Cover letter Flashcards
Components
First paragraph – Opening
Strong start
Demonstrate you have researched the company and express your enthusiasm for the company position
Connect to organization in meaningful way
Middle paragraph
Market yourself
Highlight your skills and experiences as they relate to the job posting
Showcase yourself and align your qualification and experiences
Last paragraph (closing)
Reiterate enthusiasm include thank you and call to action
Reiterate fit and include call to action to continue the conversation
the basics format
- One page maximum
- Should match format in resume
- contain keywords
- attractive to pass the 8 second rule
8 second rule
- should gain interest in the first 8 seconds so they read more
what’s at beginning of cover letter
- Date, main contact, subject line
why use a story
can strengthen your cover letter and prove expereicne
when telling a story
do not use ex longer then 3 sentences
o Sentence 1: introduce skill
o Sentence 2: Explain the situation where you demonstrated this skill
o Sentence 3: what was the end result? Explain what it did for the company and what it proved about your character and or abilities
cover letter dos
keep 1 page
and 3 paragraphs
tell reader wha you do have not what you do not
cover letter do nots
- Expect your employer to read between the lines and see your potential
- Include irrelevant information no matter how proud you are of the accomplishment
- Expect spell check to catch all errors
- Simply repeat claims you made in your resume
o Instead highlight the most impressive accomplishments and describe the story behind them - Forgot to change an employer name or reference within the body of the document
successful interview prep and day of
Preparation
o Identify your power skills (assess + reflect)
o Know your resume
o Understand the position and industry research
o Practice + repeat
Interview day
o Be on time
o Practice listening skills
o Follow-up
illegal/ Inappropriate questions
- Age
- Disabilities
- Membership in organizations
- Ethnicity, ancestry, race
- Religion
- Sexuality and or family status
- How you respond
o I am not sure the relevance of the question to the role could you tell me how it relates specifically to the job?
o I would prefer to answer questions directly related to the position
types interview questions
common
situation / senario based
behaviour descriptive questions
- tell me about a time
technical or factual questions
- o What are programming languages are you most familiar with
For the question Tell me about yourself
Cover 4 main areas (E.Q.U.A.L)
o Education
- qualifications
- unique strengths, accomplishments
- life/leasure
Past present future formula
o Present -where are you now
I am a second year asper student majoring in marketing. I am also involved in the UMMA
o Past – how did you get here
I have strong interpersonal skills that I developed working at Mikes for 2 years
o Future – next move/aspirations
Behavioural Descriptive Interview Questions (BDI)
Past performance is the best predictor of future performance
How to answer BDI
- USE SOAR
- S
o Specific situation
- O
o Obstacles / opportunities
- A
o Actions ** (Most important)
- R
o Results ** ( Most important)
- Should take 60-120 seconds
- Over half of response should be Action/Response
When you do not have an answer
- Take a moment to think
- Be honest
- Show your willingness to learn
- Highlight relevant skills or experiences
Common Interview Pitfalls (10)
- Lack of preparation
- Arriving late
- Dressing inappropriately
- Failing to make eye contact
- Rambling or not answering the question
- Speaking negatively about previous employer
- Forgetting to sell yourself (speaking confidently)
- Not asking questions
- Being too focused on salary or benefits
- Failing to follow up
