Apply For Roles With Polished CVs and Covering Letters
A CV or covering letter is often the first impression you get to make with prospective employers, so it’s critical these documents make a mark. Whether you’re delivering your story on paper or on an online platform like LinkedIn, you will need to include some key points so that your story comes across clearly and persuasively.
Be sure to include the following:
- Contact information
- Previous work experience
- Qualifications
- Education
- Personal motivation statement
Understand important elements of a CV
Your CV should be an easy read summary of why you’re perfect for the job. Remember to include your professional and personal skills, contact info, qualifications, plus details of any previous employment or work experience. Here at the following are the most important elements of a CV:
1. Basic Information
- Name
- Address or location
- Contact information
- Other important information
2. Opening Summary
(Two or three sentences / Works as an ‘elevator pitch’ /Briefly describe yourself / Present your motivation for applying for the role)
3. Work Experience
- Summary of experience: goal-oriented and relevant, authentic and honest
- Most recent at the top: company, job title and dates / key projects and results/volunteer work if relevant
- Experience: full/part-time jobs, self-employment, volunteering, certificates and achievements and hobbies
- What did you do? What did you achieve? How does this relate to the role?
- Promote your experience: identify transferable skills, provide S.T.A.R(Situation/Task/Action/Result) answers, use action verbs
4. Education / Achievements
- Most recent at the top
- Academic qualifications
- Professional qualifications
- key projects and research
Skills and Strengths
Learning how to speak openly about your accomplishments helps others understand your strengths and skills.
- What qualities would people describe you as having?
- Which soft and technical skills do you have?
- How do these relate to the job description?
Self-promotion is about educating the relevant people about the skills and value that you can bring to the organisation.
Showcase Your Skills:
- Soft skills like leadership, teamwork and communication
- Hard skills like speaking another language and project management
- Digital Skills like coding, video editing, social media and HTML/CSS
Defining your strengths
- What are you good at?
- What do you like doing?
- What makes you stand out?
(Enthusiastic — Enjoy helping people — Self-motivated — Driven — Solution-focused — Adaptable — Analytical — Dependable — Dynamic — Caring — Passionate — Hardworking)
Formatting Your CV
- Visualise your layout
- Use a template to provide structure
- Promote the content you want to draw attention to
Maximise Your Impact
- Write in a clear and concise manner
- Be transparent about gaps in your CV
- Get a second (and third) opinion
Write persuasive covering letters
CVs and cover letters are often the first opportunity to impress potential employers, so it’s critical they’re done well and tailored to the job you’re going for. Be sure to include the following:
1. Hi, Hello, Dear
2. Introduction
- Who you are and what you’re interested in
- What job are you applying for?
- Where did you hear about it?
3. Summarising yourself
- What’s important to you?
- What are you good at?
- What do you enjoy?
4. Problem vs. solution
- Job description
- Language used
- Company research
- News and challenges in the industry
- Work and personal skills for a job
5. Relevant achievements
- Certificates
- Volunteering
- Achievements
- Languages
- Skills
- Relevant hobbies and interests
- Links to your website
6. Sign off
Let’s have an example of how to showcase your skills and experience through ca over letter:
Start Strong (Hello & Introduction)
Dear Mr Rahighi
I’m a sale advisor currently employed by Kavosh Mehr. I’d like to apply for the Customer Service role at Vohu Studio. I heard about the job through seeing the position advertised on JobMarket.com
Sell your abilities (Summarising yourself / Problem vs. solution)
I would describe myself as a friendly, helpful and patient team member and take pride in offering a great level of customer service. I’ve been praised for the warm manner in which I deal with customers.
I think I’d be a great fit for the role because I pride myself on being able to cope well under stress. I have also worked part-time at Markies whilst studying and I’m used to dealing with a range of customers on a daily basis.
Showcase your achievements (Relevant achievements / Sign off)
In my spare time, I enjoy volunteering at the local youth group in my city where I help to organise activities for the group. I am also taking a short part-time course on counselling as I love learning about the human mind and improving my listening skills.
I am really honoured to be considered for this position. I look forward to hearing from you and please let me know if you would like any more information about me.
Many thanks.
