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Writing and Designing a Cover Letter

The employer will always wish to know about yourself. Most of it is described in the resume which you first show to the employer. This will include your educational details, work experience, and other skills. Today, most of the employers wish to get the resume through email. In such a case, the cover letter is important. You must write a cover letter in the email body. Thereafter you attach the resume and send it across to the authority. But, these days’ employers have a lot of expectation about writing a cover letter. While applying for a job, along with submitting a resume, you also need to write a cover letter as various companies demand it.

Writing a cover letter, which is a formal declaration letter by the candidate, is the one where the case of candidacy is mentioned. The cover letter is meant to highlight the relevant skills of an applicant, which are compulsory to apply with your resume or CV profile. As the cover letter is a formal document, you have to follow a certain set of guidelines in order to write your cover letter. These guidelines provide you knowledge about what to include in the letter and what not. The format of a cover letter is also drafted under certain guidelines.

Whenever an organisation starts the hiring process, the hiring managers go through a number of cover letters. Of course, the aim is always to find the suitable candidate, they do pay attention and notice that whether or not the cover letters have been formatted correctly. Many times, the ones that don’t follow the usual Letter formats are not considered.

Below we list down the guidelines and the formats required for drafting a cover letter.

Why are cover letters important?

Cover letters form an important part of your job application. The first impression about your profile is a cover letter and then resume or CV. The effective cover letter can give an impression of the person professional history and achievements. You can get hired quickly if there is an urgent requirement. The secret of writing an effective cover letter is through organized contents. This is a complete step by step method to write an effective cover letter.

Design or Style of the Cover Letter

The design of the cover letter is very important to look professional. There are many styles and design that you can implement on your resume or professional CV. But it is important that the CV/resume should match the design and pattern of your cover letter. All the information provided in both cv/resume and cover letter should match. The heading and cover letter pattern should be the same as resume/CV or reference letters. Design an attractive cover letterhead in aligned with the remaining documents. Use professional email address such as ‘john’@gmail.com instead of ‘therock’@gmail.com which reflects an unprofessional email address.

Essentials of writing a cover letter

Your Contact Information

The heading of the cover letter should provide relevant personal details and contact information. The arrangement of name and contact information is according to your preference and style of the resume or CV format.

Name: Highlight your name in bold and large size

Address, Email, Phone, Linkedin

Salutation: The employer details with address

Base or Body of the Letter

The body is the important part of the cover letter. A well-structured and organized body of a cover letter provides easy to understand over candidacy. The letter is sometimes the selection criteria for employers before even looking at the resume or CV. Try to organize your body into three main paragraphs and a concluding paragraph.

Salutation: Use proper salutation by using the first name of the hiring manager or using Mr. or Mrs. with Surname. The salutation is very important and providing a random salutation is not suggested.

Introduction

The introduction of the cover letter should consist of the position that you are applying for. For example, “I am interested in applying for the elementary teaching position at Aspire School San Francisco California.”

Study and analysis about the employer

Read about the employer and if you can provide some details about the understanding of job you are applying. This will provide a good impression of your employment understanding and highlight specific employer application instead of generic mass job email application.

Education and Employment History

After initial descriptions of the employment, the second portion of the body is to describe your education and experience. However, it depends on the person’s profile about the preference of education or experience. Your experience should highlight the overall scenario of your past employment while the education should highlight the achievements and glimpse of your certifications.

Resume or CV relevant professional skills

It is important to write your cover letter in precise and relevant to your professional history and job application. In addition to education and experience, the cover letter should consist of professional skills earned in education and employment history. For example, team management with relevant, quantifiable data such as a managed team of 30+ for conducting a household survey. Quantifiable experience data is a very effective way to showcase a professional career.

Projects and Awards

Projects and awards are also important to part of the cover letter. Big projects and awards will help you the source of your employment and professional relevance. For example, managing million dollar projects will enhance you’re your profile and increase your probability of getting a job.

Skill Transfer Plan

The last section that you can highlight in a cover letter is about the skill transfer and how you can benefit the employer with your relevant skills. This is a very effective method to emphasize your valuable skill transfer to the organization. Skill transfer can be added before the conclusion or part of the conclusion.

Complementary Note and Conclusion

The final section of the cover letter should consist of a concluding paragraph relevant to the employment. A Concluding paragraph should provide an overview of your career and why you need the job.

Letter Signature

You can use any sign-offs for your cover letter depending on the relationship with the person. Common sign-offs for the cover letter is

Regards,

Sincerely,

Best Regards,

Thank you,

In addition to the sign-offs, you can additionally provide contact details along with the LinkedIn profile. Consider signing the document or use a digital signature to make it more professional. It is best to sign your cover letter or use a digital signature.

Key Considerations

The letter should be in A4, PDF format or attached in the email.

Utilize as much space in your letter in one single A4 size paper.

Mention important skills or values that you can provide for the company.

Write the respective person’s name (first name) for communication.

