CV and Cover Letter

Your CV should:

• Be targeted – you need to do thorough research on the company and the role that you are applying for and then create or update your CV accordingly.
• Be consistent in both formatting and language – this will allow recruiters to follow your CV and find the information they need easily.
• Be logical – apart from clearly laid out sections, your CV needs to follow a logical order, like a timeline, to give readers a clear picture. Start from the most recent.
• Be either one or two full sides of A4 – try to limit your CV to one page unless you have substantial experience. Most students will only need a one-page CV. You should not overly increase font size or leave a lot of gaps to make your CV fit on two full pages.
• Be relevant – the information you provide should be relevant to what the recruiters are looking for. You can remove excess information, or condense them at the end of your CV.
• Be clear and concise – more detail can be provided for experiences that are the most important and relevant. Other information can be listed more concisely.
• Be mindful – the reader of your CV may or may not understand the language or terminology that you use in your CV if they are too technical. Always think from the recruiters’ perspective and change the tone and language accordingly.

A cover letter usually needs to be sent with a CV. In a CV, you list your experiences and achievements. In a cover letter, you showcase your motivation, your understanding of the organisation and the role, as well as your suitability – all to convince a recruiter that you are the right candidate.

To achieve this, your cover letter should:

• Be targeted – you need to do thorough research on the role and the organization. This will help you demonstrate your motivation and tailor your content to make it more personalized.
• Be clear and concise – your cover letter should typically be no longer than one page, laid out as a professional letter, which means you need to avoid unnecessary sentences or phrases.
• Be error-free – make sure you check for spelling or grammatical errors and double-check you’ve spelt the name of the company and the recruiter right.
• Be logical – your content should follow a clear logical order. You can start with who you are, then talk about why you want to work for the organization and are motivated by the role, and finish by providing details on your suitability for the job.
• Be one page long – unless you work in academia or some specialized sectors where you need to go into detail to explain your achievements, your cover letter should have no more than four paragraphs and be no longer than one page.
• Be mindful – not all recruiters come from the same field as you. Therefore, you should write in understandable language and avoid long and complex sentences. Too many technical terms may not come across well.
• Be positive and sound enthusiastic – the tone of the cover letter and the language you use should convey the right message.