PowerPoint Presentation

Winning CVs & Covering Letters forPsychology Students

19 October 2016Vanissa Amliwala | Careers Consultant

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What will be covered

What skills are important?How to write a winning CV Be a STAR!Writing a good covering letterVacancy and placement sourcesFurther help and advice

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Skills & Qualities

Problem solvingCommunication Sensitivity, tact & diplomacyDecision makingHandling data / statistics ResearchTeamworkOrganise complex workloads & meet deadlinesResilienceIT skills

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CVessentialsCurriculum Vitae course of your life30 seconds to make a good first impressionKeep it succinct 2 pages of A4Target one size rarely fits allBack your skills up with evidence list achievements not duties STAR methodTake your time

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CVpersonal details Name first and last nameAddress full postal address, but leave it off for online CVsPhone mobile and landline. Ensure voicemail is set upEmail keep it professional. Avoid: madhattter@gmail.com airfairy@hotmail.com dumblonde@googlemail.com Work Permit Status (if applicable)

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CVpersonal details

LinkedIn URL yesDriving licence yesPhotograph no Age/Date of Birth no

Place of Birth noMarital status noGender noDisability no

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CVpersonal profileYour sales pitch make sure it is a good one! 4 lines and say 4 things:

Current Situation Skills & KnowledgeAchievementsWhat you plan to do next

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CVpersonal profileProfile Example

A highly talented and motivated BSc (Hons) Psychology graduate with excellent analytical, communication, listening and organisation skills acquired through a placement year at the NHS. Committed to developing a career in mental health, and seeking an opportunity to add value and apply mental health knowledge within the charity sector.

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CVeducation List in reverse chronological order (most recent first)Date start and end date (months & years)Institution name of university, college, secondary school and locationList 4-6 relevant modules from your degree programme Include the title of your dissertation or final year projectMention briefly ALevel subjects, grades and GCSEs or equivalents

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CVemployment This is your chance to shine Tell an employer: what you have done, how long you have done it, what you have achieved, the skills you have developed and your personal commitment and motivationDont forget to include details of your placement, gap year, volunteering, as well as part-time and full-time workTo highlight experience that is relevant but not the most recent subdivide the section into relevant employment and other employment

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CVskills & interestsAdding your skills and interests can show hidden depths Add additional skills IT and languages etc Include a broad range of interests sports, art and culture, community involvementAvoid - clichs ie socialising with friends, watching movies, extreme sports, anything too political or religious or including something you know little about!

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CVreferencesAvailable on requestYou will need to be able to provide two references when requested. One should be an academic referee. The second referee should be a current or previous employerInclude their name, position, address, telephone/mobile number and email addressAlways seek permission from your referee beforehandDo not use a family member as a referee

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CV SamplesChronological CV

Skills-based CV

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Get the right format Chronological CV

Most common format. Starts with your most recent job, and then works backwards.

AdvantagesEmphasises continuity and progression over timeEasy to followGood if you have worked for well known companies

DisadvantagesDifficult if your career is patchyHarder if changing careersNot so good if you are new to the job market Skill-based CV

Presents your main skill areas

AdvantagesStrong emphasis on skillsJobs and work history are more secondaryOvercomes the difficulty of not having a lot of experience or too muchFlexible

DisadvantagesDifficult if you want to emphasise continuityMight lose the impact of any prestigious companies you have worked for

An employers perspectiveSimon Reichwald - CEO Graduate Success

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Be a STAR!

Situation Task Action Result

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A STAR Example

Describe a situation when you had to give excellent customer service following a complaint.

A customer rang up complaining that they'd waited more than two weeks for a reply from our sales team regarding a product query.Situation

TaskI needed to address the client's immediate query and find out what went wrong in the normal process.

I apologised, got the details and passed them to our head salesperson, who contacted the client within the hour. I investigated why the query hadn't been answered. I discovered that it was a combination of a wrong mobile number and a generic email address that wasn't being checked. I let the client know and we offered a goodwill discount on her next order.The client not only continued to order from us but posted a positive customer service tweet.ActionResultBy Michael Higgins: The Guardian Professional 10th March 2014

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Advanced Assigned Assessed Absorbed Accelerated Attained Attracted Announced Appraised Budgeted Bolstered Balanced Boosted Bargained Benefited Beneficial Comply Critiqued Closed Collaborated Designed Delegated Demonstrated Developed Detected Efficient Enhanced Excelled Exceeded Enriched Fulfilled Financed Forecasted Formulated Generated Guided Granted Helped Hosted Implemented Investigated Increased Initiated Influenced top 100 most powerful CV words Integrated Innovated Instituted Justified Listed Logged Maintained Mentored Measured Multiplied Negotiated Observed Operated Obtained Promoted Presented Programmed Provided Projected Qualified Quantified Quoted Recommended Refine Revamp Reacted Retained Recovered Reinstated Rejected Sustained Skilled Saved Scheduled Supported Secured Simplified Screened Segmented Streamlined Strengthened Triumphed Troubleshot Taught Tutored Translated Trained Uncovered United Unified Updated Upgraded Validated Viewed Worldwide Witnessed

