EPAC CV and CV Cover Page Instructions

ABOUT the CV and CV COVER PAGE

A curriculum vitae (CV) presents an officer’s employment experience and

personal history. A CV is not a résumé. It contains more detailed information than

a résumé would contain. Think of a résumé as a letter of introduction (one or

maybe two pages in length maximum), while a CV is your career story. The CV

details your accomplishments and their impacts.

Since your CV may be used for a variety of purposes including review by

promotion boards and applying for engineering positions, you may want to

prepare more than one version depending on the target audience and its

intended use. A CV is very important because it pulls all your critical information

into one location detailing your accomplishments and their impacts. It is your

opportunity to educate your audience on what you have accomplished in your

career. In addition, your CV will provide reviewers some indication of your

judgment by what you document and what you do not. Be informative but be

concise. For example, you may wish to indicate that you were an Eagle Scout;

however, listing all your merit badges would be excessive.

Present yourself not only through the content of the document but through the

appearance of the document itself. Style, clarity, formatting, cleanliness and

attention to details such as grammar and spelling are all important when

preparing your CV. You should strive for consistency throughout the document.

Whether you are up for a promotion or submitting for a vacancy, the information

in your CV should be in a concise, easy-to-read, easy-to-find format. This will

make the job of the reviewing official easier and lessen the likelihood of his or her

overlooking important information. Remember, you are selling yourself to your

audience. Therefore, you want to catch their eye and create interest in who you

are. Your audience will lose interest before they glean your salient characteristics

if your CV is excessively long or confusing.

Your CV is a living document. You should consider critically reviewing your CV

on an annual basis to ensure that your CV contains all of the “good stuff” and

eliminates or minimizes less relevant information as your career progresses. You

should get into the habit of updating your CV as soon as possible following

notable accomplishments, so they are not later forgotten. This ensures that you

will always have an up-to-date, accurate and complete CV.

The Promotion Year Checklist found on the Commissioned Corps Management

Information System (CCMIS) website lists December 31 as the deadline to

submit an annual update of your CV to your electronic Official Personnel Folder

(eOPF). Engineers are strongly encouraged to submit an updated CV to their

eOPF by December 31 prior to the promotion cycle, especially if they are eligible

for a temporary or permanent promotion. A missing or outdated CV reflects

poorly on the officer and detracts from the remainder of the information that the

promotion board reviews.

A second document termed the “CV Cover Page” provides an abbreviated format

(should be no more than two pages maximum) for the specific purpose of

highlighting information related to promotion benchmarks/precepts for the

promotion board. Due to the finite space on the CV Cover Page, officers may not

be able to fit every accomplishment onto the document. The CV Cover Page

should highlight the most important accomplishments with the greatest impact

and refer to the CV for a full exposition of accomplishments. As the board is

limited in time to review your record, this document is extremely important to

provide a snapshot of your overall career. Like the CV, the CV Cover Page

should be uploaded to your eOPF by December 31 each year.

The templates for the CV and CV Cover Page, provided by the EPAC are the

required format for promotion, awards, and other PHS purposes. Other formats

are not recommended.

The following are some format and style suggestions:

1. Use 12 pt font size and Arial or Times New Roman font for ease of reading.

2. Use 1-inch margins on top, bottom and sides.

3. Use bolding to highlight section headings to help them stand out. Do not use

bolding within the narrative text as it breaks up the text.

4. Do not use contractions or informal language. Keep it professional.

5. Spell check your documents.

6. Make sure the CV date is current.

7. Make sure that your rank, name, PHS SERNO, Category and page number,

e.g., 3 of 5 is indicated on each page in the header.

8. Obtain feedback from one or more person you trust to review your CV for

readability, content, and appearance.

CV COVER PAGE INSTRUCTIONS

The CV Cover Page is effectively an outline of the CV. It contains the same

headings as the CV, but in a more concise manner and a different order. The CV

Cover Page should not exceed two pages. Arial or Times New Roman 12-point

font is recommended for consistency and ease of review. Ensure to include your

name and PHS# in the header as well as the document date.

PERFORMANCE (AWARDS)

List all awards received, grouped by PHS Corps Honor Awards, PHS Corps

Service Awards and Non-Corps Awards (see CCI511.01, template or listing in

CV instructions for where to list awards). After each award, in parenthesis list the

year(s) the award was received. If multiples of an award have been received, list

each year, starting with the most recent, ensuring to only list the award once.

Format the columns of the awards to maximize space on your CV Cover Page.

