My friend and colleague Julie Clarenbach has written an excellent post on building your resumé.

Think about the job you’d really love to have. Think about what skills and qualifications you would need in order to land that job.

… what would your resume (not someone else’s, or your resume from a different, parallel life, but YOUR resume) need in order to demonstrate those skills and qualifications?

…

That’s where sympathetic friends come in. Buy a bottle or two of wine, open a bag of something snacky, and invite your most inventive, positive, supportive friends over. Share with them what you have and what you need. Then ask for their help in brainstorming all the possible ways you could gain the skills and experience you need to get your foot in the door.

Read the whole thing here: Build your resume » Escape the Ivory Tower.

You can do the same thing for your academic career.

What kind of academic career would you like? What do hiring committees in those departments look for? Where are the holes in your current CV?

Don’t guess at the second one. Talk to people. Find out. How many publications did the last person they hired have? Do they really care about teaching experience?

Then be strategic about the things you do.

Don’t do things and then rationalize that they’ll be good for your CV. Actually figure out what will be good for your CV and figure out how to do those things.

Edited Sept 21, 2015.