- Hey everyone, this video will be divided into two parts.
The first part will be covering how to write your resume,
and the second part will be how to write your cover letter.
And so what I'm going to do is make sure
that I give you timestamps just down below
so that you can click through to certain sections
if you find them to be more relevant for you.
Or if you have watched this video
and you wanted to come back again to just
re-watch certain parts, and take up the advice
that I have for you, then those timestamps
will be readibly, bleh, readibly?
Readily available for you.
I've been hiring tutors for Lisa's Study Guides
for four years now, and over that time
I've seen the good, I've seen the bad,
and I've seen the absolute terrible.
So, I'm gonna share with you the tips now
on how you can make a killer resume and cover letter.
Number one is to think about what you're
actually going to put into your resume.
Don't just brain dump everything onto the piece of paper,
with all your accomplishments,
and everything that you've done throughout your entire life.
A resume should be something that is placed on a pedestal.
Something where you only want your finest experiences
and accomplishments to make a statement upon.
So which experiences should you include in your resume?
Let's say if you're going for a swim teacher position,
you'd potentially throw in all your sports experience.
This does two things.
The first is it shows the hiring manager
that you love sports, and you're interested in it.
And secondly, as a result, that there's
a genuine interest there, and a genuine reason
why you're applying for this role.
Let's say you're applying for that swim teacher position
but instead you're throwing in all the poetry competitions
that you've won, or all the ones that you've entered in.
That one doesn't seem to be quite as aligned
with the role that you're applying for.
So, that's how you can really think about,
what should I add in and what shouldn't I?
What's going to work well in my resume
and my representation of myself
for this particular role that I'm applying for?
Of course, winning a poetry competition
is still bloody awesome, and you can definitely
include that somewhere in your resume.
But it'd be more of just a reference
rather than something that really makes a statement.
I know that because a lot of you in my audience
are either in high school or have just
graduated high school, so you might not have
that many pieces of experience
under your belt, or jobs that you've done.
But, hopefully you've done placements before.
And if not, you've done volunteering work,
or maybe you've helped our your parents,
or your aunt and uncle at their business.
You can always include those in your resume.
Use clean and clear font.
There's nothing wrong with using the boring old Arial.
It's boring but it works a gem.
The exception for this is anybody
who is applying for an industry
where there's design requirements.
For example if you're an illustrator,
or if you're in UX and UI design.
In this case, the general rule is that
you're welcome to dress up your resume
if it showcases some of your design skills.
But, if you're unsure, I'd heed on the side of caution.
There's nothing wrong with a sharp and simple CV.
In fact, often it's a breath of fresh air
for hiring managers.
For all of this, you can simply use a Word document.
There's no requirement to use any fancy apps or websites.
But if you prefer to head down that route, then go for it.
I quite like Canva for design purposes,
if you're applying for a more creative role.
It's not strictly a CV writing app,
but they do have templates you can adopt and edit.
It's super easy because everything is already
formatted for you.
The great thing is that Canva is free to use
with in-app purchases if you wanted to use them.
But there's actually nothing wrong
with having a look, and then going to copy it
in your own document.
If you're a little bit more talented
with the creative side of things,
then you could always use Adobe InDesign or Photoshop.
Bear in mind that hiring managers
read heaps of resumes, and yours is just another one
they're going to skim through.
The probability of them actually reading your resume
in detail is very, very low
so one point of view is that you should stick
to the traditional structure of a resume,
rather than trying a funky format,
like this timeline resume.
Unless of course you're applying for a design industry,
which we've previously mentioned.
It'll help the hiring manager to flow through
rather than forcing them to work harder
to process your info.
Use headings for sections in your CV.
When you're in a Word document, you can just go
to Headings for consistency.
There's H one, H two, H three, and so forth.
First, have your name, address,
contact details like mobile and email
for easy contact at the top of your resume.
If you still have babygirlxx2 as your email,
definitely sign up for a more professional email.