Mention about the motivation to join the employer and passion for your work.

Types of Cover Letter

Application Letter:

The most common and belonging to the traditional kind of Letter Styles, an application letter is written and sent along with the resume in order to apply for a job. The format of this cover letter remains simple and contains brief information about the candidate.

Letter of Interest:

This type of cover letter focuses more on the inquiry from the candidate. While formatting the letter, the candidate inquests about the various job openings that the organisation offers to the applicant. This is also known as the letter of interest or a prospecting letter.

Referral Letter:

As the name suggests, a referral letter contains the name of the person, who refers an applicant for a particular job. These cover letters are important because if the referrer is valuable, it immediately catches the interest of a hiring manager. So, if we you know someone in a company, where you also wish to work, it is a good idea to send a referral letter along with the resume.

Value Proposition Letter:

Why should an organisation hire you? What sets you apart from the other candidates who have applied for the job? How can you add value to the working of the company? All these questions answer the value proposition cover letter. It is a short and to-the-point statement that explains that the applicant writes on his or her behalf.

Networking Letter:

Writing networking letters, you tend to begin the job hunt process. You can ask your colleagues and other people in your network to find a job for you. In short, you seek the advice from people you connect with so that they can refer you to some organization. These types of letters are written to individual colleagues whom you personally know or to the people under your social media circle. LinkedIn is a good way to connect with people and spread your networking letter.

Inclusion in a Letter – Industry Specific

How to customize a cover letter for each industry?

Sometimes you may wish to apply in many jobs at the same time. Does the covering letter is for a specific industry? Don’t worry, as there are ways through which you can customize your cover letter. Following are the ways:

Customize by experience– You might have experience working in the different field, but it is not always necessary to state everything in the cover letter. Just mention the experience that applies to this job.

Customize your skill- The employer will always look for the skill that you possess. Just mention the skill that you pose based on the field and the position. For example, if you are going to apply for a sales job, it is important to mention the term, ‘excellent communication skill.’

Like the above examples, you can customize the letter as per the industry and job requirement. Some of the organization may wish to see very complex written cover-letter. Some of the companies would prefer very simple and easy English while writing the cover letter. You must research and find out what exactly they want. Accordingly, you can proceed.

If you want your letter designed by a professional. Kindly contact us for more information. We support you to write, design and publish your cover-letter. The designs are elegant and give you a better response from the employers. Our designs have yielded around 2 times of the responses than a normal letter. Contact us at Vistaresume.

#resume design template #vistaresume #Design template #california #resumewritingtips #coverletter #kolkata

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vistaresume1 · 4 years

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CV Writing Guide – Content and Writing Tips

Things you need to consider to create a perfect CV writing guide

Even before you appear for an interview at your dream workplace, this is your CV (curriculum vitae) that speaks on your behalf. So, so you can’t get it wrong, right? Your CV is the one that compels the interviewer to shortlist you so that you can show it to the team as to why you deserve that job. Hence, there is no chance that you let your CV not to grab eyes on your behalf. How you highlight your CV and what goes into the CV is very important. A CV writing should be the complete highlight of your professional career.

A CV is different from a resume in terms of details representation of all the employment, project and work done in the same field. Various countries have different formats and requirements of the CV. US and Canada accept one-page resume to summarise your professional career. However, when it comes to CV, you must explain every professional detail. A CV can range from 2-5 pages. However, depending on the type of profession, the number of CV pages determined. For example, an urban planner, engineers or IT professionals also need to highlight the projects that they have worked on.

CV / Resume Acceptance Countries Infographics

Various countries accept CV as the form of recruitment. Some countries have certain CV formats, and some follow a creative CV format.

In today’s day and age, where everyone wants to be financially independent, so CV has a huge role to play in our lives. Hence, it will be pointless if we explain that what is a CV? Rather, the question that needs to be answered is that what all you should include in your CV? The fact is that every other curriculum vitae will spin a different story of different candidates. The basic structure of every CV remains the same. Here we jot down a stepwise guide to create the kind of CV that represents your capabilities not only in 2018 but also for the years to come. A CV is a complete profile, and following are contents that you must highlight to enhance your CV. Here’s the complete CV writing guide:

Number of Pages

A resume is a one-page document summarising your CV. CV’s should have a limitation on the number of pages; preferably a CV should be limited to 3-4 number of pages. If you make your CV long, then it gets underlooked in the eyes of the recruiters. Again, the limitations are depended on the profession and information that you have. An entry-level CV’s have very less number of pages compared to the experienced professionals.

Formatting

The CV format is very important for job application. A CV should be well formatted and structured based on your professional level and details that you can highlight. Certain countries have specific CV format, such as the European CV format is completely different and has specific guidelines. Some of the organization require you to create a Europass CV. Or you can make your CV in this European_CV format. Other countries have various other requirements. Sometimes the CV format is also specific to the industries such as graphic designers have a different CV format than an engineer or architect. Every profession has different requirements, and you have to understand which format will best suit your profession. Some profession requires you to highlight your best projects and some profession demands for experience and education etc.

