cvs and covering letters bruce woodcock university of kent careers and employability service you can...
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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
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. Applying for job at biscuit company: my life-long love of chocolate biscuits, is the main reason for my interest in the company It's best for employers that I not work with people 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 am seeking challenges that test my mind and body, since the two are usually inseparable. I have an excellent track record, although I am not a horse.
PRESENTATION OF YOUR CV
• Use short sentences and concise phrases
• Use bold type and bullet points, but in moderation
• BSc. And MSc. Not Bsc or MSC!
• Don’t use lower case I: “i am ……”
Choose a sensible email address:
Such as:
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.
What is wrong with this?
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.
• Proven ability to track down and correct erors.
• I have good writen comunication skills.
• 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
• I want experience in a big sex practice
• I am a conscious individual.
• 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, Canterbury
Checkout assistant
This 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
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?
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
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
CV Checklist
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/cv-checklist.htm
VIDEOS
• APPLICATIONS
• INTERVIEWS
• ON-LINE APPLICATIONS
• SELECTION CENTRES
• All last about 25 minutes and are excellent!
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/IntVid.htm
Duty Careers Adviser
• A Duty Adviser is available to help with queries between 10.30 am to 12.30 p.m. and 2 to 4 p.m. every day.
• No appointment needed - just drop in.
Other Presentations.www.kent.ac.uk/careers/casevents.htm
The Careers Employability Award
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/moodle.htmDX_CEA Careers Employability Award (2014/15)
Careers Employability Award on Moodle
Assessed by a range of quizzes and assignments
Will greatly improve your career planning and jobhunting skills, giving you strategies to make career choices and will increase your chances of getting a graduate level job.
Takes about 12 hours to complete
On completion you will get a University of Kent Careers Employability Award to add to your CV
Get 60 Kent Employability points for successful completion of the module.
Search for DX_CEA in Moodle
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/moodle.htm
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
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
IBM Mentoring SchemeIBM are mentoring first-year students looking to do a placement as part of their degree or second year students considering life after University. Mentors are Kent graduates and interns. You can be studying for any degree and don't need advanced computing skills.Why? IBM is keen to encourage students to consider their careers sooner. We want to make students aware of how competitive today’s job market is and give them guidance on how best to promote themselves. This will give them the best chance of applying not just to our schemes but other employers’ too. The scheme also provides a fantastic chance for students to improve and enhance their skillsets before they begin applying. It is a virtual mentoring scheme where the majority of contact with students is either via email, telephone or by Skype. The scheme will run between January and April.If you would like an IBM mentor please email [email protected] with a copy of your CV and an answer in not more than 200 words to the following question in the next week. "How would you benefit from having an IBM mentor and why should you be selected for this scheme rather than other students who apply". The students with the best answers will be selected to take part in the scheme. The earlier you apply, the better your chances of acceptance.More details are at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/IBM.htm
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
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