formatting.

If you hired someone to write your CV and it came back with:

• Mixed fonts
• Inconsistent bullet spacing
• Crunched date ranges
• Bad headers
• Course descriptions on the wrong lines
• Junky layout

…it’s time to get a new CV.

Formatting matters more than ever. Applicant tracking systems (ATS) scan your CV before a human ever sees it — and if your formatting is off, you might get filtered out automatically.

My rule:

• University name on one line
• Dates on a separate line or right justified, not crammed into a sentence
• Courses or summaries in indented paragraphs
• Standard fonts only (Calibri, Arial, Times New Roman)
• No bold in paragraph text
• Consistent section spacing
• Logical, visual hierarchy

Don’t trust someone who says they’re a “CV expert” unless they actually understand what universities are looking for. Some companies are letting kids (literally) with no experience in higher ed write their CVs. I’ve seen it myself.

Make Sure It’s Actually

Me!

There’s been confusion in the market. I *only* write CVs through Faculty Job Tools. Www.facultyjobtools.com. That’s it.

I don’t outsource my CV writing.

I don’t share my method, except in DIY posts like this.

If your CV wasn’t written by me personally through Faculty Job Tools, you don’t have the real deal.

Anyone claiming to be using “Dani’s method” aren’t using what I’m integrating from what I learned just last week from hiring deans! The CVs I’ve reviewed from those companies often have errors, outdated formatting, and miss the strategic insights that come from my 20+ years working with online universities directly.

Want the Real Deal?

You have two choices:

• Use this blog to DIY your CV using the updated 2025 strategies above.
• Or let me do it for you — and know it’s done right, from the only and original Dr. Dani Babb, with results that speak for themselves. The average CV rewrite takes me 8-10 hours and a new CV over 20. I’m still charging 2001 rates. You can’t go wrong.

https://facultyjobtools.com/products/academic-resume-curriculum-vitae

If you’re ready to invest in your future with a faculty CV that actually works in 2025, start here:

Faculty Job Tools | A Babb Education Company

Final Thoughts: This Isn’t Just Paper. It’s Your Career.

CV writing isn’t cosmetic. It’s foundational.

It’s the difference between getting the interview or getting ghosted.

It’s the first impression that gets you in the door — or the filter that weeds you out.

So don’t settle for outdated templates, canned copy, or third-party CV mills. Or God-forbid - an AI generated CV.

Whether you do it yourself or let me help, make 2026 the year you show up on paper the same way you do in the classroom: clear, engaging, confident, and ready.

Yours,
Dani