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Writing a targeted cover letter is the most crucial step for being selected for an interview.
Firstly, it shows you have taken the time to read and understand the job description, this will automatically give you an advantage over 35% of the other applicants. The way in which you write the cover letter should show how you specifically meet the criteria of the position. Identify the three key aspects the employer is looking for and detail tangible examples of this skill or experience within the cover letter. In terms of the length, aim for two to three paragraphs at most and certainly not more than an A4 page, the cover letter should be brief and the content should ignite a desire in the reader to review your CV or resume. Ensure the cover letter is personally addressed to the hiring manager. Include their name, job title and the job reference. Don’t waste your time with generic cover letters, all this shows to the employer is that you are not actually interested in their particular position and that you are simply playing a numbers game. For more information on our cover letter writing services visit the cover letter section of our website under services. Our professional writers are always on hand to assist with your application.
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There is a lot of conflicting information on what sections your resume should contain. The truth is that this is going to vary from profession to profession.
Due to the rising popularity of online applications over the last 15 years, recruiters are now receiving over 8 times as many applications as they did in 2003. This has completely changed the way in which recruiters review your resume. They initially read it like consumers browse webpages, looking for keywords that spark a desire to read on, if they don’t find any within the first ten seconds they add it to the no pile. With this in mind, it’s important you aren’t wasting prime real estate space that simply isn’t relevant. These are sections like hobbies and interests, the recruiter is looking for someone to solve a problem within their business, not someone they can go scuba diving with on a weekend, so leave this out, this space can be better utilised with content showcasing your suitability for the position. Also, don’t list your references, no one contacts references at the application stage. Instead, at the end of your interview ask the recruiter whether they would like your references, this will give you immediate feedback on how the interview went. Your resume should contain the following sections in this order;
I’ll explain how to write all of these sections in the following videos within this series. For more information on our resume writing service visit the services page of our website. Our professional resume writers are always on hand to assist with your application. LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with in excess of 500 million professionals registered worldwide. It is estimated that around 80% of all positions filled are through some kind of referral, so it’s absolutely vital in this day and age that your LinkedIn profile is optimised.
Invest the time in your LinkedIn profile to ensure its completed to LinkedIn’s highest rating – All Star Level. Having an All Start profile increases your profile views 4-fold over the next highest rating which is Expert. Profiles with quality headshots receive 21 times more views than those without, and are 36 times more likely to receive messages from recruiters. Invest in a professional headshot – we provide a photo editing service that can transform good quality photos to professional headshots. When writing your LinkedIn profile, it’s important to ensure that the content closely matches your resume. Ensure that job titles, employer names, dates and duties match exactly – as any discrepancies will be questioned upon review of your application documents. Spend time adding skills that you can receive endorsements on, the more endorsements you collect the more your experience is proven to potential employers. Follow influencers within your industry and connect with specialist recruiters within your sector, this will open up a whole new world of potential opportunities for you. For more information on our LinkedIn writing service visit the services page of our website. Our LinkedIn experts are always on hand to assist with your profile. In this blog post I’ll cover how you should present your previous employment experience, what to include and discard, and how far back you should go.
The first thing to cover is how this information is presented. List your experience in bullet points rather than sentences. This makes the information you are providing easier to read and understand for the recruiter. When writing your bullet points, elaborate on your duties to show tangible achievements that came as a result of your actions, this shows you are an achiever, rather than a doer. Let’s look at a typical example. Cold called potential clients prospecting for new business Sure, this explains what you did, but there’s a million of other candidates out there who do the same. This is a poor description and doesn’t set you aside from other candidates. Compare it with: Cold called in excess of twenty new clients per day, maintaining a $50 thousand-dollar pipeline that generated in excess of $20 thousand dollars in extra revenue per month. This clearly demonstrates what the result of your duty was. In the first example, you might be making the calls, but how does the recruiter know if this led to any benefit for your previous company if you fail to tell them? Detail only the duties of the positions that are relevant to the new position you are applying for, and keep the history to a maximum of ten years. The fact you provided excellent customer service at MacDonald’s 20 years ago, isn’t relevant to you managing a team of IT technicians now, so omit it. Resume design is a vitally important aspect of your application, if your resume is plain and lacks personality, in a pile of applications it can be easily overlooked. It’s one of the most common mistakes candidates make today.
