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By Julie Miller Vick and Jennifer S. Furlong

Question: A really great job just opened up that I will be applying for. It is chair of an interdisciplinary religious studies program. The institution has a history of being secular and priding itself on that point. I feel that I am an excellent candidate. Here is the catch: Even though I am no longer a practicing Catholic, my CV screams Roman Catholic. I have taught at Catholic colleges and high schools, my degrees are from prestigious Catholic institutions, and my research is in theology. I have taught courses on the Catholic tradition, Catholic art, and Catholic history, and I am a member of the Catholic Theological Society of America.

Here is the question: I have for some time been practicing a form of Buddhism and was thinking of stating that on my cover letter or in my CV under "Interests." What do you think?

Question: I left my full-time job in an English department at a community college to obtain a Ph.D. in American studies. I would like to teach at a research university, but would also consider a small liberal-arts college. My concern is how to present my 15 years of community-college teaching in a positive light so that I will not be stigmatized in the job market. Last year, in my first go-round on the market, I got two interviews, including a campus visit, but I suspect that my previous employment slants views of my seriousness as a researcher.

Answer: It can be difficult in academe to move from one kind of institution to another. And in both questioners' situations, the job candidates look like one thing but want to transition into something else.

In response to the first questioner, were the titles of the courses you taught "Catholic Art," "Catholic History," and "Catholic Tradition"? If not, wouldn't it be just as honest to say on your CV that you've taught courses on "religious art, the history of religion, and religious traditions?" And if those were the exact titles of your courses, perhaps you don't need to list every one of them. Instead you might speak more generally in your cover letter or CV about subject areas of interest to you.

We're not sure why you would include your high-school teaching experience on a CV for an academic post. If you truly feel that you are an excellent candidate for a position, make that clear in your CV. In addition to making it clear in your cover letter, use your CV to demonstrate why you would be a great chair of an interdisciplinary religious-studies program.

As for including your Buddhist leanings on your CV, if it is an academic interest, you might find a way to include it. But if it is a personal interest, keep in mind that interests, hobbies, and the like are rarely included on a CV for an academic position. If you were to include a section like that, some readers might find it strange, and be unsure what to think of the information, particularly if Buddhism was the only entry in the category.

For our second reader: Think about how you could convince potential employers of your seriousness as a researcher. Have you been publishing or giving talks at conferences? It might be wise to pursue a postdoc in your field before going on the job market again. Increasingly, Ph.D.'s in the humanities are using postdocs as a time to do the research that makes them more attractive candidates at many types of institutions. However, we must note that if you received two interviews, including a campus visit, during your first time on the job market, you have done fairly well thus far.

Question: I am currently living in Europe and am in the process of searching for a job in the United States. Would it be appropriate to put on my CV that I am a U.S. citizen? Also, my wife is applying as well, but she is not a citizen. Should she mention that on her CV or in her cover letter?

Question: I am 52 years old. Is it necessary to indicate my age somewhere at the top of my CV or down below? And, is it necessary to send a photograph along with the CV?

Answer: In preparing a CV or a résumé for a job in the United States, it's important to be aware that your job-search documents will omit personal information that is often included, or even required, on job-search materials used in other countries.

In some European countries, for example, applicants are asked to submit a photograph and list their date of birth and marital status. Federal law in the United States prohibits job discrimination based on race, gender, and a number of other fronts, so don't mention your marital status, age, number of children, or even whether you are male or female on your job-search materials.

Moreover, we think it is important to appear savvy about how American job hunting works, especially for non-U.S. citizens. If you include your marital status and age on your CV, you are showing American employers that you don't "get" how the system works.

Although in most cases American employers cannot ask you about your national origin, they can ask whether you are legally able to work in the United States. If the reader living in Europe is worried that American employers might question his legal work status, he might include an "Additional Information" category at the end of his CV and mention that he is a U.S. citizen. Similarly, if his wife can make a positive statement about her eligibility to work here ("U.S. permanent resident"), she might include a similar entry on her CV.

Our second reader brings up another issue -- ageism -- about which we often receive questions. (See parts one and two of a previous column, "I'm 50. Can I get a Job?")

Clearly, you should not list your age or your birthdate on a CV. Sometimes people will be able to approximate your age based on the dates you received your degrees. If so, the question becomes, "Should I include those dates?" If you leave them in the CV, people can guess how old you are. If you leave them off, a potential employer might take that as a signal that you're hiding your age. There is no good answer to this dilemna. You, the job seeker, should decide what you are confortable doing, and act accordingly.

While we're on the subject, we'd like to remind readers never to include a Social Security number or tax ID number on your CV or résumé. There is so much personal information on a CV to begin with that including either of those numbers can make it quite easy for an unscrupulous person to steal your identity. Sometimes your Social Security number is required on a CV that is part of a grant application. If so, include it there, but omit it for other uses.

Question: What are your views on submitting your CV electronically as a PDF file? I've witnessed the unfortunate transformations that can occur when a Word document is opened across platforms (or versions), or is formatted for a different default printer (awkward line and/or page endings, typeface substitution, etc.). I dread the thought that a committee of Important People would judge me based on a document that does not look identical to the one I've painstakingly prepared. Is it too presumptuous, then, to assume that the (free) Adobe Reader software is as ubiquitous as Microsoft Word? If the instructions are to "submit CV's electronically as Word document attachments," would submitting a PDF instead be an egregious error? Should I query beforehand as to whether a PDF would be acceptable?

Answer: When applying for jobs, we believe that you should follow directions. If the position announcement asks that you submit something as a Word document, you should do so. Send it to yourself first and see what it looks like.

You are right that everyone doesn't have Adobe Reader and that not everyone will realize that it is free. Some people may work at institutions where they are not allowed to download anything without the permission of technical-support staff. You could send copies both ways and include in your cover letter, "My CV in Microsoft Word is attached as requested; I have also attached it as a PDF."

Question: What are departments looking for when they ask applicants for "evidence of teaching excellence"? Are they talking awards, comments from evaluations, class materials?

Answer: Position announcements that include that phrase cause a lot of confusion. We discussed many ways to provide evidence of teaching excellence in an earlier column.

One of the most effective is to have a faculty member address your teaching in a letter of recommendation. If you are currently teaching, you could ask a recommender to observe you teaching a class. If not, you might give syllabi, student evaluations, and a statement of teaching philosophy to a recommender so he or she has a context for discussing your teaching in the letter.

If you decide to send student evaluations with your application, you should do so selectively. Because teaching-evaluation methods and forms can differ from institution to institution, you might also include a document that discusses the way evaluations work in your current institution, and what the results mean. That way, you can help the search-committee members understand what they're seeing.

Syllabi, teaching portfolios, and statements of teaching philosophy can also testify to your teaching excellence. When selecting, writing, and sending those documents, you should absolutely consider your audience. Who will you be asked to teach? What will you be teaching? To what type of institution will you be sending the documents?

Sometimes readers ask us whether it is appropriate to include letters of recommendations from students in a dossier for an academic position. The answer is no. Your supervisors (in this case, your dissertation committee and other faculty members) are the best witnesses to your potential as a teacher and researcher.

Have a question you'd like answered in Career Talk? Send it to careertalk@chronicle.com

While we are unable to answer letters personally, we will consider them as material for future columns. Confidentiality is assured.