How to Write a Professional Cover Letter

Get ahead with your graduate scheme applications and perfect your superstar cover letter. But where to start? We’ve listed some of our dos and don’ts when it comes to writing a professional cover letter…

Do

Be clear and concise: Your cover letter is an opportunity to put across information which you couldn’t portray in your CV, and it should take up no more than one full page of A4. Try to keep your cover letter straight to the point and don’t waste space talking about aspects which are not relevant to the job role. Remember be clear and concise!

Personalise each cover letter you submit: The likelihood is the job role you are applying for might not be the only position you are looking at (which is perfectly fine). However, your cover letter has got to be tailored to the organisation, as HR recruiters will be able to easily spot applications with little or no thought towards the specific role.

Proofread: One of the most common cover letter errors is simple grammatical mistakes made by candidates. Ultimately, this can show a lacklustre approach to the application and will immediately push the focus of your cover letter away from your skills. Its great practice to print off your cover letter and thoroughly run through it. Don’t forget to get a close friend or family member to look at it for a second opinion.

Demonstrate why you’re the perfect candidate: It’s vital that you showcase the value you could bring to the business, and importantly what are your unique selling points. Focussing on how your skills align with the job role and what makes you different to the other candidates will make your cover letter stand out from the rest. You’ll need to back up why you are the perfect candidate, with examples of when you have put your skills to the test.

DON’T

Rely on spell check: It would be unwise to rely on spell check, missing words or minor typos can slip through the reach of your cover letter copy checking. Be sure to stick to the proofreading tips we mentioned in the earlier dos section.

Exaggerate: It can be easy to get carried away when creating your cover letter but try not to overstate your skills or achievements beyond what you have achieved. Exaggeration can provide an easy way for graduate recruiters to tell if you have been honest in your cover letter once they quiz you during the interview process. Stay true to current credentials and keep everything throughout your cover letter positive and relevant to the job role.

Regurgitate your CV: One of the most common mistakes candidates can make is to regurgitate information straight from their CV, in some cases, people will go to the lengths of merely copying and pasting the info in. This isn’t what your potential employers want to see… what they do want to see is examples to back up the previous positions on your CV and how these can be relatable to the job role in question.

So, there you have it, some of our top dos and don’ts when writing a professional cover letter. If you follow these guidelines you can begin to take the steps to secure your dream graduate job.

If you didn’t already know, Our Managing Director, Sophie Milliken, is launching her first book From Learner to Earner on Thursday 5 September. A recruitment insider’s guide for students wanting to achieve graduate job success. Available to buy from Amazon and Waterstones.

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Smart Resourcing Solutions wins the award for ‘Best Employability Assessment Services Provider’ for the North East

The Northern Enterprise Awards recognise Northern SMEs for their dedication to client satisfaction and for services that deliver excellence.

Through anonymous voting via different digital channels, local firms and individuals voted for our business. The researching team and judging panel is an international collective of individuals from a range of different industries, led by a veteran academic leader. Using a variety of resources, their thorough investigation into our work with universities resulted in SRS winning this award.

We are really pleased that our assessment centre simulations continue to be recognised as market leading. From large to small, our assessment services are tailored to each individual client, significantly increasing the confidence and aspirations of the students involved.  Thank you to everyone who helps us to raise the profile of our award-winning assessments. It’s great to see that other industries recognise the value in what we do.

Tour de SRS: We are completing a 30 mile trip around the 4 North East universities to raise £1,000 for Team Kenya.

All of us at SRS have benefitted from the many learning and development opportunities available to us. We want those same opportunities to be available for girls and women in rural Kenya, where some cannot afford an education or are forced to marry young.   

Team Kenya’s vision is for every girl in Kenya to have an equal chance to achieve her potential, and they support communities to deliver better education and employment opportunities for girls. We are all very passionate about gender equality and the chance for these girls to have brighter futures.

We want to show our support by completing a 30 mile tour of 4 North East universities, using the bus, the ferry and walking for over 8 hours – come rain or shine! This supports our policy of using sustainable public transport wherever possible and compliments the work we do to improve the employability of students. Most importantly, this tour will remind us of how lucky we are to have access to a free education.

We would love to raise £1,000 to support the education and empowerment of girls and women in rural Kenya. No donation is too small, and will help fund grassroot projects in the communities. Thank you for your support. 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tourdesrs

From Learner To Earner - Sophie's first book is announced!

We were delighted to share the news of a project Sophie has been working on this year when we were at the ISE Conference in Manchester.

From Learner To Earner - a recruitment insider’s guide for students wanting to achieve graduate job success is being published by Rethink Press in September this year.

The book has received a huge amount of support from industry insiders with many heads of graduate recruitment providing case studies and the ISE, CIPD, High Fliers, Prospects Luminate, Department for Education and HECSU sharing their data. The book takes students through the journey of finding a job, securing the job and then performing well in it.

Book launches are planned in London and Newcastle so get in touch if you’d like to attend.

UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE CONFIRMS EXPANSION OF UK’S LARGEST ASSESSMENT CENTRE EVENT IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SMART RESOURCING SOLUTIONS

Smart Resourcing Solutions (SRS) are delighted to have been confirmed as the chosen supplier to work with the University of Hertfordshire on their award-winning Assessment Centre Experience (ACE) programme for students. 

Having begun as a pilot event in Autumn 2016 for 400 students, ACE has grown year on year to become the largest employability event in the UK. This November will see over 3000 students attend an ACE event at Watford FC’s Vicarage Road Stadium. 

ACE has become well-known throughout the university and is now embedded within the majority of undergraduate degree courses at the institution, giving second year students an outstanding opportunity to take part in a realistic mock assessment centre with bespoke assessment materials directly relating to their degree choice. 

After attending ACE 2017 with a fellow governor colleague, Chair of Governors Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, Robert Voss said: “The whole morning, - team working, presentations and interviews were of the highest calibre and our students were blessed to have such high quality, intense development and feedback from experienced ‘real word’ professionals, I doubt they will ever experience such a transformational event in their future careers. We made a point of expressing our admiration of the assessment training initiative at the university governors board meeting and asked that our appreciation be recorded and minuted.”

Students attending ACE report a huge increase in confidence about applying for placements and graduate schemes and each year brings success stories of students securing jobs. The initiative received recognition from the Institute of Student Employers (ISE) in 2018 winning an award at the annual ISE Development Awards. 

Judith Baines, Head of Careers and Employment at the University said: “Careers and Employment at the University of Hertfordshire are delighted that the university recognises the benefits of the Assessment Centre Experience (ACE) and has funded another year of growth for 2019. We expect over 3000 students will attend the experience at Watford Football Club and we are looking forward to working with Smart Resourcing Solutions once again.”

Managing Director at SRS, Sophie Milliken commented: “We love working with all the staff and students at the University of Hertfordshire on what is a really special project with significant impact for the students. The support we receive at the venue from F3 is always outstanding and we all look forward to providing over 3000 students with a brilliant learning experience this year.”