Slide 1
Employment Workshop for
Adults on The Autistic
Spectrum
Welcome
Slide 2
Session 2:
CVs & COVERING LETTERS
•
•
•
•
•
Slide 3
INTRODUCTIONS
GROUND RULES
DO’S & DONT’S OF CV
WRITING
WRITING A COVERING
LETTER
EVALUATION OF
WORKSHOP
Ground Rules
It may be helpful to write rules
up on a flip chart or on a white
board. Or have a participant
write down the rules onto a
piece of paper. Add the rules to
the ground rule slide at a later
time.
The most important thing is
that the group decide together
what the rules of the group will
be.
Some examples of possible
ground rules:
Mobiles on silent
Confidentiality
Respect
Leave the room if you need to,
always a welcome back
(designate a place to go if they
need to escape in an
emergency for example a quiet
corner in the hallway)
No discrimination based on
gender, race, religion etc.
Slide 4
CV MODULE
Slide 5
Curriculum Vitae (CV)
•
Curriculum Vitae – latin words
meaning “course of life”. In
CV is an abbreviation for America the term resume is
the words Curriculum
widely used instead of CV
Vitae
•
A CV describes a written
(typed) document
outlining an educational
and employment history.
•
The term CV is regularly
used in job vacancy
adverts as a method of
applying for a job.
•
In America the term
resume is widely used
instead of a CV
Slide 6
What do you need to include?
•
•
Personal Contact
Details (name, phone
number(s), email
address)
Personal profile
•
Achievements:education &
qualifications,
awards & memberships
•
Employment &
Voluntary Work
Experience
•
Explain any gaps in your
professional history
(dates where you were
not working or studying.)
If the employer wants to
progress your application it is
important that you make it as
easy as possible for them to
contact you sometimes at short
notice therefore give as many
contact details (checking them
for accuracy) as possible
including a work contact
number (if you are already
working) and this would be
convenient.
Achievements – mention
things you did well in your past
jobs which could be relevant to
the job you are applying for or
if you have achieved
something outside work which
is impressive such as the
“youngest person in Wales to
achieve something or the
highest scoring ……. In the
UK etc etc.
Employment history- only go
back 10 years, if you have
large gaps in employment or
several gaps in employment try
a skills based CV or a CV
without dates completely. If
there is a gap you can say
“actively seeking work”.
Remember to start with your
most recent job first and work
backwards. Work history can
include paid, voluntary, work
experience or placement,
helping out family or friends in
their business.
Character reference should
come from someone who has
known you for at least 5 years.
If you are a young person who
has n’t got much experience
you could put your
qualifications first and work
history second, this is called a
skills CV.
Should be a minimum of 2
pages
Contact details at top of the
page. There is no need to put
Curriculum Vita’s at the top.
Ensure your name is bold and
14 size font. Font size of the
rest of the document should be
12 in a font that is easy to read.
Arial or times new roman are
good ones.
You do not need to include
your address!
The personal profile- use this
to sell yourself, using the job
advert as a guide to match
your skills and abilities to the
employer’s requirements.
Maximum of 5/6 lines.
Slide 7
What you don’t need to
include
•
•
•
In order to prevent perceived or
unperceived discrimination
there is no need to include
Your date of birth,
certain information such as
marital status,
age, disability, marital status,
references or photos
photographs etc.
Disclosing your disability:
Information about your
Disclosing your disability in
family, any issues either your CV is debatable. When to
physical or
disclose is up to the individual.
psychological
Some people choose to be up
front and disclose their
Detailed information
disability in their CV. If you
about previous jobs
choose to do this it is
which have no relevancy recommended that you explain
to your current
how your disability makes you
application.
an exceptional candidate for
this position for example you
would be an excellent
candidate for the job as a data
entry clerk because your
autism gives you a very strong
ability to focus and attention to
details capabilities. Highlight
the positives and be prepared
to discuss accommodations
needed during the interview.
You may consider to disclose
in your profile.
Slide 8
Types of CV
•
Chronological
•
Skills-based
Chronological - outlining your
career history in date order,
normally beginning with the
most recent items (reverse
chronological) . This is the
"conventional" approach and
the easiest to prepare. It is
detailed, comprehensive and
biographical and usually works
well for "traditional" students
with a good all-round mixture of
education and work
experience. Mature students,
however, may not benefit from
this approach, which does
emphasise your age, any
career breaks and work
experience which has little
surface relevance to the posts
you are applying for now.
highly-focused CVs which
relate your skills and abilities to
a specific job or career area by
highlighting these skills and
your major achievements.
The factual, chronological
details of your education and
work history are subordinate.
