Career Guidance

A COMPLETE TIPS ON

CAREER
GUIDANCE

ALLYOU NEEDTO KNOW FORYOUR FUTURE
CAREER

Brought to you by:

COQ CAREER GUIDANCE 2 (MPU 3412)
JULY-DEC 2020

COVER LETTER
&

COVER EMAIL

COVER LETTER

THE PURPOSE OF COVER LETTER.

Introduce yourself

Finish with a call Mention the job
to action

Encourage the Show skills and
reader to read experience
your resume needed

HOW LONG SHOULD A COVER
LETTER BE?

Keep it short. A cover letter ismeant
to be a summary of your resume, so

don’t write more than one page.

MATCHING YOUR COVER LETTER
TO THE JOB.

Find out who to • Try not to address your letter ‘To whom it may concern’.
address it to • Find out the name of the person who will read your application.

Find out more • Find out who to address your application to, you could also try to contact that person
about the job so you can ask questions.
• Does this job involve working as part of a team
• Who would I be reporting to if I got the job
• Can you tell me more about the kind of person you’re looking for?
• Is there a position description I can look at?

Find out more • Look for information online.
about the company

WHAT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR COVER
LETTER?

Your name and contact details
• Put your name and contact details at the top of your cover letter.
• Include email and phone number.
Their name and contact details
•The name of the person you’re writing to
•Their position or the name of their company
•Their contact details
The name of the job you’re going for
• State which job you’re applying at the start of your cover letter.
A list of your relevant skills.
• List essentials and desirable skills and experiences.
A summary of why you’re right for the job

Speak their language
•If there’s a tool or software or skill the job requires.

Ask them to contact you.

WHAT YOU SHOULDN’T INCLUDE
IN YOUR COVER LETTER?

Typos or Including your Using ‘I’ too
mistakes. whole resume in much.
your cover letter.
Don’t mention
your other job
applications.

COVER EMAIL

FORMAT

Write a subject line that includes the position you are applying for.
Address the company contact’s name in the salutation.
Clearly state what you are hoping to accomplish in the first few sentences.
Summarize your strengths, skills and experience by connecting them to the job opportunity.
Use a font that’s easy to read.
Avoid typos in your message by proofreading.
Include a signature with your contact information.
Always send a .pdf file rather than a word doc or other format.

DO’S

Mention the title of the position you are applying for in the subject line and body of your email.
Explain where you found the job posting or how you heard bout the position.
Conclude with a subtle call to action to remind the hiring manager of the action you’d like them to take, such
as,“I look forward to hearing from you”.
List your full name and contact information in your email signature block (not just on your resume attachment.
If applicable, quickly explain any questions that your resume may raise. For example, if you are from out of town
but planning to move close to the job location or you have neem at your current position for only a short time.

DON’TS

Don’t start cover letter with your name. Instead, introduce yourself in the letter with a
relevant qualification and connect it to the position.
Keep your cover letter concise. Just like your resume, keep your document to just one page
to entice hiring managers instead of overwhelming them.
Avoid any spelling or grammar errors in your document.The smallest typo can ruin your
chances at the job.
Don’t address the wrong company name or the wrong company contact’s name.This could
be seen as awful cover letter etiquette and indicate you are not attentive to details.
Don’t ever include your salary requirements unless otherwise directed by the potential
employer.

• What is CV and What is Resume ?

• How it is importance in career
development ?

What is CV ?

CV ( Curriculum Vitae, which means course of life in Latin )

• Chronological Resume
• Is an in-depth document that can be laid out over two or morepages.
• Contains a high level of detail about a person achievements.
• The document tends to be organized chronologically.

What is Resume ?

• Functional Resume
• A resume, is a concise document.
• The goal of resume is to make an individual stand out from the competition.
• Job seeker should adapt the resume to every position they apply for
• Doesn’t have to be ordered chronologically

How to write a CV ?

