Most job-searchers know that a good CV or Resume is an absolute MUST if they want to get an interview for that next position. They may spend weeks compiling what they consider to be an interview-pulling CV, or they may even actually PAY (horror of horrors!) for an expert to write one for them. But the CV or Resume is useless if it doesn’t get read, regardless of how good it is, or how expensive!
While a good CV or Resume is the ‘Sales Brochure’ for the candidate, unless it gets read, or gets its ‘feet through the door’ in retail terms, it is pointless even sending it out.
The job of actually getting the CV or Resume read falls to the ‘humble’ Cover Letter. If the CV is the Sales Brochure, The Cover Letter is actually the Salesperson.
The Cover Letter (if it is even sent – many CV’s arrive without one!) is usually very poorly put together, often almost as an afterthought, and is just as often the actual cause of the CV not being read or, worse, tossed into the circular file. Consider the following:
Typically today, there are between 350 and 500 applications for the majority of ‘white collar’, management or professional vacancies. It is a massive ‘funnel’ that all of the applications, telephone calls, CV’s or Resumes, Covering Letters etc drop into. A tiny number, usually a maximum of 4 or 5, emerge from the narrow neck feed at the bottom. Without a strong, compelling and relevant Cover Letter, your CV will not even make the funnel.
Today’s fiercely competitive marketplace separates the very good CV from the excellent, and only the best of the ‘excellent’ category gets past the initial sift for a second look. The final filter will narrow these excellent 4 or 5 CV’s or Resumes down to the exceptional 2 or 3 that are subsequently called to interview. Remember, none of the individuals depicted in the CV’s or Resumes are known by the selectors at this stage. The ONLY filter or criterion applied is the strength of the CV/Resume and Covering Letter, and it is these crucial documents that secure the interview for you.
Many of our clients, when they have actually presented themselves for interview, have expressed surprise to discover that the number of competitors finally selected is so small. Very simply, this is because in every industry and sphere of employment today, management time is at a premium. Gone are the days when 20 people would be called for the initial interview – the process is just too expensive in terms of time and resources.
For this reason it is now even more important than ever that your CV/Resume and Covering Letter are incredibly powerful and focussed. We are biased, of course, but we would always leave the construction of such critical career tools to a professional . If you haven’t already looked at it, I would commend to you the FAQ page on our website for further detail:
(http://www.top-pro-cvs.com/faq.html)
The only other reason people try to do the job themselves is cost, and sadly, it is this cost factor that also leads people to buy an inferior product. Let me ask you a couple of rhetorical questions:
a. If you needed a life-saving operation, would you select a surgeon on the basis of cost?
b. If you needed legal counsel, would you select a lawyer or barrister on the basis of cost?
Perhaps the second question could elicit a varied response, dependent on the circumstances, but even in this instance most people would select the best legal counsel they could afford. They certainly would not engage a lawyer because he or she were cheaper, in fact the reverse is probably true – if they were cheap you would avoid them.
Why?
Because you would suspect (correctly) that the quality of service and advice would probably be inferior. Everybody knows that invariably in life one gets what one pays for.
Whether one is buying a pair of shoes or a new car, this is true, isn’t it?
Top Professional Resumes / Top Pro CV’s provide a Cover Letter as part of its package of resources when a candidate buys a CV from us. Most professional CV writing services make an extra charge of up to £25 (US$50) for this. Top Pro includes it as standard because we know it is incredibly important that ALL the documents presented to a potential employer demonstrate consistency of format and appearance. We also know from experience that left to their own devices, a client can completely negate the strength of the CV by submitting a weak Cover Letter. We want our clients to succeed – to do the job once.
The Cover Letter needs to be brief (1 page maximum) and very tightly bound ONLY to the advertised skills and attributes required by the target employer. It takes some considerable skill to match the top 3 or 4 points the employer is looking for, and still write the letter in such a compelling style that it engages the reader and convinces them to want to know more. It really is ‘Salesmanship In Print’. It is also important to include essential elements such as contact details, ad reference etc and construct it in a simple and businesslike format. You can download a very simple but effective FREE pdf template from:
http://www.top-pro-cvs.com/Downloads/CVLTemplate.pdf
Want some more information on writing as great CV or resume? Why not send your existing CV for a FREE written review? Find out what’s good and what’s bad in your present CV and how to fix it! Email a copy to review@top-pro-cvs.com, or fax to +44 (if outside the UK) (0)7813 125606.
Stephen Thompson is an HR Professional and the Managing Director of Top Professional Resumes (TPR), a UK company which specializes in Resume and CV Writing Services, Career Guidance and Interview Preparation. Its Clients are mainly drawn from the professions (accountants, lawyers, engineers, teachers, board-level directors etc.).
Top Professional Resumes currently has a very diverse range of occupations represented among its client base, from a TV and film cameraman (who lists his referees as Lord Richard Attenborough, Sir Michael Caine and Sir Sean Connery), to a Senior Manager working in the Office of The Deputy Prime Minister, and recent graduates in Law, Economics and Aeronautical Engineering.
TPR also caters for the more ‘regular’ occupations such as IT and Network Support Specialists, Project Managers, Graphic Designers, Care and Voluntary Workers, Pub Landlords and Licensees.
TPR has been around for a little over ten years but has only comparatively recently moved online (in February of 2005), launching a comprehensive website at http://www.top-pro-cvs.com to market its services on the internet.
Top Professional Resumes and Top-Pro-CVs.com are members of Career Directors International (CDI http://www.careerdirectors.com), the globally-renowned organization for the training and certification of career professionals and advisers, formerly the Professional Resume Writing and Research Association (PRWRA).
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