UL Careers Service Career Development Module CVs and Covering Letters

UL Careers Service Overview of Today’s Tutorial CVs Covering Letters Assignment 2 – A CV and Covering Letter Your Experience Your experience to date of compiling a CV –Do you have a CV? –Is it up to date? –Would you send it away right now? –What changes would you make?

UL Careers Service Starting Points Purpose of CV- to get you an interview No such thing as the perfect CV Adapt your CV to every job for which you are applying Most people don’t!

UL Careers Service Creating CVs A CV should contain: Personal Details -Name, Address, Tel no, Education, Qualifications (most recent or relevant first) -Dates, places, title of course, core subjects, relevant projects, lab techniques, results(if good) No need for primary school info, inter cert, junior cert, lists of leaving cert subjects etc (A number of layouts are acceptable)

UL Careers Service Creating CVs Work Experience – Use different headings, ie (Career History, Professional Experience, Relevant Experience) Separate Relevant Experience from Other Experience, if necessary, –or into Skill Groupings (eg Management, Planning, Communication), or into Career Areas (Administration, Sales) Don’t underestimate your achievements and skills acquired in unpaid or voluntary work Raising a family, managing on a tight budget- these involve a variety of skills e.g. planning, juggling responsibilities, time management, mediation, organisation etc

UL Careers Service Creating CVs Skills Computing Skills – e.g. Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet, . Languages – level of fluency Driving Licence Interests- be brief but try and get your personality across.(No political or religious beliefs, unless relevant to the job)

UL Careers Service Creating CVs Usually names of two referees One academic – if possible. (Someone from UL?) One work or personal (not family) Ask permission first Keep them informed about jobs you’re applying for Give them a copy of your CV

UL Careers Service Why CVs are rejected A bad first impression –you’ve got 20/30 seconds to impress them Poor visual layout-too much text crammed in, not enough white space, overwritten, long paragraphs and sentences CV too long –should be 2 pages, no longer. Not an autobiography, relevant info only Poor spelling, bad grammar

UL Careers Service What you should leave out: Photos Any sort of failure (exams, business, marriage) Age, weight, health, religion, marital status Title pages, binders and folders Salary information (unless asked for)

UL Careers Service What you should put in: Make it look good – plenty of white space Make it easy to read Allocate space in accordance to importance of information Use short sentences- action verbs (developed, managed, trained) Use bullet points

UL Careers Service Covering Letters Are very important! Should always accompany a CV 1 st paragraph- who you are, what you are applying for, where you saw the advert. 2 nd paragraph- why you are applying to this particular company. 3 rd paragraph-Draw attention to the key skills & relevant info from your CV, and what you can offer an employer 4 th paragraph-Availability for interview & looking forward to their reply

UL Careers Service Online CVs CVs- Check if CV should be sent as part of text of or as an attachment Check visual impact –send CV to yourself

UL Careers Service CV Watchdog Exercise Imaginary recruitment campaign Groups of 3 to look at 5 CVs What do you think? Come to a group decision- would you invite this person for an interview? Why? Why not? Give reasons for invitation or rejection

UL Careers Service Assignment Two 2 page CV and 1 page Covering Letter Include a job description, or make one up! Your CV and letter can be based upon your own exeperience, or you can create an imaginary ‘ future CV ’ for a graduate job. Submission date …….. Next week: Application Forms