In today's competitive job market, a well-crafted resume and cover letter are essential for making a strong first impression on potential employers. These documents showcase your skills, experiences, and qualifications, demonstrating why you're the ideal candidate for the position.
In this article, we'll guide you through the process of creating compelling application materials that will help you stand out from the competition.
What is a Resume and Cover Letter?
A resume is a personalised document. It is a place to summarise and converge all your skills, work experience, educational background and any other information you want to use to amaze an employer. Your ultimate goal is to showcase your qualifications and experiences in relation to the described job.
This now begs the question: what do you need to impress an employer? Key components to include are:
Contact Information
This includes your name, your phone number and your email address. If you want, you can provide your home address, but it’s not necessary.
Professional Summary
A professional summary is a brief statement summarising your career goals and what you offer to the employer. This section is meant to capture the employer's attention quickly and encourage them to read the rest of your resume in more detail.
Work Experience
In your work experience section, you should include a list of previous jobs, including your current role, the company’s name, the dates of employment, and key responsibilities. This section is typically organised in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent position at the top and working backwards.
Education
The education section of a resume outlines your academic qualifications and is particularly important for demonstrating your foundational knowledge and skills. So, go ahead and include details of your educational background, such as degrees obtained, institutions attended, and graduation dates.
Skills
You must include a list of relevant skills appropriate to the job you are applying for. It is most appealing to mention both your hard and soft skills.
- Hard Skills: These are the technical or practical skills that you have learned through education, training, or experience that are directly applicable to the job. These could be, software proficiency, languages, machine operation, or coding languages.
- Soft Skills: These are interpersonal and personal attributes that help you work well in a team, manage work, and solve problems effectively. If you have developed skills like communication, leadership, problem-solving, and time management, make sure you include them!
Certifications and Awards
The certifications and awards section of a resume is a valuable area to showcase your achievements and qualifications. This section does not need to be too long as you should only include relevant achievements. For example, no employer cares about you placing first in your year 8 math class - so don’t include it!
Additional Sections
Depending on the job, you might also include sections for volunteer work, projects, publications, or professional referees. This is a great way to separate yourself from the rest of the pack and be unique.
Now, a cover letter is more detailed than a resume. Your goal is to use a cover letter to address the job description. A cover letter provides a platform to introduce yourself to the potential employer, highlight key parts of your resume, and express your interest in the position and the company.
Your resume should be a factual document listing your qualifications and experience. Your cover letter however needs to address the employer and persuade them. Be smart! Use your resume as evidence explaining why you are fit for the job.
Stand out, or get thrown out. When you're writing your cover letter, think about how an employer would respond to it. After reading many cover letters and resumes, employers naturally diverge from thoroughly looking at the information on the page, and end up skimming documents.
Make it easy for them. Break up your page a bit. Write bullet points to make your cover letter engaging and simple to read. Look at the following template for a reference.
Together, these documents help you present a comprehensive picture of your professional persona, making a case for why you should be considered for the job. The resume provides the factual backbone of your application, while the cover letter adds a personal touch and connects your background directly to the company’s needs and the specifics of the job opportunity.
Perfecting Your Cover Letter
Now, let's discuss the main reason you're likely reading this article: how to improve your cover letter.
Research
Do your research on the company! Before writing, know everything there is to know about the company you are applying for. If you are lucky enough to attend an interview, employers will expect you to know what the company does, its goals and its history.
Properly Address the Job Description
Assess what the job description is asking for: Read the job description. Read it again. What is the company looking for? This is the question you need to answer using your past experiences.
This needs to be done in a persuasive yet concise manner, highlighting your skills and experience while addressing the employer's needs. This can be done by using writing techniques such as dot points, to effectively convey your information. Look at the example above to see how to lay out your cover letter.
Write your Cover Letter
Write your cover letter!: When writing follow these steps to create a solid foundation, which you can expand upon
- Address the hiring managers and state why you are applying
- Write why you are best suited for the job. Include your qualifications and past experiences.
- Thank the hiring manager - after all, it is a letter.
Improving Your Resume
Following on from improving our cover letters, the following will tell us how to improve our resumes.
Gather Your Information
Gather all your important information. This includes your work experience, skills, education, certifications, awards and references.
Format Your Document
List all this information in an appealing way/format. Templates are available in various places such as Word or Google Docs. If you are still stuck, check out our template below! Don’t forget that the most important part of your resume is your work/industry experience. Make sure this section is flawless.
Write and Review
Look over your resume and determine if you have the following:
- A Short Summary: this needs to contain any important current information about you. For example, this may include the university degree you are studying and the vocational field you are working in.
- Industry-Relevant Skills: Do your skills match that of the job description? If not try to think of and develop skills that will be useful to the specific role you are applying for.
- Work Experience: This needs no explanation of importance. Describe skills you developed during your experience and the times you were employed at these companies.
- Licences and Certifications: What are you qualified for? This section does not have to be complicated, simply list them for the employer to see.
- Education: Do not mention your primary school. Only your high school education and university institutions should be included. Your ATAR or any other significant marks you have received should be included in this section.
- References: List any references that can vouch for you if an employer wishes to hire you. Include their name, occupation and phone number/email.
Look at the following template to give you an idea of how you can lay your resume out.