Skills-based work well for
mature graduates and for
anybody whose degree subject
and work experience is not
directly relevant to their
application. Skills-based CVs
should be closely targeted to a
specific job.
Slide 9
Preparing a CV
•
Use your Personal
Skills Grid from the
last session.
•
Your CV should be
typed not handwritten
•
Companies will produce
a professional CV for
you for a fee
•
Many free CV templates
available on the internet
•
Libraries have access to
computers and the
internet for free. Small
charge for printing a CV
or covering letter.
Can be costly if produced by a
professional company but may
be worth considering if your
own product is not resulting in
any interviews. There are
however many “professional”
CV templates available on the
website which you can use for
free. These will often give you
a professional looking CV
which once you have adapted
to include your own personal
information look no different
from the fee paying type. .
Slide 10
Preparing a CV
Places you can get help:
• National Careers
• Enterprise centres
• Job Clubs
• There is help available
in many local places.
• Many free CV templates
available on the internet
• Libraries have access to
computers and the
internet for free.
• Small charge for printing
a CV or covering letter
Slide 11
Preparing a CV (continued)
•
Restrict length to 2
pages of A4 paper &
use the best quality
paper you can afford if
sending or handing out
your CVs to potential
employers.
•
Tell the truth on your CV
•
Check for spelling
mistakes and
grammatical errors.
•
Get someone you know
to read through it and
get their opinions. They
may see errors or
inconsistencies that you
have missed.
Employers often receive
hundreds of CV’s for each job
vacancy so many are
discarded superficially if they
are not visually pleasing or run
to many pages which will take
time to go through. One or two
A4 pages is considered the
maximum required (unless
specified in the advert). If you
do not tell the truth on your CV
you will be found out when
employers probe further by
asking supplementary
questions based on information
in your CV. This will be a
disqualifying factor whilst if you
tell the truth about something
which you may feel would go
against you quite often the
reverse happens. Even if you
are not found out at the
interview stage and get the job
but have failed to disclose
something which is later
discovered you may well be
dismissed on this basis.
Ensure you check or get
someone to check your CV for
you before you send it out.
Someone else may spot errors
you do not.
Slide 12
Preparing a CV (continued)
•
Try using alternative
layouts to focus on
different areas of
experience or skills
•
Update regularly
•
Ensure when you send
your CV as an
attachment by email you
call it something
memorable with your
name in the title to make
it easier for the recruiter
to be able to identify it
easily.
•
Ensure you have a
professional email
address for them to use
not a quirky or ironic
email for example
funtimebob@hotmail.co
In order to make the CV stand
out and look visually pleasing
you should try different layouts
to see which looks best.
Update your CV regularly so
that if you attend a training
event or gain some additional
experience or qualification it is
included in your CV. Ensure
your email address is
professional and allows the
potential employer to find your
information quickly i.e. have
your name in the email
address. You may wish to
have a specific email address
which you use solely for job
applications.
m
Slide 13
CV Preparation for your first
job
•
After leaving school,
college or university
your CV will mainly
consist of your
educational background,
achievements or awards
you obtained.
•
Don’t forget to include
something that may give
you an advantage in
your job search i.e. any
involvement in a
leadership capacity
within the student union
or support group?
•
Any part time jobs in the
evening or on the
If you have any employment
experience at all include this in
your CV. Although have
undertaken a part time job for
example in the catering
industry or undertaken a paper
round may seem irrelevant
when seeking your first main
job the fact that you have
shown the skills necessary to
be employed ie reliable, and
motivated to get up and be on
time and effective ie delivering
papers to the right addresses
on time, being courteous to
patrons in a retail catering
business environment will
show an employer that you
already have these skills.
This could demonstrate to an
employer certain leadership
skills or achievements which
would be of benefit in the role.
weekend or a paper
round? Did you help
parents with their
business?
Slide 14
What to do with your CV
•
Send (email or post)
CVs & relevant covering
letters for jobs you want
to apply for to the details
listed in job vacancy
advertisements in
newspapers or online.
•
Speculative - Send your
CV (email or post) to
prospective employers
or companies you would
be interested in working
for with an appropriately
worded covering letter.
•
Upload your CV on the
universal job match site
link
https://www.gov.uk/jobs
earch
Involvement in a group or
student union could
demonstrate to an employer
certain leadership skills or
achievements which would be
of benefit in the role. Did you
work in your parent’s shop or
help them with the computer or
book-keeping?
