Stefan Couch Careers Consultant for SMS 1 Careers

Stefan Couch Careers Consultant for SMS 1 Careers Writing good CVs, cover letters and applications

• Be able to lay out a readable CV • Know what ‘good’ evidence looks like • Have started to identify your own unique selling points (USPs) • Understand how employers screen CVs • Evaluate what makes a great CV, a good cover letter and able to answer application form questions 2 Careers By the end of today’s training you will be able to…. . .

Careers CVs • How proficient do think your CV is on a scale of 1 to 3? 3

Careers What are the key three principles to making an awesome CV? 4

Careers Key principle 1 Tailor to the recruiter’s job advert 5

Careers Key principle 2 Evidence based CV 6

Format clearly with accurate spelling and grammar 7 Careers Key principle 3.

What does this mean from your knowledge and experience? 8 Careers 1. Tailor to job advert

• Deloitte Industrial Placement Schemes • Explore / Research – Deliotte – Careers for curious minds 9 Careers Example of a more difficult IP Application

- Start sentence with active verb to demonstrate required skill - Can use the employer’s language of skills to help them scan for what they are looking for QMUL Careers & Enterprise - CV Resources 10 Careers Tailoring – keywords

Careers 2. Evidence based CV “Show don’t tell” C–A-R 11

Kenton Clark Shoes, London Retail assistant July - Sept 2019 Skills gained included: • Customer service: Resolved customer disputes by listening, empathising and negotiating solutions, achieving a customer satisfaction score of 98%. • Teamwork: Led a team of four, training newer members in a new till system and delegating tasks to avoid confusion during busy periods which resulted in a quicker service for customers. 12 Careers Using CAR on a CV

ü You can address the skill as many times as you have examples for it ü Show impact: met deadline; feedback; numbers; success rate etc. ü Quantify where possible: team of 3, audience of 100, 10 page report etc. 13 Careers ü Use all sections to show you have skills: interests, achievements, education, work experience, volunteering.

ü ü ü ü ü No use of personal pronoun ‘I’ Keep it concise Consistent use of same font Font size 10/11 (same size for headings and same size for content) 1 page (for banking/finance/consulting) Bolding for skills / subheadings for skills Clear section headings to differentiate areas of CV No grids, no photos, no letters of reference attached Include dates Check for grammar and spelling 14 Careers Formatting, spelling & grammar

SECTION CONTENT 1 st Name & contact details Email, mobile, Linked. In (& Twitter) 2 nd Personal Profile Optional: 2 -3 skills with brief examples 3 rd Education QMUL – High School: reverse chronological 4 th Employment History / Work Experience Split into ‘relevant employment’ and ‘other employment’ if necessary. Reverse chronological. Include family business/own enterprise 5 th Volunteering If you have it (can be combined with EC activities/interests) 5 th Skills IT, Languages etc. 6 th Extra curricular activities Anything at School/QM outside of your course 7 th Interests (& awards) 8 th References ‘available upon request’ 16 Careers ORDER

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