UvA Career Day CV & Cover Letter. Amarins Renema UvA Student Careers Centre. 25 November 2015

Transcription

1 UvA Career Day November 2015 CV & Cover Letter Amarins Renema UvA Student Careers Centre

2 UvA Student Careers Center Our aim is to help you obtain the career that suits you best

3 Curriculum Vitae means Course of Life

4 The main purpose of a CV & Cover Letter is to get invited for an interview or lead to any other career opportunity

5 The Job Search Process Reflect Self-assessment Interests and qualities, motivation, personal preferences, your personal situation Explore Labour market orientation Find out about organisations, projects, people, developments, opportunities, tasks and roles. Choose Career goal(s) Give my circumstances, what is a sound choice to make? What to focus on as a first career step? What is my career goal? Connect Create opportunities Make sure people know you and what to hire you for, reach out to people in your field Get hired Applying Vacancy analysis CV & Cover letter Interview Assessment Salary negotiation

6 What and How 1. Focus on what you want to communicate first 1. What is the purpose of this CV? 2. Who will read it? 3. What is the link between me and the job/project/organisation I pursue? 2. Only then choose how to lay-out your CV that best fits you and the organisation/field/industry

7 What do you want to communicate? Steps to take 1 2 Master CV Lists all activities and situations that you could possibly think of that might be relevant for a CV or interview Vacancy analysis Bridge between what you have on offer and what the employer needs 3 Targeted CV CV adapted to specific vacancy

8 1. Build your Master CV Your personal work document, NOT to send to employers! List all your past activities, mentioning every detail Extract what you ve learned, what knowlegde you gained and skills you ve developed Draw from your master CV when building a CV for a specific position

9 1. Master CV What Career Committee When 04/ /2015 Where Study Association Sefa, Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Amsterdam Knowledge Deeper understanding of professional and personal skills Better understanding of what comes along with organizing a career activity Learned about communication strategies Skills Communication strategy Professional communication English CRM-database Competences Teamwork worked together with two team members. Learned to be transparent about my tasks and work. Communication communicate with external trainers, UvA stakeholders, Sefa-members. Learned to start up the communication in an early stage and to always think one step ahead. I learned that if someone asks for something, you are actually too late. Initiative I took a lot of initiative to set up this event and turned it into a success. I came up with creative ideas (be specific!) to attract 50% more students than targeted and made my ideas work. Results With team set up a new career event (be specific). The first edition was a huge success. Myself - Increased the number of applications (150%) Myself Attracted external trainers and coaches given the small budget we had, it was quite a challenge. Interests I discovered that I was mostly interested in the communication, specifically how to use several communication strategies effectively.

10 What do you want to communicate? Steps to take 1 2 Master CV Lists all activities and situations that you could possibly think of that might be relevant for a CV or interview Vacancy analysis Bridge between what you have on offer and what the employer needs 3 Targeted CV CV adapted to specific vacancy

11 2. Vacancy analysis Helps you find the match between you and the employer s needs Requires thorough reading, also between the lines Helps you distinguish between hard and soft criteria

12 2. Vacancy analysis Seniority Education The organisation s needs What I have on offer What seems to be the organisation s real need? Employment history / work experience What do I have on offer to meet those needs? Skills Results Competencies Knowledge and expertise Personal characteristics

13 2. Vacancy analysis Opportunities for growth What the employer has on offer What I want What suits me in the job? What doesn t suit me in the job? Kind of organization Location The job fits in my career planning, because. Mobility/travel Salary and benefits

14 What do you want to communicate? Steps to take 1 2 Master CV Lists all activities and situations that you could possibly think of that might be relevant for a CV or interview Vacancy analysis Bridge between what you have on offer and what the employer needs 3 Targeted CV CV adapted to specific vacancy

15 3. Compose your Targeted CV Leave out irrelevant information ask yourself the following questions: 1) What do you want to prove with the information? 2) Is it relevant for this job? 3) Does it add anything? Elaborate on the experiences the employer seeks Mention everything that connects you to the employer, job, industry or project Make sure someone else really understands your experience and what you bring to the organisation

16 3. Compose your Targeted CV Reverse chronological order: last things first Focus on the content first, then choose the lay-out that supports the content Adjust the lay-out to what is appropriate in the industry and country you re applying Maximum 2 A4 Save as a PDF-document Be consistent Examples:

17 CV and Cover Letter are complementary What How Why

18 WHAT The facts A CV is intended to show the facts, i.e. what you did: Contact details Dates Names of institutions Names of degree programmes Electives, grades, thesis Employers Job titles Tasks, roles, responsabilities Extracurricular activities etc

19 HOW - Your competencies and skills A cover letter explains how you do your work i.e. what your style is: 2 colleagues with the same job do their work differently because they have different competences and personal styles

20 WHY Your motivation A cover letter describes why you want to work in this job, field, and organisation: Why is this field relevant to me? Which issues concern me? What do I want to improve? What is interesting to me? How does this role fit into my (educational and professional) career? What is the connecting thread between the choices I ve made? Why this organisation? Why this department? Why this specific role?

21 Writing a cover letter Include the Why and How, leave What for your CV Rather prove than tell gives examples and illustrations of one or two competenties and experiences, rather than summing up a list Maximum 1 A4 Compose it as a real letter, including heading, date etc Seek the connection between what the employer needs and what you have on offer Make sure the lay-out is in line with your CV

22 Writing a cover letter There are generally accepted templates however choose the structure that really supports your message Rather prove than tell give examples which show your capacity, instead of summing up your qualities Use your cover letter only to motivate and raise curiosity, leave the facts for your CV

23 Writing a cover letter [Your Name] [Street Address] [Postal Code, City] [Optional Address] [Company] [Name of Recipient] [Title] [Address] [Postal Code, City] [Today s Date] Dear [Name of Recipient], Introduce yourself and what job you would like to be considered for. Try to personalize the introduction if possible by including details about past encounters with the recipient or details about third parties who may be referring you to the job. Make it interesting so the reader will continue reading. Describe your motivation and ambition, in general and for this specific role. Give the reader the opportunity to get to know you better. [Underlying question: will he/she do the job?] Provide stories, examples and details that demonstrate what you bring with you. Make sure you don t repeat what is already in your CV but instead use the facts to illustrate your suitability. [Underlying questions: can he/she do the job and will he/she fit in the team or organization?] Close by wrapping it all up and calling the reader to action. Ask them for an interview or a response. Sincerely (or Respectfully Yours), [Sign here for letters sent by mail or fax] [Typed Name] Enclosure

24 The obvious do s Doublecheck your spelling don t rely on your computer s spell check! KISS Keep it Short and Simple Always address the reader Rather make a good job of 1 application than sending out dozens of standardised CV s and cover letters

25 Good to know (Almost) All recruiters/employers read the CV first, and only then decide to read your cover letter Careless CV s and letters won t be read! Many recruiters use recruitment software, called candidate tracking system or the like. Recruiters use software to scan key words

26 So. applying with a CV and cover letter is all about communicating effectively getting your message across by understanding the employer s needs and knowing what you look for and have on offer

27 What can we help you with? Feedback on your Cover Letter, CV, LinkedIn profile Practice your interview skills Exploring career opportunities Making career choices

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