The standard method is to include your full name,
and if you're like me and you have a very generic name,
Lisa Tran, and you don't have a middle name,
then you could always make up a middle name.
That's what I did and I've used that email ever since.
Next is your personal statement,
also known as your professional profile,
also known as your about me.
In this part, it's an overview of your skills.
Keep it short and a photo is not necessary.
Basically it's just a snapshot of who you are
and what skills you have to offer.
Next is your work experience listed in reverse
chronological order, from most recent to oldest.
The reason why this works well is because
generally the role that you've just been in
is probably gonna be more aligned
with the role that you're applying now,
rather than the role you had when you were 16
at McDonald's maybe.
Have a date from when you started to when you finished,
and if you're still there, just write present.
Have your role, the company's name,
and instead of writing down your duties,
write down your achievements.
My boyfriend Josh was talking to me about this.
- One thing that you definitely should think about
is benefits versus features.
Let's say I'm selling you a phone.
I'm saying stuff like, oh I've got 18 megapixels,
I've got this amount of RAM.
It sounds all cool, but it doesn't actually mean
anything to people.
On the flip side if you say this phone
takes amazing photos, it can store thousands of photos,
it's like a more tangible outcome.
So when you're writing your resume
you shouldn't just be like, I did this and this,
and this in my previous job.
You should be like, this is how I've benefited
my previous company, or this is how I might
benefit your company.
Make it tangible so they actually understand your value.
- So let's just say you worked as a receptionist
at a doctor's clinic.
Rather than inputting what you do day to day,
such as file documents, use Excel and Word,
try to think about how you benefited the company.
For example, you could write,
reduced patient documentation errors by 50%
by reorganizing how information was filed.
Where possible, try to throw in numbers
because that's what makes things more tangible.
Aim to have more details in your most recent experience
rather than ones that were five, 10 years ago.
We spoke about this just before,
but usually your most recent experiences
use the skills that are required
for this new role that you're going for.
Moving onto core skills.
I like to write core skills instead of just skills,
because skills implies that you only have
the skills that you've just written down there.
Whereas core skills give the impression
that you have much more to offer.
Avoid soft skills like team player or fast learner.
Instead, put down hard facts.
If you're applying to be a personal trainer,
you could write weight training,
fitness programs, individual assessment,
or nutrition advice.
In this section, you can also write down
any languages you can speak.
Education and qualification.
This one's pretty straightforward
so I'll move onto the optional sections.
Here are sections you can include
if it adds value to your resume.
School and uni placements, volunteering roles,
hobbies and interests.
You need to think about these sections
as each individually selling a point about you.
But, don't just include them for the sake of having them.
So looking at hobbies and interests,
avoid saying things like going out with friends,
because this doesn't really assist you in your application.
Rather, go for interests that actually aid your application.
So if you're going for a social media marketing intern,
then potentially what you could write
is how you run an Instagram page.
Or if you're applying for a writing position,
you could talk about how you enjoy reading books,
and how you enter the local writing club
competition every year.
If you're still young and you don't have
much work experience, then these extra sections
will help the interviewer get a better
snapshot of you as a person.
Of course, as you get older,
you might chop and change some of these sections.
Let's say you're 25 and you've got
a lot more work experience under your belt.
You probably don't need the section
where you talk about your work placement in year 10
at a hairdressing salon.
Lastly, your references.
Basically you want to include
up to three people who can put in a good word for you.
You want these people to be credible as well.
So don't include your parents or your best friends,
even though they love you and will say
great things about you.
If you're somebody who hasn't had much work experience,
then potentially you could look into
people you've worked with at work placement,
or I've seen a lot of people applying
for positions in my company write down their teachers,
principals, and sport coaches.
To finish off this part, remember that these sections
that I've suggested are just suggestions.
So it's up to you which ones you want to include
and in which order.
A good way to think about it is the most important sections
come first, towards the least valuable at the very end.