Source: Top 100 Power Resume Words www.careerealism.com

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CV Summary

Target your CVChoose an effective format Follow the recruiters instructionsPay close attention to detail - presentation, language, spelling and grammarProvide evidence of your skills and experienceDont attach a photo unless asked to do soAlways use white or cream A4 paper, 2 pages, single sided, no staples, easy-to-read font size 10-12DO NOT USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS FOR ANYTHING

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Covering Letters

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Covering Letters / Emails

Make it personalWrite to a named person. Reference / subject line in bold. Paragraph 1 Why are you writing vacancy or speculative. Be specific Paragraph 2 What can you offer the employerParagraph 3 What attracts you to the job/companyParagraph 4 State when you are available for interview and end on a positive note

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Covering Letters - Samples

Psychology Placement - covering letterPsychologist Vacancy covering letter

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Covering Letters / Emails - SummaryYour marketing statement Keep it business-like Write to a named person or Dear Sir / MadamHighlight how you meet the job requirements dont waffle, keep it short and relevantInclude credible explanations for any weak pointsWatch spelling and grammar - do not use abbreviations, email or text languageSign off correctly yours sincerely for a named person or yours faithfully for Dear/Madam

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Where to get work experience? HospitalsSchools and CollegesNursing HomesSports TeamsSocial ServicesLocal AuthoritiesPrison Service Rehabilitation Units Universities

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Useful websites volunteering

Time Bank http://timebank.org.uk/ Do-it https://do-it.org/ VInspired http://vinspired.com/ Volunteering England http://www.volunteering.org.uk/ Voluntary Sector Jobs http://voluntarysectorjobs.co.uk

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Useful websites Graduate employers & schemes

Guardian UK 300 largest employer careers ranking http://gtimedia.co.uk/work/products/guardian-uk-300/2015-16 Target jobs https://targetjobs.co.uk/ Prospects http://www.prospects.ac.uk/ The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers http://www.milkround.com/staticpages/12680/the-times-top-100-graduate-employers/ Top Graduate Employers http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/careers/top-graduate-employers

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Useful websites vacancy sourcesBritish Psychological Society http://www.psychapp.co.uk/ Association of Educational Psychologists http://www.aep.org.uk/# Community Care http://jobs.communitycare.co.uk/ Fish4Jobs http://www.fish4.co.uk/ Guardian Jobs (Tuesdays and Wednesdays) http://jobs.theguardian.com/ The Health and Social Care YearbookHealth Service Journal http://www.hsjjobs.com/ The Herald http://www.heraldscotland.com/

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Useful websites vacancy sources Vacancies in further and higher education http://www.jobs.ac.uk/ Jobsite - http://www.jobsite.co.uk/ KCA Drug, Alcohol & Mental Health Services (some work based placements) http://www.kca.org.uk/ Local Government Jobs www.lgjobs.com/Ministry of Justice HM Prison Service, Probation Trusts http://www.justice.gov.uk/jobsMental Health Jobs http://www.mentalhealthjobs.co.uk/

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Useful websites vacancy sources

NHS Jobs www.jobs.nhs.uk/People Management Jobs http://pmjobs.cipd.co.uk/ PsychMinded https://www.psychminded.co.uk/jobs/ Psyclick http://www.psyclick.org.uk/ The Scotsman http://www.jobstoday.co.uk/scotland/ Sector 1 Net public sector jobs in Northern Ireland http://sector1.net/ The Times Educational Supplement (TES) https://www.tes.com/jobs/

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Our new online content management system to engage with you and your future career

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What is it? An online secure hub where students can:

Access Career Development Centre services and resourcesbook appointmentsbook careers events view vacancies find work placements view employers view careers information download resources complete online formsask a question

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Career Development Centre Services

1-to-1GuidanceE-AdviceVacancies& EventsInformationResourcesVolunteeringEmployerEventsTalent BankAssociatesIn SchoolsMentoring

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Contact us

Central London1st Floor, Cavendish House101 New Cavendish StreetLondon W1W 6XH

Harrow Room E16 Watford Road HA1 3TP Nearest Tube: Northwick ParkT 020 7911 5184 E careers@westminster.ac.ukwestminster.ac.uk/careers

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Evaluation How did we do?

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