Several steps a person can take to ensure an effective CV :-

• Contact information
• Academy history
• Professional experience
• Qualifications and skills
• Award and honors
• Publications
• Professional associations
• Grants and fellowships
• Licences and certificates
• Volunteer work
• Personal information (optional)
• Hobbies and interests (optional)

For a simple CV :-

• Include your contact information.
• Detail your academic history in reverse-chronological order.
• Record your professional experiences.
• Include relevant skills qualifications.
• List honors and awards.
• Include relevant publications and presentations
• List you professional associations and affiliations

How to write a resume ?

Simple Resume

• Contact information
• Resume profile
• Work experience
• Educational on a resume
• Resume skills

Consider adding one of these resume nice-to-haves:

• Certification and licenses
• Resume languages
• Awards and honors
• Volunteer work

Differences between CV and Resume

How it is importance in career

development?

Resume :-

• A resume is an important tool for your job search because it offers
a page or two where you can display your top skills and qualities.

• Think of a resume as a tool for marketing yourself. It’s more than
just a document.

• It outlines your background,your skills,and your education so that
a potential employer is quickly and easily able to see how your
individual experiences can contribute to a company’s success.

Curriculum Vitae(CV)

• A completed CV aims to impress recruiters and is sent as a
application to jobs adverts or as a speculative approach to
prospective companies.

• While a resume is very concise – no more than a page or two – a CV
is a more detailed account of your experience and skills, and can be
longer.

• CV are valuable and important because they are your first and maybe
only direct communication with a potential employer. Presentation
is the key.

PROPER GUIDE ON DO’S AND
DONT’S FOR RESUME WRITING

DO’S OF RESUME WRITING

• Keep It Simple
• Ideal length is one or two pages the term short and sweet .
• The goal here is to give relevant experience that is concise and to the point.
• Remember to add the following when writing resume:
• Contact information , Summary section ,Professional experience (job titles and length),
Education and certifications ,Skills and accomplishments and References .

• Get the Proper Formatting
• Paying attention to the resume format is just as important. Things to consider here are:
• Font and Size – Avoid fonts, sizes, and text effects that would make a text difficult to read.
• Page Margins – don’t want there to be excessive white space on the resume.This will reduce the amount
of space for other information.

DO’S OF RESUME WRITING

• Do Highlight Most Relevant Experiences

• Show all the skills that one’s have acquired throughout career or education
preferably related to the position that one’s seeking.

• Includes up to 10 years experience of relevant professional experiences if any.
• Put career level or working experiences starting from entry level, working

achievements and promotions or advancements.

• Do Include Soft Skills

• Put 3 top soft skills with the skills’ preferences or requirement in the job posting.
• Keep it simple and short.
• Each bullets should summarize example of a time when the skills highlighted can be

demonstrated.

DONT’S OF RESUME WRITING

• Don’t Use Clichés or Jargon

• Avoid the use of cliché descriptions such as hard worker, team player or detail-
oriented on resumes.Rather use words such as achieved,improved,trained,created,
etc.

• One should be careful about aviation industry or role-specific jargon that are used. In
many companies, before reaching the hiring manager, the resume will past through the
HR first.

• Don’t Forget to Proofread and Ask For Feedback

o Always proofread the resume for spelling, content, and grammar.
o Let other people such as family, friends or associates read the resume and take note

on the feedback about any additional improvements that might be necessary.

CUSTOMIZING CV IS REALLY
IMPORTANT.

INTRODUCTION • HOWTO MAKE SURETHAT OUR
CV IS GOOD ?
• DIDYOU KNOW?!
It takes 6-7 seconds for a recruiter to - flawless formatting with zero mistakes.
decide, whether your CV good orbad.
- personalize CV according to the job
apply

WHY CUSTOMIZING CV IS IMPORTANT ?

• can be instrumental in influencing an employer’s decision.
• Don’t give the command cv !
• employers can easily extract the general details out of your CV.
• give the details the employers are actually looking for.
• Address the specific requirements mentioned.