Find out the name (& title) of
the person you should send
them too as this will have more
success than sending out a CV
& covering letter to an
unnamed person. In addition to
the universal job match website
there are many other internet
job sites you could use such as
Indeed, Monster, totaljobs,
jobmanji, careerswales or
Walesonline or recruitment
agencies such as Reed, Acorn
or professional sites such as
linkedin. Follow up after you
have sent out your CV. If you
don’t hear anything back from
them within a reasonable
period of time it would be quite
acceptable to make a phone
call to enquire about your
application.
Slide 15
Time for a quick exercise:
Look at the CV example.
Correct any errors that you see
within the document.
Each participant will need to
have the document titled
“Spoof CV for Exercise” Have
participants make corrections
to any errors presented in the
document. They can work
alone or in groups.
Review the document and
corrections together as a
group.
Here are some of the answers
some are more obvious than
others….
Curriculum Vitae not needed at
the top
Put first name and last name at
the top
CF62 8PX
Either put a land line number or
don’t put anything at all
Format the mobile number
correctly
The email is too personal. Use
a professional one.
“Proflie” Should be in bold
Correct grammar mistakes in
the profile. Take out the word
“most” in the profile. Knows
should be Know.
Take out “ I like” where it says
people I like.
“ Key Skills” needs to be in
bold. The skills listed are
redundant but it would be a
personal choice if you wanted
to keep them there.
Work history section sdoes not
need to be in bold
The work history section needs
to be re-formatted
The way the dates are
formatted should all be the
same.
You need to list the skills for
the Bike repair job
Under Office work job who is
Dave? Do not include names of
people as we don’t know who
they are.
Taks should be tasks
“At home looking after kids
could be re-phrased to give it a
bit more value. For exampleStayed at home to raise
children.
More skills need to be added
under the carpentry job
Training should be in bold and
is spelled incorrectly
This section needs to be
formatted
No personal names
Office work NVQ has no date
Additional information section
is not needed. This could be a
section for Other interests and
hobbies if you wish.
References- you should always
have references and make the
statement “references available
upon request”.
Slide 16
COVERING LETTER MODULE
Slide 17
•
•
•
Slide 18
1st thing an employer sees in a
job application so can impact
Accompanies CV to a
upon their interest and get
potential employers.
them to read your CV. Is also
used in areas when applying
Typed
for places which are limited
and need to make decisions
1st thing an employer
about filtering who is accepted
sees & can impact upon and who is rejected i.e. if
their interest and get
applying for Duke of Edinburgh
them to read your CV.
Award place. For example if a
training establishment or
specific school i.e ballet school
is offering training a number of
places where the vacancies
available are less than the
number of people requiring
them. Should be typed unless
exceptionally the job you are
applying for requires evidence
of good handwriting for the job
and may ask you to complete
by hand.
What is a Covering Letter?
Types of Covering Letter
•
1st - In response to a
job advert
•
2nd - Speculative –
when no job vacancy
exists
•
Format of the Covering
Letter - within certain job
sectors there is a need
for a standard,
conservative style for
sectors, such as
business, law,
accountancy, retail
In response to an advertised
job vacancy in a newspaper,
specialist publication, on a
company’s website or
specialist recruitment website.
This is the most common use
of a covering letter.
Speculative covering letters are
used if you would like to work
for a specific company or in a
specific industry you may wish
to approach them to advise
them of your interest in working
for them, in the event that a
job vacancy will arise, and
give yourself a potential
advantage by having them
already know of your skills and
abilities and interest in working
for them. Depending upon the
circumstances by submitting
your Covering letter and CV in
advance it may save the
company time and money in
advertising and going through
a recruitment process,
although in practice even
though you may be lucky in
being considered when a
vacancy becomes available, it
is usual for the job to be
advertised anyway to offer the
organisation the widest amount
of candidates from which to
select and also to counter
discrimination issues. Also
depending upon the efficiency
of their administration practices
and systems they may have
mislaid or forget about your
speculative application as and
when a vacancy occurs.
Generally therefore it may be
worth doing in addition to
applying for specific vacancies.
Most conservative type
institutions such as the Civil
Service and Financial and
Banking institutions generally
like to see a formal block style
letter (not indented) although
this policy does not seem to be
as essential as it has been in
the past.
Slide 19
Covering Letters - Aim
•
Should be original in the
content to make the
recipient interested.
•
Be creative in your
delivery.
•
Should include
statements that
indicates that you
understand what the job
entails
There is no absolute correct
way to produce a covering
letter although there is general
agreement in its composition
and in practice there is a
certain format to follow in
producing a covering letter.
However there are many
examples on the internet of
instances when somebody has
drafted a Covering Letter which
has been interesting, creative,
original and contains an
individual approach to the
covering letter which has
resulted in them getting an
interview and the job on offer.
