As well as being the bulk of the information that a recruiter gets about you, the CV and Cover Letter are the recruiters first impression of you, and in their busy work schedule they will not have too much time to mull over everything written every document. It is important that a CV is clear, concise, and provides all the necessary information to show you off whilst not including too much unnecessary info. 

One key piece of advice is to always tailor your CV and Cover Letter to the job description. This is for both when AI and a person are examining your documents, as if it is an AI stage, if it scans the key words it is very likely to put you through to the next stage, and if it is a recruiter, then they will see their skills they are looking for and are more likely to bring you to an interview to discuss them. 

"Tailoring" in this instance essentially means looking at the job description, finding what the role will do and the skills they require you to have to do it, and making these the forefront of your application where you say you have these. It helps to have a document where you have examples of different skills and examples, so you can simply copy and paste these into the CV Skill Section as and when you need. 

Another good example of tailoring a CV is with the company's values, missions and aims. Mentioning these show you care about and have researched the company, making you more likely to get through to the next stage if your values align with theirs. 

A cover letter is a great document to have alongside a CV to really showcase who you are as an individual and why you want to apply to the company. You can show off your knowledge of the company, knowledge of the industry you are applying into, and show why you are the most qualified for the role. As with a CV, you want to write it assuming that the recruiter will not have ages to read it. Make sure your key points stand out and that there is a logical flow to the paragraphs. 

Good paragraphs to include are:

• A brief introduction with your course and your role you are applying for.

• A paragraph explaining your skills, your societies and extra curricular activities (maybe even ones not mentioned in the CV) to show how you have developed skills that are perfect for the role. Use the job description to find the skills they are most looking for and make sure to put these in. 

• Discussing the role and the knowledge required, explaining how you have studied this through your course / explored this through your online experience / explored this through work experience or online qualifications. Also explore your passions / interests and explain how you are interested in the industry you are applying for. 

• After discussing yourself and the role, explore the company. Explain how you want to apply for the company because of their missions, their aims, their values, their culture, and explain why you like these. 

• Conclude by summarising all the aforementioned paragraphs and explaining how this makes you a well rounded individual as well as the ideal candidate for the role. It is important to remain confident while humble, letting your experience speak for you. 

 No matter whether you're applying for your dream job, a short internship, or anything in between, you will be competing with other top students. How are you going to stand out from the crowd? Here we will share some tips on written statements and the use of keywords to help you become more successful when applying for opportunities.

Recruiters will be looking for keywords in your CV and/or written statements.

It might feel like an arduous task to re-write your statement for every opportunity. A good way to manage this effort would be to keep bulk sections of your “master statement” on a separate copy and personalise each application around this.

Let’s look at part of a brief for an internship at The University of Sheffield.

“This project involves collecting student feedback on the services they provide through focus groups and/or interviews with current and prospective students. It aims to explore ways of improving current support services and encourage student engagement.” 

Now let’s pick out the keywords.

“This project involves collecting student feedback on the services they provide through focus groups and/or interviews with current and prospective students. It aims to explore ways of improving current support services and encourage student engagement.”

Here’s an example of how someone might tailor their written statement given the above brief.

“During my time at University, I was a Student Ambassador working in the Economics department. Part of my work revolved around student engagement, collecting student feedback and analysing data to suggest improvements to services offered. This included interviewing students in focus groups, expanding on their comments to explore ways of improving Economics support services for current and prospective students.”

Some companies (especially larger employers) will use an automated recruitment system. This system will specifically scan applications for keywords. This simple yet highly effective keyword matching technique will get you noticed and increase your success rate in applications. 

More information on Applicant Tracking Systems and support around making good quality applications can be found on our Careers Service pages.