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Advanced CVs and Covering Letters Bruce Woodcock University of Kent Careers and Employability Service You can download a copy of this presentation at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sli des.htm
Advanced CVs and Covering Letters
Bruce Woodcock University of Kent Careers and Employability
Service
You can download a copy of this presentation at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/slides.htm
What makes an advanced CV?
An advanced CV is one that will regularly result in an interview.
What makes an advanced CV?
An advanced CV is one that will nearly always result in an interview:
• Professional: no mistakes
• Quality not quantity
• Simplicity• Clarity• Targeted: gives strong evidence for the skills
needed in the role
• Achievements-focused
Research by forum3 found:
• The average graduate will send out 70 CVs when looking for their first graduate job. The average number of responses is 7 including 4 rejections and the remainder inviting the graduate to interview or further contact.
• The more CVs you send out the more interviews you get.
• Applicants who included a covering letter with their CV were 10% more likely to get a reply.
• Applicants who addressed their application to the correct named person were 15% more likely to get a letter of acknowledgement and 5% more likely to get an interview.
• Applicants sending CVs and letters without spelling mistakes are 61% more likely to get a reply and 26% more likely to get an interview. The most common mistakes not found in a spell check were: fro instead of for, grate: great, liased: liaised, stationary: stationery.
How not to do it ….
Working on a farm has improved my communication skills which are especially important when working with large livestock.
On an application for a position requiring considerable people skills - My hobbies include watching television, computer chess, stamp collecting and walking my 2 spaniels.
Reason for leaving last job: my employers insisted that all employees get to work by 8.45 am and I could not work under those conditions.
I have an excellent track record, although I am not a horse.
Selection methods of top employers in 2014
PRESENTATION OF YOUR CV• Font: Arial is good
• Body text font size 10 points
• Subheadings (e.g. Education, Work Experience) 14 Points
• Your name: 18 points
• If running out of space use narrow margins setting in Word
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/word-cv.htm
Investment bank CV scorecardFinance firms often use ‘scorecards’ to rank CVs and decide who to interview. Here is an example scorecard. 15% Class of your degree and ‘rank’ of university you went to. 10% Grades achieved at A level or equivalent. (more weighting
given to ‘classic’ A level subjects: economics will score higher than business studies, for example.)
20% Amount of relevant work experience. 10% Speaking foreign languages. 20%. Extracurricular activities. (A high score requires high
achieving, exciting and multiple, extracurricular achievements.) 15% Presentation of your CV. 10% Demonstrating conviction about the role you’re
applying for.
How to “sell” your degree
• List relevant modules (plus marks if good!)
• Projects – especially if relevant• Technical/IT skills • Soft skills – evidence of teamwork,
project management, problem solving etc..
Why you need to use a spell checker• I am a prefectionist and rarely if if ever forget details. • Lurnt Word computor and spreadsheet pogroms. • Develop an annual operating expense fudget… And why you must read it carefully as well• Extra Circular Activities • At secondary school I was a prefix • Over summer I worked for an examinations bored. (Kent BA English
graduate!)• In my spare time I enjoy hiding my horse • Reason for leaving last job: maturity leave • I have a desire to work with commuters • Dear Madman (instead of Madam) • I hope to hear from you shorty
WORK EXPERIENCE
Summer 2013Sainsbury's, CanterburyCheckout assistantThis job developed my ability to deal with the public and
work under pressure
Don’t feel you have to include every job“In addition to the above, I have held a variety of
temporary jobs during school and university vacations, including fruit-picking, factory work, bar work and waiting on tables”
INTERESTS• Reading, cinema, travel
• Travel: traveled through Europe by train this summer in a group of four people, visiting historic sites and improving my French and Italian
• Reading: helped younger pupils with reading difficulties at school
• Cinema: member of the University Film-Making Society
THE COVERING LETTEROne side of A4 maximum
First Paragraph State the job you’re applying for. Where you found out about it. When you're available to start
work (& end if it's a placement)Second Paragraph
Why your interested in that type of work
Why the company attracts you (if it's a small company say you prefer to work for a small friendly organisation!)
Third Paragraph Summarise your strengths and
how they might be an advantage to the organisation.