HOW TO PERSONALIZEYOUR CV?

• not an easy task to put one’s professional life in a couple of pages
• Good formatting,perfect grammar,crisp writing are the most important points
• need to develop a strategy before write cv.

LOOK OUT FOR KEYWORDS & PHRASES

• Review job description carefully
• Make a list of all the terms and put a checkmark next to all the word.

ADD RELEVANT CONTENT

• Delete everything that is not related to the job.
• Include skills and experiences that are related to the current job.

USE APPROPRIATE VERBS

• Proper usage of right verbs can do wonders in your CV.
• Your verbs should speak what the recruiter wants to read

 Example:if a job description requires‘team player’,use verbs such as
collaborated,worked with,merged,developed etc.

 Similar with‘a leader’,use verbs like facilitated,managed,supervised and
influenced.

AVOID EXAGGERATING

• If you are under-qualified for a job, do not exaggerate on your CV.
• What you should do instead is:

• Highlight what you have to offer
• Pay close attention to technical skills and experience
• Be proactive in learning new things and adding them to

your resume
• Use your value proposition
• Network with the right person

INTERVIEW

WHAT IS INTERVIEW?

• When split the word ‘interview’ get two words, ‘inter’ and ‘view’.
• This roughly translates to ‘between view’ or seeing each other. This

means that both the groups involved in an interview get to know about
one another.

• An interview definition can be crafted as a gentle conversation

between two people or more where questions are asked to a person to
get the required responses or answers.

TYPES OF
INTERVIEW

1. ONE-ON-ONE / FACE TO FACE
INTERVIEW

• Is a face to face two way communication between the interviewer and

the respondents.

• The personal interview is carried out in a planned manner and is

referred to as ‘structured interview”.

• Can be done in many forms such as door to door and a planned formal

executive meeting

2. TELEPHONE INTERVIEW

• Is collected information from the respondent by asking him / her

questions on the phone

• Is an interview for employment conducted on the phone
• Often used to screen candidates in order to narrow the pool of

applicants who will be invited for in-person interviews

3. VIDEO CONFERENCE INTERVIEW

• A Video Interview is a face-to-face meeting that occurs with the
participants in different locations.

• Video Interviews facilitate the need to quickly and easily
interview remotely-based job candidates without the expense
and time needed to travel.

• Video Interviews can also support panel conference-style
meetings that bridge multiple participants together.

• A video conference interview allows a hiring manager or
recruiter to use a video conference call to conduct a long
distance, face-to-face interview with a job seeker.

4. GROUP INTERVIEW

 A group interview consists of a single interviewer interviewing
multiple candidates at the same time.

 Group interviews are most common in industries like food
service, hospitality and retail.

 A group interview is when an employee or team of employees
interviews multiple candidates at the same time.

 Generally, employers perform both types of group interviews
in conference rooms to simulate a meeting or team project.

5. Panel interview

■ a conversation with two or more members of a hiring team.
■ The panel might include your potential supervisor, a human resources

representative or other decision makers.
■ In a panel interview, each member has an opportunity to ask you

questions about your experience, qualifications and goals

6. COMPETENCY BASED INTERVIEW

•Competency-based interviews are designed to test one or more skills or
competencies.

•The interviewer has a list of set questions, each focusing on a specific
skill, and your answers will be compared against pre-determined
criteria and marked accordingly.

7. THE LUNCH INTERVIEW

■ A lunch interview is just what it sounds like, an interview that occurs
during lunch. Managers often choose lunch interviews when they are
particularly busy and need to find time to fit the interview into their
schedule.

■ The purpose of the lunch interview is to see how you interact in
everyday conversation with the team, especially if the job is client-
facing and meetings are often taken over lunch. It's OK to let your
personality shine, they actually want to see that and it is part of what
separates you from the competition.

8. THE ASSESMENT DAY

• Assessment “days” can be used to assess larger groups of
interviewees at the same time, for a range of different skills.

