• Tailor the Letter to the Role, Person and Organisation you are targeting. Make this organization feel unique. It shows you’ve done your research.
• Keep it simple and concise. Do not over complicate it
• Do not start every sentence with “I”. Play around with your sentences to make them more impactful Using “I” too much, makes it appear like a list!
• Make your opening sentence impactful and unique
• Keep it to 2-3 main paragraphs.
• Look at the job description and pick out the key words the employer is looking for from the person. Build these into your cover letter. Use a thesaurus to find ways of re-phrasing their adjectives
• Make sure there are no grammatical or spelling errors on your Cover Letter. Proof-read it at least twice.
• Make sure the Cover Letter outlines what the employer is looking for.
• Sell yourself as this is your opportunity to do so.
• Finish the Cover Letter with a note thanking them for their time and indicating that you will follow up in the coming days to clarify any questions. Leave the ball in your court rather than playing the waiting game.

http://www.careermentors.ie , Career Coaching & Outplacement Services

How can I sell myself on paper??

When drafting a CV it’s important that every sentence starts with a stong, impactful action word. Descriptive verbs at the beginning of a sentence provide additional impact and a stronger impression on potential employers.

Thinking of these action words can be difficult and quite often jobseekers end up with CVs with bullet points that are repetitive and non-impactful

Example
Which looks better?

For my final year in college I surveyed a group of employers to find out their opinions of the job market. This involved interviewing employers both formally and informally. We used a database system and were awarded a 2:1 for the project

OR
Planned and devised a survey of employer’s attitudes to the current jobs market as part of my final year project. Interviewed 40 teachers and assembled, analysed and interpreted data over a period of 2 weeks using a SQL database system. Completed the project 4 weeks ahead of schedule and was awarded a 2:1 Grade

Below are some action words that should help in making your CV more impressive and enticing!!

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What not to do when it comes to your CV!

- Too long. Keep it to 2 Pages, 3 Pages Maximum

- Too short. If your CV is 1.5 pages, you may not have sold yourself sufficiently

- Font & Font Size. Arial and Times New Roman are the most common fonts used. Keep your CV to one font for headings, and one font for content. Do not use too many different fonts or font sizes

-Pull the bullet points right over to the left hand side of the page. There is little point on having white spaces. This is space that you could be using to sell yourself

-Do not use complicated boxes and shading. Some of the Recruitment Database systems do not recognize them, and can cause your CV to be unreadable

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1. Add your personal details as a header to save space for themore  important details

2. Your personal statement should be no more than 60 words. It needs to be unique to you and your experience. Always tailor it to the role you are going for and do not use a list of stock phrases eg “ looking for a new challenge”

3. If you are a Senior level  jobseeker leave your education at the end of your CV

4. If you have completed a thesis / dissertation, add the title of the thesis. It maybe really relevant to the organisations current challenges

5. Always include your grade (2:1 etc) and if you won any awards in college

6. Work Experience. Always remember it’s your 2 most recent jobs that are likely to get you your next job, so provide the most amount of detail on these roles

7. Put yourself in the position of the person reading your CV. Always include a background to your organisation ( not a web address ), size, nature of the business, products, turnover, who you reported into and how many your managed. This sets the scene for the person reviewing the CV . You should be able to include everything above in roughly 3 lines.

8. Divide each position you’ve held into responsibilities and achievements. Always provide what you did and not what your organisation did. Always make yourself unique – what did you do that is above and beyond every other person / jobseeker working in your field. At a Senior level your CV should only be achievement based.

9. Remember that many in-house and agency recruiters search their extensive databases using the google “word search” technique. If the keywords aren’t on the CV, it will not be found!

10. Include at least 7-10 bullet points outlining your responsibilities and at least 3 achievements or projects that you worked on

11. Always outline the “results” of your actions. Quantify how your actions were of benefit to the businss eg. Introduced a which resulted in a 10% cost saving for the business

12. Do not go into too much detail on roles you were involved in 10 years ago

13. Ideally keep your CV to 2 pages or 3 pages maximum

14 Interests and hobbies – always remember the role that you are applying to. Keep your interests brief . How relevent are the transferable skills gained through your interests and hobbies. For example, if you play chess, the skills acquired would suit the role of trader

15 Referees – always make them “available on request”. It’s really important that your referee has the heads up in advance of anyone calling them for a reference.

If you need you want to make the long term investment and get your CV redrafted  please contact Mairead Griffin FCIPD, Career Coach @ Careermentors . Phone 01 2160880 or Email mairead@careermentors.ie . Further information on the Career Mentors Website: http://www.careermentors.ie/index.htm

At the moment, the most important part of securing a job is to actually end up in front securing an interview. It is vital that a huge amount of time and effort goes into structuring a professional CV that has a clear CV layout, has clear and concise CV content and is acheivement based. when drafting your CV, you have to put yourself in the place of the person who is screening applications. Compose a CV that is relevent to the role you are applying for. When reviewing the job spec, demonstrate how you have delivered on the responsibilities, and now just that you have done them! You do this by providing examples.

This way your application will stand out from the competition,who have just listed off the responsibilities of the role.

If you need CV tips or an expert to totally overhaul your CV – give Career Mentors a call on 01-2160880.