If you're interested in adding other sections,
then feel free to jump onto Google or Canva
to check out what else is available out there.
I find that there are so many different
recommendations out there,
and it can get quite overwhelming.
So if you're happy with what I've recommended here,
I'd just say stick to that.
Two pages of A4 is more than enough.
If it's longer than this, then it'll definitely seem
like you're just dragging it out.
You can always have your resume as one page as well.
As long as it's clear and concise, then you're good.
Now that we've covered your resume,
let's move into your cover letter.
I've always written cover letters
because I believe that this really shows
the hiring manager that you are seriously
considering this role, because you put in
all that extra effort.
It's not like somebody else out there
who's just sending their resumes
out to every single business out there
and just hoping to score a job.
You have specifically looked at this job,
considered it, and written up an entire letter about it.
In theory, this in itself should help you stand out more
compared to the other people who've probably
just passed in their resume, and that's it.
It goes without saying that a cover letter
isn't just something you can write up once
and just give it to every business,
because it's a little bit more tailored than that.
But, I promise you, the extra effort that you put in
in changing things up a little bit
to fit that role you're applying for
is definitely going to be worth it.
You have your name and contact details at the very top.
The name of the person you're writing to.
Name of the company, and their contact detail.
If you can find out who will be reading your application,
then make sure you write their name in the letter.
This is as simple as calling up the business
and just asking, hey, who's the hiring manager?
Or who looks after new hires?
Otherwise, use to who it may concern,
but this shouldn't be your first option.
In this section, you want to talk about
the role that you're applying for,
why you're applying for it, what skills you have to offer,
what you hope to learn in the role,
and at the very end encourage them to contact you.
Have your name at the very end and then your signature.
If you have a star at the end of your signature,
maybe just switch it out to a more adult signature.
Have one page and no more.
You're already taking out the hiring mangers extra time
by sending in a cover letter and a CV.
So make sure you keep it short and concise.
And those are my tips for your cover letter.
Now I have three last tips to tie everything together.
The first is, go and make sure that you proof read
your resume and your cover letter.
You could go to your school careers counselor
just to get them to double-check it.
Otherwise send it through to your teacher,
and if anything chuck it onto Grammarly
and have an edit yourself.
The second point to remember is if you're sending
your resumes, and you're sending them
to a lot of different companies or businesses,
and you're just not getting anyone calling you back,
maybe there's something not quite working
for you in your resume and your cover letter.
They're just not lifting their game.
So, think about continuous improvement.
Perhaps once you've sent your application out
to five businesses, and you're not getting any callbacks,
that's when you should maybe have a look at your resume
and cover letter again, and think about
what you could swap out.
How could you better do things to really
showcase your ability and your skills?
The last tip, and this is what scored me
my first pharmacy job, and I pretty much got it there
right on the spot.
And that's because I went into the store myself
with my resume and cover letter.
I put it in this nice folder to make sure
that I looked sophisticated and professional,
and serious about the fact
that I was applying for this role.
I went into the store and I asked for the manager,
and one of the girls basically led me to the manager
out the back, and I introduced myself.
I said hi, my name's Lisa.
I've just graduated from high school
and I'm currently looking for work.
I'm really interested in working here.
Here's my resume and cover letter.
And I passed it onto her.
Pretty much from there she read it
and then she said, yeah this looks really good.
Let's have you come in for an interview.
Without me taking that extra effort,
going into the store myself, and asking to speak
to the manager, my resume and cover letter
might have just sat on her desk for months,
if not years, and possibly never even looked at.
So, sometimes the simplest things
can make the biggest difference for you.
I hope this video gives you tangible
advice that you can use.
Again, don't forget I've written down timestamps
for you to go back and have a look through things.
I've also created a video based on advice for interviews.
So, once you're at that interview stage,
make sure you check out that video
because I think it'll really help
to push you towards that final goal of scoring your job.
Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you soon.
Bye.
(electronic music)