Where ambitious minds thrive CV covering letters and

Where ambitious minds thrive. CV, covering letters and search tips.

Work Experience • Required by ALL students • At least two days in total. • Students must contact possible employers and arrange placements • Complete paperwork, from careers office, as soon as you’ve confirmed a placement

How to find and contact employers… • Search for contacts… • Friends, family contacts • Use Yell. com to search for companies, gain contact details. • Check out their website and note contact name, phone numbers, email and postal addresses.

Think “outside the box” • You may want experience in specialist areas, or industries inaccessible to under 18 s? • Do other companies have departments that work in that area? • Do other employers/jobs utilise skills important to your area of interest?

Eg. . • Do larger companies have legal departments or accounts teams for law or accounting experience? • HR departments or social workers might offer an insight into areas of psychology? • Healthcare areas look for experience in care settings, care homes, working with the vulnerable? • Do you need a DBS check for the placements? You can pay for one via the careers team.

Unifrog Log on to Unifrog Go to “Subject Library” Search by a key word (ie Psychology) Read the subject guides and click “explore” which lists careers related to the subject • Suggested employers you could search for to contact! • •

Contact the employers. . • Call the companies first and check if they’ll offer a placement, a work shadow or just a visit? • Get a named person to contact • Email AND post a cover letter and your CV…

Cover Letters • A cover letter is just a formal letter explaining why you’re contacting the company.

Cover Letter rules… • • • • Make a good impression Clear easy to read font, white paper, in white envelope Spelling and grammar, get it checked! Keep it brief and to the point No more than one side, (short paragraphs not one block) Highlight your main attributes (don’t repeat your CV) When could you attend a placement? State how you’d be grateful for any number of days, a visit or a shadowing opportunity. Include your contact details (phone, email) Sign off properly (name = Yours sincerely, sir/madam = Yours Faithfully) Include a closing paragraph, don’t let it tail off, remember to sign it, Keep a copy!!

CVs • “Curriculum Vitae” is Latin for “story of your life” • Summary of all the important achievements so far. • It’s about showing off your best bits in the best light!!

CVs • Keep it short, ideally one side of A 4, no more than 2. • Bullet points are best to show information. • Clear, well presented, good spelling

CVs • Your basic contact information (Name, Address, Phone number, email) • Education (list of school, colleges, subjects studied, when and what grades you achieved) • Employment/Work Experience (list of jobs, location, dates, main duties/skills) • Positions of Responsibility (mentoring, groups you lead) • Interests (Your hobbies/interests) • Referees (Name and contact details of two people (not related to you) who can be contacted ie College tutor or Previous Manager)

Create your CV • List all the information on paper first! • There is a lot of information, dates and detail to remember, give some time to think about your skills! • Once you’re organised, type it onto the computer. • Concentrate on clear, easy presentation and layout • GET IT CHECKED BY SOMEONE ELSE!! • Use Unifrog CV Creator to help create your CV.

• We can check CVs and Cover letters if you want to hand a paper copy to me, in the Careers office. • Email us and we can send you a resource pack with example CVs and Covering letters to get you started.