On the other hand, bright colours, big text, fancy fonts, and pictures, can be visually off-putting and lead to instant rejection. The key is to keep the resume looking professional while adding aspects that catch the eye of recruiters. This can be a coloured header, a sidebar or a professional font other than Arial or Calibri. Ensure all your section headers use the same size and font throughout, along with the body text of your resume. Make sure your resume sections and text align perfectly with each other and use the same weight, size and spacing within your text. Keep the resume size A4, and avoid coloured backgrounds and images as these are disliked by applicant tracking systems. Save your resume as a PDF and use this for your application. This ensures when the resume is opened by a recruiter, it doesn't lose it's formatting due to compatibility issues which is common with Word and Pages. Finally, ensure your supporting documents match the design and formatting of your resume. This shows that you care about attention to detail and it looks significantly more professional. For more information on our resume writing service visit the services page of our website. Our professional writers are always on hand to assist with your application. Personal profiles are the ideal way for you to grab a recruiter’s attention and persuade them to continue reading your resume. This small paragraph sits directly at the top of your document, concisely and effectively displaying who you are, your skills and strengths relevant to the sector or job role, and your career goals.
The vital thing to remember when writing your personal statement is to keep it around four sentences in length. As with your cover letter, If your opening statement is too broad, you’ll give the impression that you haven’t done your research. When drafting your personal statement split it into three sections: who you are, what you can offer the company, and your career goals. Get straight to the point and provide evidence of your skills and experience, but be brief! Offer just enough information to hook the reader. Market yourself and make the statement look purposeful, show the recruiter you know what you’re talking about. Be personable! Recruiters ultimately want to know you as a person and what you can bring to the table and always proofread for spelling and grammar. Mistakes are an instant turnoff. For more information on our professional profile writing services visit our website. Our professional writers are always on hand to assist with your application. What personal information should you include and exclude from your CV or resume and why?
The standard inclusions are pretty straight forward so they don’t need much explaining. Include your full name, your direct phone number, your email address, a link to your LinkedIn profile and the city in which you live or are planning to work in if you are relocating. You don’t need to enter your full address, this is a privacy concern and nobody has physically posted employment acceptance or rejections letters within the last ten years. The equality act has made it no longer necessary to include your date of birth, race, marital status, sexual orientation or nationality. To ensure you don’t fall victim to discrimination don’t include these in your resume, they are not required. Also, don’t include your visa status, this will show that you are foreign and this is the leading area of discrimination candidates face. If you hold a specialist driving license relevant to the position, show this on your resume. However, if you’re a seasoned professional, and driving isn’t an aspect of the position, don’t include your license information, this isn’t relevant. For more information on our resume writing service visit the services page of our website. Our professional writers are always on hand to assist with your application. While we pride ourselves on the excellent value for money our service delivers, I completely understand not everyone has the finances readily available to invest in a professional writer to assist with their application documents.
I’ve decided to make 7 short videos explaining the latest writing standards for job applications, ensuring the documents you write yourself are completed to an excellent standard, and give you the best chance of securing an interview. Throughout this short series I’ll explain how to write a cover letter guaranteed to increase your interview success rate, how to write a personal profile that ignites a desire within the reader to review your full resume, how to professionally design and format your documents, which key sections you must include to increase your interview rate along with sections that aren’t relevant and how to utilise LinkedIn to climb the career ladder. Seeking a new position can be a stressful time. My aim for this series is to inform you of current best practices to increase your success rate. Thanks for coming along for the journey. I’m confident you’ll find these tutorials invaluable. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
August 2019
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