Relate your skills to the job.Last Paragraph
Mention any dates that you won't be available for interview
Thank the employer and say you look forward to hearing from them soon.
Action Verbs
created instructed analysed produced negotiated designed calculated maintained administered …….
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/actionverbs.htm
COMPETENCY QUESTIONS ON FORMS
Describe a situation where you had to .....
• show leadership • make a difficult
decision • overcome a difficult
obstacle • refuse to compromise • work with others to
solve a problem
COMPETENCY QUESTIONS: STAR APPROACH• Start by briefly outlining the Situation • Keep the focus on your specific Tasks and
responsibilities• Say what Action you took, then try to summarise
what you achieved. If it’s a group task, make sure you define your own role and contribution. This is the biggest part
• Give concrete Results when possible. If you cannot be totally positive about the experience, say what you learned from it and what you might do differently next time.
• Situation/Tasks/Action/Result =
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/compet/skillquest.htm
CAREERS WEB SITE
• Help with applications and interviews www.kent.ac.uk/careers/applicn.htm
• Example CVs and Covering Letters www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cvexamples.htm
• Social Media in Jobhuntingwww.kent.ac.uk/careers/jobs/social-networking.htm
CV Checklistwww.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/cv-checklist.htm
Careers Award on Moodle
• Half the unemployment rate for students completing the awardEnter Moodle, search for DP2650 or Careers Award and click enrol
• Email [email protected] if you have problems enrolling• More info at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/moodle.htm
www.kent.ac.uk/careers Telephone: 01227 823299 Email: [email protected] hours: Monday to Friday 9 to 5 including vacations Drop-in times (no appointment needed: 15 minutes): 10.30 to 12.30 and 2 to 4 pmHelp given for up to 3 years after graduationWeekly careers emails every Monday afternoon
CVs and Covering Letters
Bruce Woodcock University of Kent Careers and Employability
Service
You can download a copy of this presentation at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/slides.htm
Choose a sensible email address:Such as:• [email protected]• [email protected]• [email protected]• [email protected]• [email protected]• [email protected]• [email protected]• [email protected]• [email protected]• [email protected]
What is wrong with this?
Moodle Careers Employability Award
DX_CEA Careers Employability Award (2014/15)www.kent.ac.uk/careers/moodle.htm
Assignments: complete 3 of these• Analyse your skills and learn
how to make top quality applications
• Do you want to live to work or work to live?
• Researching careers
• Choosing a career
• Submit a CV
• Social media
• Action planning
14 Quizzes: need 75% to pass• Employability skills quiz• Employability skills quiz: drag and drop• How to develop the skills employers want?• Test your spelling and grammar!• What makes you happy at work?• How commercially aware are you?• Special interests topic lesson• Interview preparation• Practice interview• What are the most common interview
questions?• Aptitude tests and assessment centres• CV quiz• CVs and covering letters: drag and drop quiz• Career planning drag and drop quiz
Types of CV
Reverse Chronological outline your career history in date
order, normally beginning with the most recent items. The "conventional" approach and the easiest to prepare.
Skills-based highly-focused CVs which relate your
skills and abilities to a specific job.work well for mature applicants and
for those whose qualifications and work experience are not directly relevant to their application.
P 14 Applications Booklet
EMAILING CVS
• Many employers are happy to accept CVs as an attachment to an email. –Put your covering letter as the body of your email. Format it as plain text (use the format heading on Outlook Express to do this), so it can be read by any email reader.
–Your CV is then sent as an attachment, in MS Word format, Rich Text (.rtf) or html format are acceptable. Say you'll send a printed CV if required.
–Email it back to yourself first to check it.
What is the purpose of a CV?To inform the employer about your:
• education• work experience• skills• interests
To persuade the employer that you are potentially suitable for the job and are therefore worth Interviewing.
Quiz!
• How long should a CV be?• How long should a covering letter be?• What is the sweet spot of a CV?• What is a reverse chronological CV?
Brian O'dea - the author of this received about 600 responses.
Having successfully completed a ten year sentence, incident-free, for importing 75 tons of marijuana into the United States. I am now seeking a legal and legitimate means to support my self and my family.
