Week 11

This was the week eleven's lecture which was the final lecture (Due to means of transportation strikes which took part at the beginning of this semester we had to cancel a lecture and thus we don't have week 12).

The scope of this final week was to present our projects in relation to Computer Science in front of the instructor and the classmates. This was the second presentation for this module and this presentation was based upon our website. Each group presented their own website and videos and talked about the creation of their website and if they encountered any problems with it.

The presentation groups talked about the following topics : Printers, Hard Disk Drives, Windows Operational Systems, and Games.

In my opinion all the groups did a very good work in relation to their topics and what i saw was that everyone felt a little more comfortable concerning the presentation rather than in the previous presentations.

I think that i can say now Happy Holidays as this blog reached its end. I'm glad for all the information that was gained in this semester and looking forward for the next one.

--Marianna--

Week 10

In week 10, we talked about cover letters, their use, we saw cover letter examples and cv examples.

So why a cover letter and a cv are important?

As mentioned and in the previous blog post, they are important as you can present yourself, what you have so far achieved in academic degree or working degree in a way that nothing interferes there other.

There are different kinds of resumes or else CVs (Cover Letters) which are the following ones:

a) The Chronological Resume: All the information that is presented there is in a chronological manner meaning that you will find everything starting from a new academic qualification or working experience to an old one.

b) The Functional Resume: Depends on different job related skills. The working section in your CV will contain the job positions that you held until then but with a further explanation of your skills.

c) Combinational Resume: This kind of resume is a combination of Chronological and Functional Resume.

(London Metropolitan University)

Examples of different CVs were presented which was important in order to distinguish and in practice how a chronological or functional or even combination resume is.

As mentioned in the lesson's powerpoint slides, while writing about the working experience that you have it is better not to write just your duties there but to write what have you accomplished so far.

When writing a CV or a cover letter you need to keep in mind to check for any errors that may be in your text as you will give later on your cv or cover letter to a third party.

It is also important to create a cover letter and a cv based on the job position that you want to apply to and use a different cover letter and cv in each job position.

In a Cover Letter and a CV you need to avoid using abbreviations when they are of educational institutes or even companies which may not be well-known. It is better to state the educational institutes or companies with their whole "name/title" in order to avoid any problem.

(London Metropolitan University)

Why is a Cover Letter important?

Well, a cover letter is used in order to a) show why you want to apply for this job position or academic studies. b) You try to emphasize what you have achieved in your resume but in a more detailed way or with probably something extra that in your resume you may have not added. c) you show your personality and your ability in relation to writing.

Cover Letters in detail:

In the first paragraph of a cover letter, you will write about the job position/academic studies you want to apply to. You need also to mention how you found out about that company and that job position as well as what is the thing that makes this organization so special that you want to have a part in it. This first paragraph also is a mean of making your potential reader to want to read more of what you will say in the rest of the paragraphs in your Cover Letter.

In the middle paragraph or paragraphs you explain in detail about the job position that you may have had in the past, the academic degrees that you hold and then you explain why you want to apply to this position and how all that you have achieved so far will be a cornerstone to help you succeed in this way.

In the last paragraph, you summarize what you have said in the previous paragraphs of your cover letter, you show your intention of wanting to proceed to an interview or call the other person, you can also write the name of the person that the cover letter will be sent to, if you know his/hers.

(London Metropolitan University)

In my opinion, this week's lesson was an interesting and an important one as a cover letter and a curriculum vitae are always used either in academic degree or working degree so it is good to have a better idea of how to write them. Personally, I have had the experience of writing a CV and a Cover Letters in the past but with the help of this lesson i realized that some things in the Cover Letter need to be mentioned more clearly and to explain in a better why why i want to apply for this position.

Week 9

This was the week 9 and it was the first week after the Easter holidays that we started again with the modules. In Tuesday's class we talked about CVs and Cover Letters and we also discussed about the results of our in-class test.

So why does someone need to use a Curriculum Vitae or simply a CV for?

Well, someone can create a CV in order to use it for different kinds of situations for example: when you want to apply for a job or when you want to apply for a master's programme then you have to create a CV with all that you think that will be relevant to the field (job, master programme and so on) that you are interested to apply to. Also, it is important that because each job as well as and each master programme is unique, you need to make some changes to the CV that you will give to the company or educational institute in order to target the specific field of study that you want to apply. I had and have the chance to create several CVs throughout the last few years in order to apply for a job and for a master's programme. I followed a specific pattern for the CV which was given to us in my previous studies and with this way i sent applications for either trainee positions or jobs. Later on, when I completing my studies i decided to apply for a master programme and there i realized that it was important to attach along my application and a CV. But.... in both cases (job, further education) you don't need only a CV to state your current qualifications but and a Cover Letter.

(London Metropolitan University)

So what is this Cover Letter about ?

It is basically a page where you can write your thoughts about why you want to apply for this educational programme or for this job. You state there what you have done so far (just like you did in the CV but you analyze them here more), you try to convince the educational institute or the company that you are the ideal candidate and that it will be an asset to hire you (job) or accept you (further studies). (London Metropolitan University)

When it comes the time that you will be accepted for a job interview it is important that you have a copy of what you have written in the CV and in Cover Letter because mistakes happen and you can't be sure that the company won't have any problem finding them[CV and Cover Letter]. (London Metropolitan University)

Apart from sending a CV and a Cover Letter there is also and an online application form. In this form the job prospect can enter information in the fields that are stated and can also attach a CV and a Cover Letter along with it and then proceed to the sending of the online application. (London Metropolitan University)

This week's lecture was interesting as we could learn more about CVs and Cover Letters and this is something that we will use and in the near future.