For example, PHS Corp Honor Awards can be in a column with the PHS Corps

Service Awards, or the PHS Corps Service Awards can be in the second column

with the Non-Corp Awards. List PHS Corps Honor Awards in precedence

order (e.g., list a Commendation Medal higher than an Achievement Medal

regardless of date awarded. Refer to the CV Cover Page template). List awards

in both PHS Corps Service Awards and Non-Corps Awards sections in reverse

chronological order, starting with the most recent award.

EDUCATION, TRAINING, AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Education

Include all college degrees that you hold, field the degree is in e.g., civil

engineering and the year each degree was awarded. You may also include any

extensive training that has allowed you to claim an expertise in certain areas

even though you may not have a degree in those areas.

List degrees starting with the level of the degree (doctorate/masters/bachelors)

followed by the field the degree is in, ending with the year the degree was earned

contained in parentheses. You may also include degrees that are in progress,

with the projected graduation date included.

Example: Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (2010)

Enrolled Master of Science in Sustainability Management (expected 2020)

Ph.D. candidate in Biomedical Engineering (expected 2023)

Professional Licensure/Certifications

List only current professional registrations and certifications, e.g., Professional

Engineer (PE), Registered Architect (RA), Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH),

Certified Safety Professional (CSP), etc. Indicate the state you are licensed in

and how long you have had the registration or certification.

Example: Professional Engineer - State of Arizona (since 2017)

Ensure a copy of your current license is included in your eOPF. Focus on listing

in this area those certifications that are called out in the Promotion Benchmarks,

or anything that you feel sets you apart from other engineers.

Public Health Training

List relevant public health training. Common to this section is attendance at the

USPHS Scientific and Training Symposium. These items should be included in

your Continuing Education (CE) Document (remember to fill out and upload this

additional document to your eOPF annually). Use this space wisely - recommend

you only highlight important or unique training.

Continuing Education

State the number of Continuing Education Unit (CEU) training hours completed in

the calendar year. Every year you should be uploading the CE Document to your

eOPF as a record of training taken and conferences attended. The CV Cover

Page needs to only list the hours completed in the current year and refer to the

CE Document for detailed information.

Example: 3 CEUs in 2019, see CE Document for detailed information

CAREER PROGRESSION

Billets, Assignments, and Mobility

List each position you have held as a PHS Officer, including details of 90 days or

more as a separate line in a table as shown below. If you are promoted from one

grade to another while in one position, then in the ‘Pay Grade’ column list the

initial pay grade followed by a comma, the new pay grade and put the promotion

year in parenthesis as shown below. In the ‘Dates’ column list the years you held

each position in years only. The intention of the career progression table is to

provide a quick snapshot of your career.

Position Title

Agency/Location

Pay Grade

Billet Level

Dates

Field

Engineer

IHS, Bemidji,

O-2,

O-3 (2018)

O-3

2017-Present

For junior officers, you may desire to list work experience prior to joining USPHS.

If the work was with the federal government, it is recommended to include the GS

level. Otherwise, for private sector work, write ‘n/a’ for both the ‘Pay Grade’ and

‘Billet Level’ boxes.

OFFICERSHIP

Officer Contributions

In this section list involvement in PHS Corps activities such as EPAC or JOAG .

List committees and subcommittees you actively participated in, noting your role,

i.e. Chair, Team Lead, Member, etc. Include the years involved with each group.

Mentoring

List official mentoring duties, whether receiving or providing mentoring, with the

start date and end date or ‘Present.’ Any unofficial mentoring roles can be

expanded upon in the full CV.

Professional Contributions

Professional contributions are those relevant to the officer’s career and

engineering profession but are not specifically PHS activities. Memberships to

engineering societies (i.e. Society of American Military Engineers, American

Society of Civil Engineers, etc.) are examples of these types of contributions that

should be listed in this section.

Other officer contributions relevant to this section are publications and

presentations pertaining to your work. Publications and presentations shall be

listed by title, conference/meeting/journal article name and date. Full citation for

publications and presentations can be provided in the full CV.

READINESS

Next to the Readiness heading, state ‘Basic Ready,’ assuming you have

maintained your readiness. If you have earned the Field Medical Readiness

Badge (FMRB), state ‘awarded FMRB’ and add the year in parenthesis (2016). If

you have not earned the FMRB, leave this area blank.

Under the main Readiness heading, list your roles on deployment teams over the

course of your career. This is a great opportunity to show development as an

officer, taking on additional responsibilities, and leadership.

Deployments

List deployments by name, location, role and dates. Deployments shall be listed

in reverse chronological order, so the most recent deployments are at the top.

Example:

Coqui-1, Puerto Rico Logistics October 7-30, 2017

CV INSTRUCTIONS

The CV contains the same headings as the CV Cover Page but is a more

detailed document telling your career story including your accomplishments and

their impacts. Although there is no page limit to your CV, make every word matter

as reviews are limited in time and may not be able to include the entire document

if it is too lengthy.

