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.