Business Experience - Owned and operated a successful fishing business - multi-vessel, one airplane, one island and processing facility. Simultaneously owned and operated a fleet of tractor-trailer trucks conducting business in the western United States. During this time I also co-owned and participated in the executive level management of 120 people worldwide in a successful pot smuggling venture with revenues in excess of US$100 million annually. I took responsibility for my own actions, and received a ten year sentence in the United States while others walked free for their cooperation.
Attributes - I am an expert in all levels of security; I have extensive computer skills, am personable, outgoing, well-educated, reliable, clean and sober. I have spoken in schools to thousands of kids and parent groups over the past ten years on "the consequences of choice", and received public recognition for community service. I am well-traveled and speak English, French and Spanish. References available from friends, family, the U.S. District Attorney, etc.
• Use spelling and grammar checker carefully
• Can cut and paste sentences from CV examples to make sure English is correct.
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/cvexamples.htm
Think about the job
CVs are normally targeted on a particular job
What tasks would the daily routine involve?
What skills would the job call for? What type of personality would suit the job?
Answers for 300 jobs on: www.prospects.ac.uk/links/occupations
PROVING YOUR ABILITY
There are four main things employers look at in CVs:• Education - ability to think clearly, analyse
and assess information, draw conclusions, work independently, research, etc
• Work experience - ability to get on with people, work under pressure, meet deadlines, etc
• Leisure interests - ability to plan and organise, co-operate with others, compete, work hard to achieve results ...
• Specific skills – e.g. driving licence, computing or foreign language skills
CV Marking Criteria• Pleasing appearance: and clear logical layout. The 10 second quality test: hold the CV
at arms length and look at it for a few seconds. Does it look pleasing to the eye? • Clear structure with appropriate headings and logical development. Carefully organised.
Identified sections (e.g. Education, Work Experience). At least a line gap between sections. Name in big letters at start. Normally Education before Work Experience for a student CV.
• Don't separate education and qualifications: try to keep all the information about a particular topic together in one place on the CV, rather than fragmented throughout.
• Absence of spelling, grammatical and syntax errors. Correct capitalisation • Modules, projects, technical skills gained and grades (if good!) for vocational
courses. Neat alignment. • Reverse chronological order – most recent jobs first.• Lively writing style. Use of positive, active language. Easy to easy to read and pick out
important information. Appropriately selected examples to provide evidence that you have the skills, interests and personal attributes to do the job and fit into the organisation.
• Describe key tasks, responsibilities and skills gained from work experience e.g. customer service skills.
• Concise and to the point - no more that 2 sides of A4. Short, clear phrases.Use of bold and italic to draw eye to key points. Good use of bullets. Proper bullets rather than hyphensJust one or two sensible fonts e.g. Tahoma 10 points. Not too small font sizes. Larger fonts for subheadings.
• No dense paragraphs - a good rule is no more than 7 or 8 lines in a paragraph. If more, separate into smaller paragraphs, use bullets or bold out key words.
• Interests. A broad variety? Social and active rather than solitary and passive interests? Serious commitment to at least one activity? Evidence of getting on well with other people? e.g. team sports. Independent or challenging holidays/foreign travel? Organising or leadership experience/evidence of taking responsibility?
SKILLS-BASED CVsExamples of evidence of skills:• Verbal Communication - assisted
visitors of many nationalities as a seasonal Tourist Information Assistant, advising on places of interest, transport and accommodation and helping resolve any problems
• Time Management - have successfully combined studies with a part-time job and involvement in a number of drama and music productions
Competencies
• Good attitude to teamwork. Friendly and cheerful personality
• Proactive: able to use initiative. “No problem, I’ll do it!”Problem solvers, not problem creators!
• Flexible and adaptable: learns new skills quickly.• Enthusiastic, motivated Excellent communication skills –
dealing confidently with students, take phone messages• Organised and efficient. Able to plan and organise their
own workload. Work to strict deadlines• Microsoft Office: ECDL. Familiarity with databases, Excel
and the web
When should a CV be used?• When an employer asks for applications to be
received in this format• When an employer simply states "apply to ..."
without specifying the format• When making speculative applications (i.e. when
writing to an employer who has not actually advertised a vacancy but who you hope may have one)
Making applications using STAR
http://prezi.com/your/
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/compet/skillquest.htm