CV CONTENT

At a minimum your CV should contain:

· Your rank, name, PHS serial number and category on each page

· Page numbers

· Date of the CV (include day, month and year to help keep track as your eOPF

will only include the most recent upload)

· College degrees

· Professional Licensure/Certifications

· Experience

· Temporary details, collateral duties held, or special assignments

· Awards and Honors

· Readiness

· Career Officership

· Professional Memberships

· Presentations, Publications, and Patents

Your CV should highlight:

· Duties, accomplishments, and measurable impacts of the accomplishments

-Tie accomplishments and impacts into awards received for your work

· Show career progression with increased level of responsibility and billet grade

· Leadership

· Assignment and geographic mobility

· Readiness activities

Do not include:

· Summary of Performance Appraisals (COERS)

· Information on your marital status

· Copies of publications or abstracts

· Conferences attended (these are included in the CE Document)

· Photographs

· Medical information

· References

· Letters of support

· Continuing Education Courses (these are contained in the CE Document)

· Information about uniform wear - daily uniform wear is the expected standard

EDUCATION

Include all college degrees that you hold, the name of the college or university,

major e.g., civil engineering, and the date the degree was awarded. List degrees

starting with the level of the degree (doctorate/masters/bachelors) followed by

what the degree is in, ending with the month and year the degree was

completed.

Example: Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering May 2010

University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland

You may also include degrees that are in progress, with the projected graduation

date included as shown in the below example:

Enrolled Master of Science in Sustainability Management (expected 2020)

Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia

In addition, you may include any extensive training that has allowed you to claim

an expertise in certain areas even though you may not have a degree in those

areas.

PROFESSIONAL LICENSURE/CERTIFICATION

List all professional licensure and certifications you have that are relevant to your

work as a Public Health Service Engineer. The promotion benchmarks provide

examples an officer should include in this list. Be sure to highlight licenses such

as a Professional Engineer (PE), Registered Architect (RA), Certified Industrial

Hygienist (CIH), Certified Safety Professional (CSP), etc. Indicate for how long

you have had the registration or certification (e.g., since 2017) and the current

expiration date. Ensure you upload a copy of your current license to your eOPF.

For biomedical engineers, list any relevant certification(s). The EPAC Career

Development Subcommittee currently has a workgroup looking into this issue to

provide guidance for biomedical engineers.

EXPERIENCE

List all appropriate professional experience. These positions should be listed in

reverse chronological order from your current position. Include the agency,

location, dates, position title, rank, billet grade or General Schedule (GS) rating

and whether the position is supervisory or not. Organize this information

consistently so that each position and the dates worked are easily recognized.

Although you should normally limit the list to permanent assignments, you may

want to include any assignment in which you served for more than 90 days in an

acting capacity/detail. Detail assignments may be included as their own ‘agency

assignment’ or as a major accomplishment with impacts as part of a larger

assignment. Provide the dates and short description of any significant short-term

special assignments. Examples are Commissioned Corps Readiness and

Deployments, short term details to a different organization within your agency or

participation on a state commission over an extended period (over a year).

Describe duties and responsibilities for each position specifically and concisely.

When describing duties and responsibilities, make sure that increases in

responsibility from position to position are clear.

Example: “Directly managed five professional staff; managed a research

program of 34 people with an annual budget of $2.4 million; project

manager for three $1 million construction projects.”

For each position, provide examples of significant accomplishments that you had

in the position. Also detail what the public health impact was for each of the

accomplishments. Note awards and honors received for these accomplishments.

List measurable impacts when possible. Again, be brief and concise.

Example:

1. Managed three construction projects valued at $1 million that

increased and improved research facilities.

IMPACT: The new research facilities have permitted the staff to

conduct 150% more research projects directly resulting in XYZ.”

2. Managed research program to develop new methodology that improves

the ability of rescuers to locate trapped miners.

IMPACT: The new rescue methodologies have been implemented and

have increased the efficiency of rescue operations by 15%, decreasing

standard search time by two hours.

When writing the impact of your accomplishments will the reader be able to

answer any of the following questions:

1. Were any problems solved?

2. Were any new problems identified that you were able to provide or

recommend solutions?

3. Did you institute new systems or procedures?

4. Suggested/implemented new programs, products or services result from your

actions?

5. Was there increased productivity or decreased need for services?

6. Did you save time and/or money?

7. Have you provided the amount of time, money, services, etc. and provided a

baseline to show the magnitude or effect of the change?

8. Have you indicated who the change affected and at what level, e.g., regional,

national, Corps wide.

For each agency position listed, document the collateral duties held while in that

position, and the accomplishments and impacts of those collateral duties.

