HR201: CVs & Cover Letters

Jennifer Kwan
Career Consultant
DCU Careers Service
Today’s Agenda

• Activity – Super Strengths

• The Employer’s Perspective
• CV Job & Sections
• Cover Letters
• Follow Up Notes / Online Introductions
• LinkedIn
• Career Action Planning
• Resources
Super Strengths

You have 60 seconds to write down 20

things that you are great at.

Don’t forget to include skills from work,

hobbies, educations, training, life skills.

https://www.amazingif.com/squiggly-career-summer-school-strengths/
Employer’s Perspective
Part 1: You work in HR and you are meeting with a manager to
write a job description for a Marketing Graduate position.
- What type of information do you need to know?
- What information could help you screen an applicant later?

Part 2: You’ve advertised the job and you get 500 applications and
you have to recommend 7 for interview by the end of the week.
- What do you look at first?
- How long do you spend reading?
- How many do you read?
- How much do you read?
- What do you base your assessment on?
- What do the good ones look like? The bad ones?
So What’s the CV’s Job?
 Sales brochure
 Tailored outline of your relevant
achievements
 Shows the employer why they should
hire you
 Why you are a good fit for the role
 Why you want the role
 Evidence that you meet the requirements
 Evidence of your performance from other
experiences
 To get you an interview
Applying for Jobs
• Women are 16% less likely than • Do I have all of their
men to apply to a job after essential requirements?
viewing it
• Do I have any of their
• Women apply to 20% fewer jobs desirable requirements?
than men
• Women are 16% more likely than
• Can I do most /all of what
men to get hired after applying the role involves?
• Women are 26% less likely to
ask for a referral
Confidence Stories

What are you most What have you felt What do you enjoy
proud of? lucky to be doing? doing most?
Designing the CV
Personal Details
Full name Date of Birth
Location Age
Religion Phone number
Email Address Parent’s information
Citizenship /Nationality Gender
Current Salary Marital Status
Photo LinkedIn URL – customized
Health Status Place of birth
Profile – Use the Job Spec
Sourcing Recruiter: Amazon’s Recruiter opportunity is focused on people operations and preserving Amazon’s culture in the way
we attract, hire, and develop talented people. You will learn about the business, how talent needs are assessed, and be a critical
part of driving the recruiting process from beginning to end as Amazon’s Talent Acquisition team works to acquire the world’s best
talent. You will use data to inform decision making, and are comfortable identifying areas of opportunity and working with others to
create solutions. You are driven, eager, and able to use your creative skills to develop lasting relationships with both candidates
and hiring managers. You will learn how to manage the full-cycle recruiting process, how to create innovative sourcing strategies,
and what it takes to build a collaborative approach to working with business partners and hiring managers. You will also work
closely with recruiting team members to innovate on current research strategies for talent pooling, market mapping, and competitor
analysis which will allow you to make an immediate impact.

• Ability to think and act strategically and tactically

• Ability to deal with ambiguity
• Solid organizational skills, including prioritization and time management
• Strong interpersonal, written and oral skills
• Problem solving skills
• Ability to summarize and communicate important data
Profile – Use the Job Spec
Sourcing Recruiter: Amazon’s Recruiter opportunity is focused on people operations and preserving Amazon’s culture in the way
we attract, hire, and develop talented people. You will learn about the business, how talent needs are assessed, and be a critical
part of driving the recruiting process from beginning to end as Amazon’s Talent Acquisition team works to acquire the world’s best
talent. You will use data to inform decision making, and are comfortable identifying areas of opportunity and working with others to
create solutions. You are driven, eager, and able to use your creative skills to develop lasting relationships with both candidates
and hiring managers. You will learn how to manage the full-cycle recruiting process, how to create innovative sourcing strategies,
and what it takes to build a collaborative approach to working with business partners and hiring managers. You will also work
closely with recruiting team members to innovate on current research strategies for talent pooling, market mapping, and competitor
analysis which will allow you to make an immediate impact.

• Ability to think and act strategically and tactically

• Ability to deal with ambiguity
• Solid organizational skills, including prioritization and time management
• Strong interpersonal, written and oral skills
• Problem solving skills
• Ability to summarize and communicate important data
Sample Profile
• Innovative Bachelor of Business student at DCU with experience launching strategica fundraising events in partnership with local businesses for

Pieta House.

