CV (Resume) and Cover Letter

CV also knows as Resume, is one of the most important document when you are applying for a job. It is a summary of your work life including information about your previous work history, education, skills, hobbies, interests and contact details. The ideal length of the resume is between 2 to 3 pages. However, it can be one page if you don’t have much work experience to showcase.

Cover Letter is a single page letter that helps to introduce yourself, the job you are applying for and why and how you are a perfect fit that job role.  The main purpose of your cover letter is to show off how your qualification makes you a match for the job.

Australian employers prefer Australian style Resume when you are applying for the jobs. You can download a FREE copy of Australian style Resume and Cover Letter from the download section of the website.

CV (Resume)

6 sections that you must include in your resume

1. Contact Details – Your Resume starts with your personal details like your name, email address, home address, and phone number. In Australia, you are not required to include your photograph in your resume
2. Summary – Give a brief summary of your career objectives. You can also include information about the job you are applying for in this section.
3. Education – If you are a student with no or little work experience, then we recommend to put your education history before that section. In this section, you can include information about your current and previous education history with the latest at the top. We do not recommend to include your primary school education, even consider if you really need to include your high school information or not.
4. Work Experience – Write your previous work history, if you have any. You can also write about any volunteer experience as well. Australian employers usually prefer to hire people with Australian work experience. So if you are new to the country, it might be a good idea to get some volunteer work experience so you can include that on your resume.
5. Skills – Provide the information on the skills you possess, these might include your soft skills like communication, presentation, etc or it could be skills relevant to the job you are applying for like the software you know, language you can speak, etc.
6. Hobbies – Last but not least, include some information about your hobbies and interest. This information is important as prospective employers like to know about your personality traits as well. Look at the job and see if you can relate any hobby or interest to that.

Cover Letter

5 Things to keep in mind while writing your Cover Letter

1. Keep it Short – Your Cover Letter should not be more than one page, so in order to write an engaging cover letter, you must try to keep it precise and to the point.
2. Job Information – You must include the information about the job you are applying for. It is also a good idea to include the job reference number when writing a cover letter
3. Demonstrate Value – Cover Letter is like a sales pitch.  Think from the employer’s perspective and ask yourself  “why should I hire myself”. Write your letter keeping that in mind
4. Keywords – Use some keywords from the job description or ad. Most of the applications today are read by computers before they actually reach to humans. The computer will scan the keywords you have used in the application matching that to the job description. So use some of the words or phrases relevant to the job role you are applying for.
5. Sign off – You should always sign off by thanking the employer and look forward to speaking to them. You also must include your contact information in the cover letter as well.