AWARDS and HONORS

Begin by listing the names and dates of the PHS awards and honors you have

received in reverse chronological order, by category, as laid out below. You

may include Exceptional Proficiency Promotions (EPPs) in your list of awards.

Ensure a copy of all awards is in your eOPF.

List non-PHS awards and honors separately from PHS awards in reverse

chronological order and include the name of the award/honor, the organization

and the date in parentheses [e.g., IHS Engineer of the Year (2019)]. Be sure to

include awards or honors given to a project you managed.

Commissioned Corps Instruction CCI511.01 Effective Date: 11 January 2017

provides detailed guidance on the Commissioned Corps Awards Program. In

addition, officers may find an overview of the awards program in the Officer

Support section tab on the CCMIS website.

The PHS Corps Honor Awards Section includes the following awards, if awarded:

● Distinguished Service Medal (DSM)

● Meritorious Service Medal (MSM)

● Surgeon General Medal (SGM)

● Surgeon General Exemplary Service Medal (SGESM)

● Outstanding Service Medal (OSM)

● Commendation Medal (CM)

● Achievement Medal (AM)

● PHS Citation (CIT)

● Presidential Unit Citation (PUC)

● Outstanding Unit Citation (OUC)

● Unit Commendation (UC)

In the PHS Corps Service Award section list the following award, if received:

● Hazardous Duty Award (HDA)

● Foreign Duty Award (FDA)

● Special Assignment Award (SAA)

● Isolated Hardship Award (ISOHAR)

● Crisis Response Service Award (CRSA)

● Global Response Service Award (GRSA)

● Response Service Award (RSA)

● National Emergency Preparedness Award (NEPA)

● Recruitment Service Ribbon (RSR)

● Global Health Initiatives Service Medal (GHISM)

● Bicentennial Unit Commendation (BUC)

Other PHS Awards (campaign medals and other ribbons) include:

● Smallpox Eradication Campaign Ribbon (SPEC)

● Global Health Campaign Medal (GHCM)

● Ebola Campaign Medal (ECM)

● Commission Corps Training Ribbon (CCTR)

● Regular Corps Ribbon (RCR)

The final category of awards is “Non-Corps Awards” or “Other Awards.” Here, list

all other applicable awards. Use your best judgement on whether to include an

award here. Awards should be from verifiable sources, based on achievement,

merit, skill or competitive in selection amongst other engineering or USPHS

professionals. Examples include: Agency selected Federal Engineer of the Year,

Humanitarian Service Medal, SAME awards, and others.

The following resources provide additional information on awards:

● U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Officers’ Awards Program Pamphlet No. 67

issued January 2016

● Commissioned Officers’ Awards Program (COAP) website

READINESS

Next to the Readiness heading, state ‘Basic Ready,’ assuming you have

maintained your readiness. If you have earned the Field Medical Readiness

Badge (FMRB), state ‘awarded FMRB’ and add the year in parenthesis (2016). If

you have not earned the FMRB, leave this area blank.

Under the main Readiness heading, list your roles on deployment teams over the

course of your career. This is a great opportunity to show development as an

officer, taking on additional responsibilities and leadership.

Deployments

List deployments by mission name, location, role and dates. Deployments shall

be listed in reverse chronological order, so the most recent deployments are at

the top of the list.

Example: Coqui-1, Puerto Rico Logistics October 7-30, 2017

PHS SUPPORT ACTIVITIES/CAREER OFFICERSHIP

List any official PHS activities in which you were a direct participant. For

example: EPAC, JOAG, appointment boards, Commissioned Corps Awards

Board (CCAB); a Surgeon General’s Ad Hoc Committee, etc. Be aware that you

may not list the specific name of any Board if you have signed/agreed to non-

disclosure of your participation on that Board. For example, a member of the

CCAB would not be able to state that they are serving on the CCAB because this

disclosure is subject to a potential fine and jail time. Rather, the officer may

indicate on their CV that they have been appointed for a three-year term to serve

on a Board (name not disclosable).

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

List the professional organizations with which you are currently associated and

your status within the organization, i.e., member, associate, chairman, etc. List

any past assignments (e.g., past president 2004); current assignments (e.g.,

COA chapter membership committee chairman); or special projects (e.g.,

organized national convention).

PUBLICATIONS, PRESENTATIONS, AND PATENTS

List publications in reverse chronological order noting the author(s), title, journal,

volume number, page, and date published. For presentations, list the title, the

occasion (e.g., USPHS Symposium Category Day), city, and date. For patents,

list the inventor(s), name of invention, patent number, and date.

SPECIAL SKILLS

List any skills that may be of value to the PHS. Be sure to indicate your ratings in

these skills.

Example: Speak Spanish with a State Department proficiency rating of 4