• Experienced in using data (in Excel) to complete competitor analysis and identify areas of opportunity for businesses from a team projects in

marketing and management. Presented on data driven solutions to the class including a PowerPoint.

• Volunteered with Focus Ireland as a part-time administrator during the summer of 2021 on their end-to-end volunteer recruitment process.

• Excellent team skills – building relationships and collaborating with players and coaches on and off the pitch as captain of my Camogie

team. Helped grow the club by 10% by introducing new playing opportunities for leaving cert students.

• High levels of organization and prioritization skills having achieved a 1.1 in first year while training twice a week plus matches and working

in Tesco 10+ hours per week.

• Availability: Fully available to start in September 2021 in any location in Ireland.

Education & Work Experience
Modules
Projects
Tools / Processes / Techniques Reverse
Research Chronological Order
Group work
Grades
Crafting Impact Bullet Points

Active Verb = skill

Industry vocabulary
= tailored

Number = scale and

scope
Improving Lines on a CV
River Island, Co. River Island, Co. Dublin (Jan 21-Present) (18 hours a week)
Dublin (Jan 21- • Partnered with a team of 5 at the POS servicing 40 people
Present) an hour and receiving an overall customer satisfaction rating
of 4.8.
• Serving customers • Voted employee of the month – increased sales by 10%
at the till through merchandising and achieved the 5-star customer
• Keeping shop clean engagement rating.
and presentable • Generated sales increases by 5% - 20% through link selling,
cross-selling, and gift card purchases at POS.
• Stocking, tidying • Trained 20 staff on merchandising, sales, and customer
and cleaning engagement processes through 1-2-1 sessions.
shelves • Reviewed 10+ customer complaints and queries daily and
• Dealing with clarified the details of the returns policy, reducing escalations
down to 5%.
complaints.
Interests / Extra Curricular /
Volunteering
Volunteering Initiative Public Relations
Writing Creativity Text editor
Content
Blogging Communication Management
Software
Podcasting Public speaking Voice emission
Search Engine
Marketing Data analysis
Optimization
Learning
Problem-solving Lateral thinking
languages
Photography Attention to detail Adobe Photoshop
Travel Organization Foreign languages
Sports Sportsmanship Work ethic
Art Adaptability Cultural sensitivity
Skills – What’s changed?
Pre COVID-19 Skills
• Assertiveness
• Communication
• Collaboration – group work
• Accountability
• Results focus
• Customer focus
• Decision Making
• Planning and Organising
• Resilience
• Creativity / Innovation
• Self- Development
Post COVID-19 Skills
• Collaboration
• Digital Proficiency
• Emotional Regulation
• Career Self-management
• Flexibility
• Problem Solving
• Humility
• Integrity
• Ethics
• Connectedness
• Awareness of Social Justice
Video CV – Tell Me About Yourself
• “Everything is context dependent” – what does this mean?
• What’s the CV’s primary job?
• What do you need to include in 1-3 minutes?
• What format / structure could we use?
• How do you close a sale?

Prospects, HubSpot
Cover Letters
Cover Letter – Think First
• Identify the role requirements
• Demonstrate the research that you
have done on the company
• Link to relevant experiences
• Answer the Following
• Why do you want the job? What skills
do they look for?
• What relevant skills do you have?
• What difference will you make?
Paragraph 1 – Introductions and Sales
• Identify yourself (what you’re studying, where you’re working)
• Indicate the position for which you are applying
• State where you learned about the vacancy (Careers Service, newspaper, etc.)
• Demonstrate interest in the company (research)
• Provide #1 reason for applying and what you can bring to the role

Example
I am finishing my first year of Global Business (with French) and am excited to apply for the HR Internship with
Primark this summer. I saw the internship advertised through the DCU careers portal and am keen to start my
career with you. I completed an in depth case study about your HR strategies as part of my HR module in my and I
am eager to participate in a company with such progressive hiring practices. My experience advertising sales
positions on jobs boards and assisting my manager with interviews in a retail environment have given me a
positive insight into HR in retail and I understand the case load requirements. I believe my attention to detail and
thorough understanding of interview methods will help me quickly contribute to the team.
Paragraphs 2-3: Evidence Stories
• State why you are interested in this work and this organisation.
• Briefly mention your academic background, relevant qualification(s), and related work experience which qualify
you for the position.
• Summarise your talents and how they might benefit the employer. (Remember, you are seeking to persuade the
reader to see you).

