Covering Letters!

Nix · 11 Sep 2008 at 12:04

Well, I'm now finally at that point in life where I need to start properly looking for work.

I've looking for a general graduate entry level job, and I've stumbled across a few that tickle my fancy. However, as with the level of the job, I obviously need to do a covering letter when I whittle off my CV, which is something I'm unfamiliar with.

I've gone over my CV a lot, so I'm fairly happy with it as of present so now I generally just need to work on the other part. I've read through a few guides on how to write a decent covering letter, and although they're helpful, I'd generally like to know if anyone's got any first-hand experience or even if you're a recruiter yourself -- what is it that really makes a good impression in your eyes?

PESolution · 11 Sep 2008 at 12:32

Just make sure it's very job specific (including your C.V. imo). Nothing wants to look generic. You want to give the impression that you have put a lot of effort into getting the job you are going for, not just in getting a job in the specific field. You can find some pretty good covering letter templates online if you google that can be modified to hell

Good luck!

Peter Diffey · 11 Sep 2008 at 12:40

As said above, find a template online, copy and paste it, then edit it like mad to make it standard to the graduate jobs you are going for.
Then when you send it to separate companies, tailor it to every single job, when you have done a few of these, each time you send it will only take 5 or 10mins to modify it each time.

What type of grad jobs are you going for?

Nix · 11 Sep 2008 at 13:00

That's the rub.

I've just done a degree in Geography, so I'm not technically specialised in anything but I've dabbled in lots; politics, history, writing, psychology, earth science, sociology, to name but a few. Likewise, I've got a lot of experience with computers, so could also fall into an IT job if I was lucky.

Generally, I'd like to get into one of the following: Public Sector/Government, Journalism/Media/Writing, IT, or Environmental.

The majority of jobs I tend to find however are mainly geared towards finance, and cold-calling, which if I'm honest bores the living poo out of me.

I've just spotted a job through MilkRound for an Operations Manager in online services, without the need for a specific degree. I figured that I'll at least apply and see how I get on