Careers Centre

Successful CVs and

Applications

Laura Trotter
Career Consultant
Careers Centre

Careers Centre

Lets get started...

Why did you sign up for the

workshop today? What would you
like to cover?

Careers Centre

Question
On average how long does an employer
take to review a CV?

Careers Centre

I often look at a CV for as little as

3 seconds
but I look at some CVs for as
long as 2 minutes.
Confessions of a Recruitment Consultant

Stopwatch by Julian Lim http://www.flickr.com/photos/julianlim/459841226

Careers Centre

...is a sales document: To get you to interview

Careers Centre

What do employers want to see?

All jobs have

competencies
Your CV and covering
letter can show you have
the skills (and attributes)
that they want

Careers
The
person Centre
specification tells you what
the recruiter is looking for use it!

you got your eye on the target http://www.flickr.com/photos/21560098@N06/9653414876/

Careers Centre

How to find out the skills required for the

opportunity
1.

2.

3.

If you are applying for an advertised position, read the job specification skills
may be outlined in the person specification but there will also be detail in the
overall description.
Research the employer what is their company ethos? What are their priorities
and objectives? From this you can see what kind of people they would be
looking to work for them.
Look at the skills required in general for that industry or that particular role, the
sector information and job profiles on www.prospects.ac.uk are a great starting
point for this.

Careers Centre

In many cases, still too much about what our

company can do for them, and not enough about
what they can bring to the company.

Whats in it for me? by Ron Mader http://www.flickr.com/photos/planeta/5274052574/

The standard of English is still pretty poor in many cases it

Careers Centre
doesnt even make sense.

ACCURATE:
ATTENTTION
TO DETAIL

Careers Centre

even though hiring managers are inundated, you have to stand

out, and the only way to do that is with precise examples of
achievements, and do it quickly.
Ryan Carfley, Six Resume Mistakes to Avoid

Stand out by Stevan Sheets - http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevan/553885189/

Think
Careers Centre

Think

chameleon

chameleon

Careers Centre

Careers Centre

Careers Centre

Covering Letters

Careers Centre

The Covering Letter

Remember it is half of your marketing package
Aim for one side of A4 max
Always try and write to a named individual
Target!

Careers Centre

What to include - 4 Main Sections of a Cover Letter

Introduction
Who you are & why you are writing.

Why you?
Why are you interested in that job? What particular skills
and experience do you have to offer?

Why Them?
Try to show you have researched their organisation.

Positive conclusion
When you are available for interview and you look forward
to hearing from them etc.

Careers Centre

Key Points for Covering Letter

Direct to a named person
Yours Faithfully
(Sir/Madam)
Yours sincerely
(Named contact)
Punchy and focused

No lists or rambling

1 Side of A4 MAX
Enthusiastic
Avoid brochure speak
Positive end

Careers Centre

Cracking the Cover Letter

Maximum 1 side of A4
Four key paragraphs

Introduction
Why them?
Why you?
Positive conclusion

Careers Centre

Swap your CV with another student. Consider any

constructive feedback you could give them based
on the following:

1. Is it easy to read?
2. Do they show a good mixture of their relevant/technical experience
and transferable skills?
3. Do they provide evidence for the skills they have?
4. What are the good/bad points and could anything have been
improved upon? What do you think of the presentation?
5. Overall, does it provide a useful introduction to make you want to
interview them?
6. What achievements have they shown?

Careers Centre

Application Forms

Careers
Centre
Careers Centre

Application form Six steps to success

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Read, think and plan

Imagine yourself doing the job
Use examples - prepared
Give yourself plenty of time to fill in the form
Check, check and check again (spelling & grammar)
Keep a copy for your reference and ask for feedback

Careers Centre

Employers Perspective
What do you think were the top 3 areas where
applications fail?
1. Not tailoring their answer to specific company and
job role
2. Lack of accuracy spelling, grammatical mistakes
3. Failure to demonstrate passion/ motivation for that
role/industry/ company
4. http://youtu.be/MhkkoufsLas

Careers
Centre
Careers Centre

Three Key Parts

Name/Contact Details/Education
Employment History
Additional information/ Questions: Competency,
Commitment & Self Knowledge

Careers
Centre
Careers Centre

Questions Examples
Competency Questions

Commitment Questions

Describe a time when you

have had to persuade
someone that you point of
view is right?

Why have you chosen x

career path?

Describe a situation
where you have worked
with a group of people to
achieve a goal?

Why have you chosen x

employer and x role?
Self Knowledge
What are your weaknesses
and how have you
overcome them?

Careers
Centre
Careers Centre
How to use STAR

Situation & Task

BRIEF outline

Action

Specific details of what, how

and why you took action you
did

Result

What was the outcome?

Quantity? Quality? What did
you learn?

Careers Centre

For example, instead of:

When I worked in a shop I had to deal with angry customers.
Try:

S
When I was working at Company X in a customer service role...
T
...I was approached by an angry customer who wanted to make a
complaint to a senior manager.
A
I took ownership of the situation by gently asking the customer if
we could move to a quieter part of the room so he could tell me about
the problem. By giving him time and space to vent his frustration and
anger, I gave him the opportunity to calm down. I then suggested two
different options for resolving his complaint, so that he felt that he had
some control of the situation.
R
The customer chose one of the options and said he would be
happy with this. He decided not to make a complaint to senior
management after all.

Careers Centre

Be the recruiter!
Working in groups of 3/4, you have 5 minutes to
decide which of the 6 responses you would shortlist
for the following competency question?
Tell me when you have worked as part of a team,
what was your role and what was the outcome?
Be prepared to feedback to group on what basis you
shortlisted or didnt and areas you think the
candidates could have improved

Careers Centre

Recruiter Feedback
Who did you hire?
What did you notice about each application?
What stood out?

Careers Centre

Recruiter Feedback on Leeds Applicants 2012/13 cycle

Major retailer
82 applications 79 rejected at this stage
Large Technology company
119 applications 96 rejected at this stage
Accountancy and Finance organisation:
2012 - 455 applications, 29 successful (6%)
General comments:
Wanted to recruit more but had a lack of quality applications
Number of applications the same as in 2010 but quality was poorer

(both major retailers)

Careers Centre

Hints and Tips for Successful Applications

Hints & Tips
When you prepare your application, think carefully about
the role you are interested in and your skills. Use plain
English and stick to the word limit. Also make sure to give
full details of your degree modules, relevant final year
projects and work experience. Hiring managers will want
to see what youve done and how this fulfils what they are
looking for.
BAE Systems

Careers Centre

Feedback from applications to Unilever Jan 2013

Many CVs are still very generic

In many cases still too much about what Unilever can do for
them, and not enough about what they can bring to Unilever.
The standard of English is still pretty poor in a lot of cases. Its
essential that the students spell check and/or get someone to
read over what they have written, as in many cases it doesnt
even make sense.

Careers Centre

Feedback from FDM (IT company)

The best advice I could give a student regarding completing an
application form is tailoring the answers they provide. There are
no generic answers or rules to filling out an application form
even for similar roles. Every company will be looking for slightly
different things as companies differ in their approach, values
and beliefs. Therefore the student needs to look at the job
specification and tailor their answers to what the role entails and
what the company is looking for in the right candidate. You will
need to use relevant examples to demonstrate the skills the
employer is seeking as this is the first filtering process

Careers Centre

Useful websites

http://careerweb.leeds.ac.uk/info/20/applicat
ions
http://www.gradcracker.com/advice/applying
/
Employability section of VLE
http://targetjobs.co.uk/careersectors/engineering