• Common amongst graduate employers, they are a great way to
evaluate candidates in more detail, for a longer period of time.

• If you’re interviewing a large group and your offices are only small,
it’s a good idea to seek out a local assessment centre to host the
day for you.

PREPARATION BEFORE
THE INTERVIEW

Preparation

■ Read and review the job description
■ Plan your journey to the job interview
■ Research the company
■ How to prepare for a phone or video interview
■ What to wear to a job interview
■ How to act in an interview

Read and review the job description

You’ve received a call for that dream job, so how do you prepare for the interview? The
first step in the preparation process should be to go back and review the job
description. Most job descriptions follow a similar pattern and are usually categorised
by the following points:

■ Job title/Department

■ Duties and tasks

■ Skills required

The job title and department will give you an understanding of the major purpose of the
position and where the role fits into the organisation, allowing you to discover who your
potential line manager could be.

Read and review the job description very thoroughly and be sure to align your
competencies with the skills required for the job. You will consequently ready yourself
for questions around your previous experiences, performing similar duties in other
organisations.

Research the company

Organisations look to hire people with similar values to those of the company culture.
Researching the company before an interview will give you an insight into the
organisation's future goals and plans and being able to discuss these points will make
you seem like a long-term investment to your future employer. The following interview
preparation tips will give you a guide as to which aspect of the company should be
researched:

■ Company financials: Check the company website. Doing a Google search can also
uncover the current state of the company. Have they gone through a merger? - or
have they expanded recently? LinkedIn is also a good source of information.

■ Culture: Look at LinkedIn and Facebook or check Google reviews for comments by
current or former employees.

■ Executive team: Look through the company website to research the company
hierarchy and find out who the executives are.

■ Competitors: Find out who the company’s main competitors are and look into the
websites of organisations in the same industry.

What to wear to a job interview

The most important part of a job interview is the beginning. That’s when you
have an opportunity to make a great impression—or a poor one—on your
interviewer. Some say they know within the first 30 seconds or so whether the
person has a shot at getting hired. One way to give good impression is to dress
nicely.

If you're wondering how to dress for an interview, you're not alone. Wearing the
right clothes to the interview won’t get you the job, but wearing the wrong
clothes will sink any chances of impressing the interviewer.

There is one rule that stands above all: Dress professionally. Wear business
attire appropriate for the role, while still making sure you feel comfortable.

Plan your journey to the job interview

When preparing for a job interview one of the most important things to consider is how you
are going to get there. A failure to plan is a plan to fail. If you are planning on driving to the
interview, make sure you fill your car with fuel the night before. You don’t want to be filling
up on the way dressed in your suit.

Make sure you arrive on time, or better yet, at least 15 minutes early. Ensure this by
knowing the address and if you can, have a trial run a couple of days before. The morning
of the interview, check the traffic reports and have a backup route planned just in case. If
you are travelling by train or bus, make sure you check the weather report the night before
and keep an eye on the public transport websites for any delays. Look out for track works
or traffic conditions that can potentially delay your train or bus trip.

Go to bed early the night before and wake up early to give yourself plenty of time.

How to prepare for a phone or video
interview

In today’s digital world some hiring managers choose to conduct preliminary interviews
by phone. Phone interviews can be challenging as you're not physically in the room with
your interviewer and in some cases, you have to work even harder to stand out.
Take phone interviews seriously. Dressing as you would for any other interview will put
you in the right mindset. Also, sit at a desk or table. It is important to create a setting
similar to as you would be sitting in front of the hiring manager.
As with phone calls, video interviews can be tricky - the good news is, at least during a
video interview, the hiring manager can see you.
Video interviews are a great way to connect and can save both parties the hassle of
travel. Before your video interview make sure your technology is up to date and working.
Take the time to also check that your surroundings are clean and tidy. It may seem
obvious, but in the midst of delivering an answer, it can be easy to forget that you're
sitting in front of a camera.