Science & Technology Skills Development Day with Goldman Sachs

Winning CVs & Covering Letters

Vanissa AmliwalaCareers Consultant

Three words

meachiever

creativedetermined

What will be covered

CV basic principles What to include in your CVCV layout and designHow to be a STAR!Creating a good covering letter

What three words describe you and why?

CV…basic principles 2E

Write your CV for

CV Robots & Human Eyes Layout & Design

Bullet pointsFont – sans serif

size 10-12Avoid graphics, logos & tables

2 pages

A4

30 seconds

Language & Keywords

Pick a voice, pick a tense and stick with it!

Use job related keywordsTagcrowd, Wordle

JobscanSpelling & Grammar

K

CV course of your life

Evidence skills

Tailoring

CV…personal details2E

AddressHouse number

Street nameTown or city

PostcodeNo

PhotographAge, Date of Birth

Place of birth Marital status

GenderDisability

Phone number

& voicemail

Work Permit Status

YesLinkedIn URLBlog & online

portfolioDriving Licence

KName

First & last name

Email keep it

professional

CV…profileYour sales

pitch. Make sure it has impact!

1Current

situation

2Skills &

knowledge3

Achievements

4Career goals

CV…personal profile Profile ExampleA highly dedicated and pragmatic individual, who is ambitious to pursue a career as a biomedical scientist and further specialise in microbiology. Hard work and motivation displayed in the first year of the degree was awarded by being on the Deans’ list. Laboratory diagnostic techniques and personal attributes enhanced through work experience as a Medical Laboratory Assistant at a Pathology laboratory, work shadowing in Cardiology and a Pharmacy Assistant.

CV…personal profile

Profile ExampleA 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.

CV…education 2E

Reverse chronological

order most recent first

InstitutionName of university, college, school &

locationStart & End dates

Full Course TitleExpected grade

List 4-6 relevant modules from your degree Brief details of your

dissertation, main project, placement

Mention briefly A’Level, GCSE subjects, grades

or equivalents

CV…employment 2E

Your chance to

SHINE!

Reverse Chronological order

start & end datesname of company, location,

nature of businessjob title

duties, responsibilities, skills, achievements

Employment To highlight experience that is relevant but not

the most recent subdivide the section

into relevant and other

Tell the employerWhat you have done

What you have achievedSkills you have

developedYour personal

commitment and motivation

K

Placement volunteering

gap year

Evidence skills

Be a STAR!

Situation Task

Action Result

A STAR ExampleDescribe 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

Task I 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.

Action

Result

By Michael Higgins: The Guardian Professional 10th March 2014

CV…skills & interests

Adding Skills & Interests can show hidden

depthsAvoid

Clichés ie socialising, watching box setsExtreme sports

Anything too political or religious

Don’t include something you know little about!

Skills IT

Technical Languages

Broad range of interests

Sports, art, travel & culture, community

involvement, cerebral

CV…references

ReferencesAvailable on

request

Always seek permission from

your referee beforehand

Do not use a family member as a referee

Two referees

AcademicCurrent or previous

employer

IncludeReferee

Name, position, address,

telephone/mobile, email

CV Samples

Chronological CV

Skills-based CV

Get the right format

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

Advantages Emphasises continuity and

progression over time Easy to follow Good if you have worked for

well known companies

Disadvantages Difficult if your career is

patchy Harder if changing careers Not so good if you are new to

the job market

Skill-based CVPresents your main skill areas

Advantages Strong emphasis on skills Jobs and work history are

more secondary Overcomes the difficulty of not

having a lot of experience or too much

Flexible

Disadvantages Difficult if you want to

emphasise continuity Might lose the impact of any

prestigious companies you have worked for

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

Covering Letters

Covering letters / emails

Make it personal

Write to a named person

Reference / subject line in bold

2What can you

offer the employer? Match skills and

experience to employer requirements

3 What attracts you to the job /

company? state your interest

and motivation

4End on a

positive & sign off correctly

State when you will be available for

interview

1 why are you

writing?vacancy or speculative

be specific

Covering Letters - Samples

Covering Letter - Vacancy

Summary Target your CV and covering letter Choose a style and language to market you

effectively Follow the recruiters instructions Evidence your skills and experience Include credible explanations for any weak

points Pay close attention to detail - presentation,

language, spelling and grammar DO NOT USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS FOR

ANYTHING