It is important however that
regardless of the individual
nature of the letter and the
creativity involved that the
employer is assured from what
you write in the covering letter
that you understand the nature
of the job and the work
required by the successful
candidate. Failure to make this
clear, regardless of how
interesting you make the
Covering Letter may mean that
your CV is discarded.
Slide 20
Covering Letter Aim (cont’d)
•
Should highlight your
main skills relevant to
the specific job on offer.
Slide 21
•
The Cover Letter should
complement the CV
•
Balance - be original
(but don’t be too
outrageous)
Cover Letter Preparation
•
•
•
Your CV should expand on
how your main skills are
relevant to the job you are
applying for. You may have
many, many, other skills but if
they are not relevant to what
the employer is seeking for the
available job they need not be
included in your Covering
Letter. Covering Letters should
complement the CV in terms of
font, paper (if not sending by
email) and style. Balance in the
letter means that there is a
harmonious whole and nothing
is out of proportion or unduly
emphasized at the expense of
the rest.
Your Covering Letter should
wherever possible be
Make it personal,
customised to allow your
focused, customised to
personality traits to come
the job
through in the way in which you
write the text of the letter.
Focus on the specifics
Eliminate waffle and jargon
of the role
words used within an industry
or a locale. Make it specific and
Keep it Brief – One page individual to you and the role
of A4 and four to five
and each Covering Letter
paragraphs
should be customised to the
specific job that you are
applying for. Remember the
recruitment officer may well
receive hundreds of Covering
Letters for each vacancy so
something memorable will
make it stand out from the
others. But it is important that
it stands out for the right
reasons!
Slide 22
Covering Letter – What you
need to
include
•
Contact/Reference/detai
ls
•
Relevant skills for the
job and your knowledge
of the company and that
you really understand
what is required
•
A positive and
professional attitude and
of course that you really
want this job.
Do your research! Find out
about the company you are
submitting your CV to and
show you have that you have
done your research by
including information in your
Covering Letter which
demonstrates this fact. The
Covering Letter should be
addressed to the correct
specific person, with their
correct title and address
(failure to do so will not create
a good impression and may
even fail to get to the right
person in order to be
considered). Use the correct
letter format (see template)
with addresses, any reference
number, date and form of
address:- Dear Mr, Mrs, Ms,
Dr. Professor etc. Use the
correct closure format (this
needs to fit with the form of
opening address format i.e
Dear Mr Mrs Miss should close
with Yours sincerely. If you
use the form Dear Sir or
Madam (& I recommend you
make every attempt to find out
the correct person to address
the Covering Letter to even if
this is a speculative letter
which would mean this format
would not be necessary!) then
you would need to close with
Yours faithfully and NOT Yours
sincerely
Who you are and what job you
are applying for with any
reference number specified.
Begin with a clear
understanding of the job you
are applying for and where you
heard about it ie newspaper or
website. If you have the name
of a direct contact or referral,
this is the place to mention it.
Dropping a familiar name is an
effective way of catching
someone’s eye.
In paragraphs two (and three if
needed) outline key aspects of
the job and make comparisons
with skills and experience you
have. For example “ I see that
this role demands the ability to
reduce costs. As commercial
manager at ………… I made
real savings of almost 20%
(£100,000) in my first full year”.
Ensure you focus on the most
important aspects of the role
and you relate them directly to
recent and relevant
experience. Remember,
although this is your individual
application for the job, do not
attempt to write and application
letter directly from the job
advert.
In the next paragraph add any
supporting information you feel
is necessary, such as applied
aspects of the role or any
additional skills you can bring
over and above the job
specification.
Ensure that your tone is
confident and positive but don’t
overdo it otherwise you may
come across as arrogant or
pushy. You’re trying to get an
interview, so you want to come
across as a personable
individual.
Try to find out the name of the
person responsible for
recruiting the role. Some key
company information will also
show you have done your
homework,
Finally you should sum up by
reaffirming your interest in the
role, the company and the
challenges ahead. Thank the
recruiter for taking the time to
consider your application.
Remember to sign off “yours
sincerely” rather than “yours
faithfully” if you have
addressed the cover letter to a
named individual. Your
covering letter also links to
your CV so they should be in
the same font and point size.
Slide 23
Covering Letters - Mistakes
•
Writing the Covering
Letter and CV in
isolation of each other.
•
Not thanking the reader
of your Covering Letter
and CV for their
consideration
They should complement or
blend with each other in terms
of style and layout and not
seem totally unrelated to each
other i.e same style, font etc.
Failure to thank your reader
may give them a negative view
and may discourage them from
further considering your CV.
Slide 24
Should I Disclose in my
Cover Letter?