Design

Designing your CV is very important. Creating a good impression always enhances your chances of getting the job. You may be in any professional field, but if you have a great CV designed by a professional, every recruitment professional will have a glimpse of your CV. If you need professional help with your CV design, you can check on the VistaCV.

Word CV Template

Structure

Structure of your CV is also an important part of drafting your CV. CV Structure is the representation pattern based on your professional field. Every profession requires the different structure of your CV. Generally, you should structure your CV in the following order –

Profile/Summary

Timeline

Skills / Achievements

Languages

Educations and Training

Industry Specific Requirements

Softwares

Experience

Projects

What should your CV have in it?

A content of the CV should be complete, precise and to the point of your professional journey. Following are the list of the CV writing guide and content that you must include or consider in your CV.

Profile / Summary

Profile or the summary is the overview of your complete professional career. This is the best way to explain about the professional journey and how you can contribute your professional skills into the prospective company or job. A summary should not be more than 2-3 paragraphs.

Details (name, profession and contact): Consider this the first and foremost part of the CV. These details are mentioned at the top of the CV. There is one common mistake that most of the folks tend to do; don’t write CV or Curriculum Vitae at the topmost segment of your page. This is understood that you have created a CV. So, consider your name as the title of your CV. While the professional title will vary from person to person, contact details have to include your mobile number, email ID and LinkedIn profile, if you have one.

Personal profile: This is the segment where you describe yourself and state your objective to work for the betterment of the organisation. In short, this is one of the most important parts, which has to explain, A) Who are you? B) What is your vision for the organisation? C) What are your long term career plans?

Timeline

A timeline is a modern approach of representing your professional career in a timeline format. This kind of representations provides the recruiter with a glimpse of your history and have a better idea of how you managed your professional career. We always recommend you to highlight your timeline on the first page of CV to provide a good impression to the recruiters.

Skills / Achievements

You can showcase achievements as a part of your CV. Achievements are the professional achievements, awards, success and educational achievements. If you do not have any achievements to showcase in your CV, then try to highlight the skills that you have and any contribution with your previous employment(s). Besides, skills are the basic highlights of your professional or personal skills that you can contribute to the prospective employer. A recruiter search for the education and the skills that you have for the advertised vacancy. In a CV, you can represent the skills in your educational or professional form such as for the IT engineer they can showcase the platforms they work on.

Languages

If you are applying for a job where languages matters for selection, then you must highlight your language skills. Most of the international and development jobs require you to mention your language skills. Having various language skills attracts the recruiters in most of the multinational companies. Further, enhancing your language skills also helps to travel and explore the world from a different perspective.

Education and Training

Just like the experience segment, the years of education should also be in the chronological order. The recent one gets at the top. Explain your grade, institute and the marks you scored. In the education section, explain what projects/assignments or research conducted during your college or university studies. Also, training of various skills will showcase a good image of your professional career. Training can be public speaking, excel or Microsoft office, management, finance or any professional development courses. Also, you can highlight professional training which is conducting during the start of your professional career or any online course you attended during your employment. Some organization hires you and provide various training to perform the job.

Industry Specific Requirements

Some CV should be designed and written according to the industry-specific requirements such as an IT software engineer’s CV is completely different from the History teacher’s CV. Write the CV according to your needs and structure according to your knowledge.

Softwares

Software section is relevant for any professional. In this modern digital era, having software knowledge is a must to have. Show your software skills in the form of percentage progress bars. Highlight only the relevant software programs that are applicable to your professional career. For example, showcasing general software knowledge devalue your professional careers such as Windows or operating Mac in the software section.

Work experience

This segment defines your work experience that you have gathered so far. The years of your experience always give you a plus point over other candidates. Nonetheless, many companies do trust in fresher candidates as well. But if you are experienced, write it down in order of time. The latest get its place at the top and then soon. Write it in a tabular form; your job title, company, role and period of work.

Projects

Projects are also important for few industry specific professionals. However, not all professionals need a list of projects in their CV. If you belong to an industry where you managed projects such as in construction, IT Development, planning etc. You must highlight the projects with details in a format (name of the project, location, your job description or requirements, and your contribution). If you have managed a lot of projects, then limit the number of projects which are very relevant and important for your professional development.

Testimonials

Yes, testimonials from the various organization or your colleagues can be included in your CV to enhance the reference recommendations. It will help you build trust whoever sees a reference letter with testimonials included in the CV.

Hobbies, interests and skills: What you are good for, explain it here. Mention what your hobbies are and what things interest you. Remember not to write anything for the sake of it. Every single word adds value to your CV. If you are writing net surfing as a hobby, make sure it is something that makes you excel in a searching keyword.

Quick tips: The size (10 to 12 pts) and style ((Calibri or Arial) of fonts also make a difference. Be sure to proofread your document a couple of times once you are through the making process.

#CV writing #content Template design Tips guide

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