Example
I am interested in gaining more experience interacting with employee queries on HR topics. I have 1 year s
experience in a customer facing role gained from Sky which involved resolving customer complaints, upselling new
products, and improving the customer offering. I quickly learnt policies and procedures and was able to effectively
respond to customers on the phone and through our CRM. Combining my customer skills from this role, my
knowledge of retail challenges, and my education in business and HR practices I believe that I could quickly
support the administrative requirements in the team relating to employee queries.
Paragraph 4: Complete the Sale
• Draw attention to any further points of relevance to your application.
• Identify exactly what you’ll help the company achieve.
• If you have a strong understanding of the role (i.e. internal promotion) you might identify the results you will achieve and
your strategy.
• If you know a little less focus on your brand and how you work

Example
My career goal is to work in HR in a retail or FMCG environment, I believe that I can learn best
practices from Primark as well as contribute to the team’s workload. I have worked during my
summers and my undergraduate and this work experience has provided me with concrete skills in the
areas of time management and prioritization, problem solving, and interpersonal skills.
Paragraph 5: Close
• Refer to the fact that you have enclosed your CV or application form
• Reiterate your interest
• Indicate your availability for interview.
• Close your letter with a confident statement which will encourage a positive response.

Example
Further details of my experience and qualifications can be found in my enclosed CV. I hope my details are of
interest for the position of HR Intern. I will be available for interview or a screening call in the coming weeks and
can start from the beginning of June 2023. Please reach out if you have any further questions on 086 666 8888 or
through email to schedule an online or in-person meeting.
Following Up / Connecting
Hello [Hiring Manager’s Name],

Last week, I applied for the position of [position title]. I would like to
kindly ask you if you could provide me with your decision timeline.

I am very enthusiastic at the prospect of joining your team and leveraging

[your specific skills, knowledge, and experience] to help you [what profit
you’d bring to the company].

Please let me know if you need any more details about my application. I
look forward to speaking with you and sharing my ideas on how to help
you with your upcoming challenges.

Kind regards,

[Your signature]
[Your LinkedIn profile]

[Your phone number]

LinkedIn – Start Your Digital Brand
• Headline – what can you offer?
• Images – professional
• About Section – Your Story
• Experience – Your History of Accomplishments
• Education – Your Course and Modules
• Licenses and Certificates
• Volunteer Experience
• Skills
Your network is your future!
Go to DCU’s LI page and click on Alumni to search for graduates from
your course to connect with:
→ Use the personalized connect option

Network of Friends – Kinsley Atkins

→ What can I do for you?
→ If you were me what would you do?
→ Who would you know who…
Career Action Planning
Know
Yourself
• Build Your Strengths –
Activities
• Practice Sharing Your Story
Aloud – STAR or SCARS
Explore
Take Action
Opportunities • Conduct subjective and
objective research
• Target your applications
Make and interviews to the role
Decisions
Questions
• Use the resources on Loop
• Put together a CV and a cover letter for dream company
• Drop me an email: Jennifer.kwan@dcu.ie
• Book a Quick Query Appointment
References
• New Report: Women Apply to Fewer Jobs than Men
https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-acquisition/how-women-find-jobs-gender-rep
ort

• Hobbies and Interests on a Resume: https://zety.com/blog/hobbies-and-interests-on-a-resume

• Resume Statistics: https://zety.com/blog/resume-statistics
• ACCA Global:
https://www.accaglobal.com/lk/en/affiliates/advance-ezine/careers-advice/post-pandemic-skills.ht
ml

• Cappfinity -Early Careers as Activists:

https://www.cappfinity.com/global/webinar_event/early-careers-as-activists/?utm_source=mailchi
mp&utm_medium=follow-up&utm_campaign=early_career_activists

• Following Up on Job Application: https://zety.com/blog/how-to-follow-up-on-a-job-application