‘Oh, the dreadful Cover Letter!’ I am sure these are the thoughts you get when you think about applying for a job. But one must not forget its importance. Your cover letter is like the blurb of your Resume. If you manage to create a good impression through your Cover Letter, only then the recruiter will go and have a look at your resume. The Cover Letter is a personalized letter that makes a promise to the recruiter about you and makes him want to know more about you and that’s when he will move on to reading your Resume. This is why it is crucial to pull up your socks and invest some time and effort into the Cover Letters. However, if you think it is not your cup of tea, then our services are always available for you.
Cover letters are of two types:
Application letter- which is for vacant job openings that the company has published and,
Prospecting letter– which is written to inquire about the vacant position at the company.
Don’t have the experience to write a cover letter? Are you worried about what to write and how to start? Don’t worry, here are the few real tips from recruiters that can help you to write the best cover letter and lend a job in Asia:
6 Tips to write a winning cover letter:
- Research about the company and check out the job description
- Address directly to the hiring manager
- Start off with the position you are interested in
- State where you heard about this position; can be the website of the organization, the hiring manager’s LinkedIn profile, or from an employee already working in the organization.
- Write about your skills and how you can use them to add value to the company, here focus should be on skills mentioned in the job description and your skills that make you stand out in the crowd
- Keep it concise and to the point, making sure it is personalized.
- Review your cover letter checking for any grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and loud fonts before hitting the send button
Other than the content, the appearance of the cover letter should be given equal consideration as the layout of hard and email cover letter has little difference such as the address in the email will go below the name of the applicant whereas, in hard copy, it comes at the top of the page. And, one must not forget to put a signature on the hard format of the cover letter.
Let’s now get into the tips and tricks of writing a winning CV. Think of CV as your marketing tool that helps you to sell your skills and experience. It is a powerful tool that convinces the hiring managers to get you the interview call and helps you land into your dream company.
A well-formatted and eye-catching details are what attract most of the hiring managers, just like the neon signs that are flashing along the road trip. This statement is backed up by the statistics as 8 out of 10 resumes are discarded out within the 10 seconds glance by an HR personnel. That is why it is of utmost importance that your CV should stand out from the crowd and quickly showcase your abilities and skills. Otherwise, it might be thrown out into the trash before even your full experience is reviewed by the hiring managers.
To assist you in writing one, here are quick and tips that you can follow to write a CV, ranging from having formatting that is specific to the industry to having correct margins and fonts. So, are you ready to write a winning CV that guarantees you the dream job?
- Choose a format for your Resume which are as follows:
- Reverse-Chronological: This is the most commonly used format thus referred to as the traditional format, mostly used by new and mid-level professionals. It is written in chronological order by first mentioning the contact information, followed by resume objective, work experience, skills, education, and finally your accomplishments. DO NOT use this format if you are constantly switching your career paths or job every few months. Use it only to show a progression in your career or if you want to apply to a job that is in the same field.
- Functional: This format has its main emphasis on the skills and qualifications of the applicant. It is mostly used by those having expert level experience. This type of format is best to use if you are switching your career or if there are some gaps in your work history and want to highlight your relevant and transferable skills.
- Combination: As the name suggests, this format combines both of the formats together, chronological and functional. This type of format is used by those who have great industry experience and want to make a powerful CV with a combination of relevant skills, career success, and experiences. The main body of this format contains the professional experience just like the chronological format while also focusing on the qualification that is specific similar to one in a functional format. Warning: DO NOT use this format if you lack the experience, your emphasis is on education and you are applying for an entry-level job.
- Contact information:
Moving to the next step mention your contact information. It is important to remember what information should be included in your resume. Here is a general guideline what information and in which order should be added:
- Name (It should be in large font and aligning it into the middle is optional)
- Address (Do not write your full address, just mention your Area eg Clifton or Defence and your City like Karachi/Lahore)
- Mobile Number
- Email Address (Make sure It is appropriate and professional, DO NOT mention email address such as panda33@gmail.com)
- LinkedIn Profile
- Objective Statement:
In this, you mention what skills you possess and what can you offer to the company you are applying to in 1-2 lines. For example, you can write “An experienced HR professional seeking a role in a fast-paced environment to fully utilize my leadership skills and contribute to the success of the company”
- Professional Experience:
This is the core part of your resume. Remember to write your experience in reverse chronological order which means talking about your recent job and its responsibilities first. Make sure to mention the experience that is only relevant to the position you are applying to.
Create a heading for each company you have worked in and include the title of the job, city, and the time period. Then list down the main duties and achievements in bullet form and back it up by numbers. Here is the example to guide to write one:
XYZ Company Karachi – Assistant Manager May 2019- Present
- Leading OD initiatives for the entire company in the budget of PKR 200 million.
- Organized engagement activities for 300 employees
To sum it up, the bullet points should have three things Action verb (organized, spearheaded, executed), Quantifiable point (PKR 200 million, 300 employees), and Relevant job duty (OD initiatives, engagement activities)
Pro Tip: Tailor your experience by finding verbs and occupation-related nouns inside the job advertisements and then cleverly spread out these words in your resume in order to convince the hiring manager.
- Education:
Create an education section in order to demonstrate your basis of expertise and knowledge. The fresh graduates that lack the professional experience can emphasize their education by placing it before the experience. This section includes the name of your university/high school (A/O-levels, matric, inter), location, GPA, year of graduation.
- Skills:
Although hiring managers look out for the candidates that have skills but just listing down your skills does not prove you as a skilled. In order to demonstrate your skills, it is better to spread them out throughout your resume i.e. fitting into the objective statement and work experience that will reinforce your candidacy. Of course, there is a separate section for skills in which you can mention your hard and soft skills. A good resume has a balance of both of these, if you lack in one of these skills try to improve them in your leisure time. Here are some of the hard skills that you can mention in your CV:
MS Excel proficient, Adobe Photoshop, Python, etc.
- Certifications, Honors, Awards
These are some of the few sections that will help you to strengthen your resume.
Certifications: Certifications are important in order to make you stand out in the application process. It is evidence of your skills and expertise. It also demonstrates your passion for the industry or the job you are applying to. Hence, giving a positive impression to the hiring managers.
Awards and Honors: This section also provides evidence of your skills and abilities. You can add the following items under this heading:
- Volunteer Positions
- Academic Honors
- Grants
- Scholarships
- Professional Affiliations
- Format your Resume:
So, after you have type all your content and the hard part is over, its time to feel confident and get ready for the interview. But before that let’s get into the final touches:
- Make sure to limit yourself to a one-page resume but you can add an extra page if the information is relevant to the position you are applying. Otherwise, stick to one page.
- Choose a font that is easy to read. Many resumes follow this format-
Name: 24 pt.
Body: 12 pt.
Bullets: 10 pt.
- Add lines to break your resume sections so that the hiring managers can easily process the information.
- Use margins that are effective since it is the first thing that hiring managers notice. If you have of experience it is safe to have a 1-inch margin otherwise you can reduce it to 0.5 but do not go below that.
- Proofread and edit your resume and save it in pdf form.
- Now pat yourself on the back for writing an amazing CV. Write an effective email to your future employer and attach your CV and the top-notch cover letter along with it.