•
•
•
Slide 25
Again, this is up to the
individual.
If you disclose in your
cover letter there won’t
be any “surprises”
during the interview
If you disclose in your
cover letter you can
explain how this makes
you an even better
candidate for the job
because of your autism.
Covering Letter - Templates
•
•
•
It has been suggested by
Robert Lloyd Griffiths Welsh
Employment Ambassador that
it is always better to be open,
honest and up front and he
suggests including somewhere
either in your CV, cover letter
or even as a separate letter
about your Autism, how it
affects you in your ability to
work and some basic
information about what Autism
is. Employers also value up
front, honest and
especially….no surprises.
There are many companies
that will produce a Covering
Specialist companies – Letter for you. A quick search
Can be Costly
on the internet will bring up a
selection of companies that will
Alternatively, free
provide this service for a fee
covering letter templates however this can be costly. It
are available on the
may be something to consider
internet including
later on if you do not have any
www.coverlettertemplate luck in getting an interview with
.co.uk
previous personal Covering
www.careerswales.co.uk Letters you have produced.
You may decide it worth the
Draft a template of your cost for the chance that it
own (see 3 types) if you enables you to get interviews
are looking for the same and therefore the prospect of
type of work – which can obtaining a job.
be adapted for each job There are many free covering
letter templates available on
the internet which are
impressive and just need to be
amended slightly with personal
and specific information
relating to the company and job
on offer.
Slide 26
Covering Letter – Response to
a Job Advert
•
All relevant personal
contact and reference
details including phone
& mobile phone number,
email, postal addresses
and job reference
number.
•
First paragraph describe why you are
interested in the job
•
2nd & 3rd paragraphs
write down what makes
you a strong candidate
(give details of your
personal characteristics,
relevant experience or
qualifications,
achievements and skills)
•
Fourth paragraph
address any issues,
such as a career
change, employment
gaps, personal
sabbaticals, for
example
•
Closing –ask for an
interview and thank your
reader for their
consideration
Sabbaticals = a period of
leave from work for research,
study or travel, often with pay
and usually granted to
university lecturers every
seven years. Not an exact
science – no one way is correct
– many variations
Slide 27
Slide 28
Speculative Covering Letter
•
Used to apply for a job
where no vacancy has
actually been
advertised.
•
Some firms will retain
speculative applications
of interest pending a
vacancy occurring in the
near future.
•
Some jobs are not
advertised or talented
personnel can be taken
on and a new post
created.
Speculative Covering Letters
•
If you don’t ask you
don’t get!
•
Ensure that your letter is
addressed to the right
person
•
Make your letter look
good visually as this will
enhance your chances
of getting your letter &
CV read
Many companies don’t
advertise jobs available
preferring recommendation or
will retain speculative
applications of interest until a
future vacancy occurs.
Specialist recruitment agencies
which manage specific types of
jobs ie accountancy, HR
(human resources or
personnel) or construction.
Saving recruitment costs and
having potential recruitment
data already available. Some
industries will take on people of
special ability and
accommodate them within the
company on the basis that they
will add value to the company
which will more than pay for
their salaries even though
there was no “declared
vacancy” advertised.
Ring the company or look at
the website for contact details
of a specific person ( & title) for
someone appropriate to send
your CV and Covering Letter to
and address the letter to this
person specifically. This is
more likely to be received and
directed to this person than if
you send to an unnamed
person ie To whom it may
concern and also shows that
you have taken the time to do
some research on the
company. Failing finding out
this information on the web you
could make a friendly
inquisitive phone call to the
company. Often posts of a
higher scale are filled through
recommendation and are never
advertised externally especially
for jobs where a more mature
calibre applicant is required.
Slide 29
Time for a quick exercise:
1. Look at the covering
letter example. Correct
any errors that you see
within the document.
2. If there is time, on the
sheet provided, have a
go at creating your own
covering letter for a job
you would like to apply
for.
Slide 30
Re-Cap
•
•
•
•
Slide 31
We talked about
CV’s/cover letters and
looked at different types.
We identified places you
can go for help with
CV’s and cover letters
Looked at some
examples of both
Discussed a bit about
disclosing
Evaluation
How has this session gone for
you ?
Did you contribute ?
Were you listened to ?
Did you feel comfortable ?
Have you found out anything
new ?
Is there anything we need to
change for next time?
Give time for each participant
to review the spoof covering
letter, document titled “ cover
letter template spoof”, and
mark changes to the document
as needed. Review as a group
the corrections that were
made. Then, hand out the
example of a good covering
letter, document titled cover
letter 2 for exercise, and
review with the group
discussing why this is a better
version than the last one.