Guiding adult learners to create a CV and cover letter in English (2)

One important step and probably the first one leading to a job interview is a CV and cover letter (which can also be called Letter of Application.) How can you guide your learners in this key mission? Let’s start with the CV development and then how to compose a Letter of Application.

A career is one of the most important parts of life. The ability to speak English with fluency can help your students land a job or have career growth opportunities in different levels. The pandemic has already dramatically changed the way many jobs are done, and employers are now planning how best to extract benefits from those changes as they prepare for business after the pandemic subsides. There’s a need to regularly reassess our abilities and how they need to be adapted for our current and still challenging context.

I have been conducting workshop sessions to guide the adult learners how to work on the combination CV + cover letter in English and how to get better prepared to face what has become ever more standard, especially in the new configuration post lockdown measures. I invite you to read this article where I share how to prepare a student of English to create a competitive CV and cover letter.

We have all learned and found alternative ways to work from home in a number of jobs and this has brought the understanding that a career (or side job) to a company overseas is a feasible possibility as long as the applicant is fluent in the communication language, which in the vast majority of cases is English.

Tips for creating a CV

In order to have competitive chances of reaching out to a prospective employer or its hiring manager or Human Resources team, having a CV and cover letter in English is the first step to stand out. The National Career Service UK explains the rationale to have a CV ready as follows:

A CV is a short, written summary of your skills, achievements and experience which relate to a role you want. You use it in the first stage of applying for jobs.
National careers service Uk

The STAR method can help you have clear insights of what to prioritize and share both in the job interview and in the CV development. It stands for :

Situation

Task

Action

Result

To understand how it works, here’s a demonstration which can be found on the National Careers Service website:

Example 1

➡️Tell me about a time when you have shown leadership skills.

Situation – in my previous digital marketing job, the company wanted to get more people to sign up to a newsletter which was not receiving a lot of attention.

Task – my job was to find a way of getting more people to sign up.

Action – I organised a meeting with other important members of the marketing team to come up with creative ideas, and I led the social media campaign to generate interest in the revamped newsletter.

Result – over a period of 3 months, there was an 25% increase in sign-ups to the newsletter and the approach I took was used by the management team in other departments.

The international scholarships programme, Chevening, also recommends using the STAR approach to elaborate the reasons when writing the letter of application.

Currently, regardless of the country, one of the key guidelines to create a CV has to do with keeping it compact, straight to the point.

Here are important steps to guide our students when writing their CV/resume in English:

☑️Start with a short summary of who you are and why you’re the right person for the job. In general, most employers want a concise resume without a lot of extraneous information.

☑️Emphasize accomplishments over responsibilities.

☑️Make sure everything you include in your resume is relevant to the position you are applying for

☑️When reading the job description, pay attention to the statements that correspond most closely to the requirements for that particular position.

Here’s a model students can refer to when creating the draft of their CV / Resumè in English.

Cover letter

Along with the CV it is expected that applicants should attach a cover letter (Letter of Application or Covering Letter).

A cover letter introduces you to an employer and asks them to think about your application. It is the suitable place to demonstrate your interest in the role and in the company, as well as explain your key job experiences which will be relevant for the position you are applying for.

One of the main aims is to establish a personal connection to the organization. As it complements the resumè, chances are it may increase one’s chances of landing an interview.

It’s possible to find many models of covering letters online. Below I’ve prepared a checklist based on the common traits to write an efficient cover letter.

Cover Letter checklist

✔️Who are you addressing the letter of application to?

✔️Provide details of the responsibilities during time you worked / have worked in your previous / present position – back up what you mention with facts.

✔️State that your expertise acquired along the years can be valuable to the prospective company’s goals.

✔️Use bullet points to mention your major accomplishments (the STAR method mentioned above can help you organise that).

✔️Thank the employer for considering your application. Let them know that they can get more details from your CV, and tell them you’re looking forward to hearing from them.

✔️Conclude the letter stating your confidence in your ability to add to the company’s team.

✔️Make yourself available to have a conversation in-person and/or online.

✔️End with ‘Yours sincerely’ and your name (you can also add your digital signature).

According to an article in BBC Worklife, experts say that there’s never been a more important time to include a solid cover letter with your application. It can indicate that you are taking it seriously as you are putting in some effort and care about the role you are applying for.

Teacher colleagues, this is a very relevant theme for Intermediate onwards students of English as a foreign language. Most adult learners look forward to this class or special course where they can elaborate a CV and cover letter in English, as they dream of landing a better job opportunity in life and this is probably the major reason that motivates them to take up English classes.

I can tell you from experience that the students renew their confidence in themselves and in their decision to commit to studying the English language. Along with teaching the language, we encourage them to progress, find opportunities that are fulfilling and which take them closer to making some dreams come true.

Read the first part of Raquel’s series of blogs about preparing adult learners for a job interview.