Cover Letter

AdamEFC · January 30, 2014

I am looking to do a years placement for my third year of uni next year (studying Quantity Surveying) and have been applying for a few jobs online which only required me filling out an online application. However some more jobs are available that require a CV and a Cover Letter. I am ok with my Cv but I was just wondering if someone could help me and give me a few tips on what to write in the Cover Letter.

Woolly Blue · January 30, 2014

You need to talk about what in your CV makes you suited to the company you're applying to. Do a bit of research and find out exactly what the company does. If it's website seems particularly keen on one area then plug that in your covering letter. Any skills you have, however tenous they might seem, use the covering letter to push them to the fore.

To some extent it depends on who your letter is going to. If it's going to a HR dept then it needs to stand out to get past their tick boxes. If it's going to an individual that you're likely to be working for, then try and make it a bit more personal. Also, look them up on linkedin and see where their interests are.

Don't forget to tell them you're an Evertonian. That would swing it for me (y)

AdamEFC · January 30, 2014

Woolly Blue said:
You need to talk about what in your CV makes you suited to the company you're applying to. Do a bit of research and find out exactly what the company does. If it's website seems particularly keen on one area then plug that in your covering letter. Any skills you have, however tenous they might seem, use the covering letter to push them to the fore.

To some extent it depends on who your letter is going to. If it's going to a HR dept then it needs to stand out to get past their tick boxes. If it's going to an individual that you're likely to be working for, then try and make it a bit more personal. Also, look them up on linkedin and see where their interests are.

Don't forget to tell them you're an Evertonian. That would swing it for me

Thanks mate.

Minimeister · January 30, 2014

You need to put your highlights in the cover letter mate but keep it brief. What you're doing at the moment, what you're hoping to do in the future and what qualities you can bring. Good luck.

geofft · January 31, 2014

You say you're OK with the CV. I'm an employer & I see lots of CVs that have spelling and/or grammatical errors, are poorly laid out or don't focus on the role being applied for. They go straight in the bin so just check again that your CV is as good as it can be. Some recruiters use software to check for 'buzz' words in a CV so make sure that your CV includes the key words from the job advert.
As regards covering letter, as Wooly says, this is your opportunity to highlight how your knowledge, skills & experience match the requirements of the role. Don't just copy bits from your CV but refer to what you've done (dates help) & point out how this is relevant to the role.
Do you have a Linkedin account? If not get yourself one & 'follow' the company you are applying to, that way you'll be aware of recent developments in their business. If you get an interview then 'connect' to the people that you meet AFTER you've met them - it suggests that you found them interesting!
Good luck

ijjysmith · January 31, 2014

In all my experience of interviewing candidates I've never once read the covering letter.

Colleagues say the same.

Don't put too much thought into it as it's the least important part.

BlueThai · January 31, 2014

Doesn't the uni find you a placement from their contacts in the industry?

Mine did when I did my QS course, 30 odd years ago mind.

Jags..class · January 31, 2014

BlueThai said:
Doesn't the uni find you a placement from their contacts in the industry?

Mine did when I did my QS course, 30 odd years ago mind.

We had to find our own placements, this was 2 years ago and was unsuccessful and went straight onto my final year, I chose to work for nothing to help my CV, 8 months later I landed my dream job.

Jacko93 · January 31, 2014

This is my covering letter. I'd tailor this for a job, adding in words from a specific advert, making sure it's up to date etc.

On leaving school in 1998, I started work for Haden Young with immediate effect on an apprenticeship for Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. It was through this position that I found my skills within the Computer Aided Design Dept, headed by Philip Holland. I have been an integral member of the same successful team now since 2000, working on many large and prestigious contracts, including City of Manchester Stadium, both Commonwealth and Football Stadia usage, Liverpool Arena and Convention Centre, Hope and Tameside hospitals among many others of similar sizes.

The business has changed immensely during my time here and I have successfully adapted to the differing situations and visions, heading up the Warrington CAD dept efforts for a modular approach to installation, using previously unused techniques to solve problems and ease usage for other users in the future. Many of these ideas were rolled out nationwide throughout the business. I worked closely with the modular facility to ensure smooth operations at all areas of my involvement.

During my time here I have been proactive in learning software to benefit the business as a whole and my colleagues around me, spending my own time learning new and previously untried programs to ease processes and improve tender presentations. These included software such as, the newly released at the time AutoCAD MEP, new to the Haden Young business Cadduct and Autodesk Navisworks for rendered 3D material. I had close contact with members of the U.S Autodesk marketing team with a view to tailor their product around the U.K business markets, while ensuring that our needs as a business were met first and on the whole.

The company I am now employed by is Balfour Beatty Engineering Services, created in 2009 by the merger of the U.K's two largest building services contractors, Haden Young and Balfour Kilpatrick

Specialties:
Autodesk Revit MEP
AutoCAD MEP 2006 -2013 incl.
MAP Cadmep (formerly Cadduct)
Autodesk Navisworks

AdamEFC · January 31, 2014

Nice one for the help.

ToffeeMark · January 31, 2014

I never see a covering letter, just piles of crappy CV's 5-10 pages long.

Just tailor the CV and the letter to the company and role your applying for, if it's a different letter/cv everytime then thats what you gotta do.

And research the company, it is a defo NO when they don't know what we do, what issues we might be facing and competitors etc.