If you give it a thought, these guidelines are applicable in all industries and once you master the skills necessary to write a good cover letter, you can use them everywhere.

I have to be completely honest and admit that coming back from my vacation and finding my e-mail inbox filled with job applications from a great number of candidates has been the reason why I am writing this text right now.

What does a good cover letter even mean?

In the first place, the cover letter ought to exist.

I often hear my private and work colleagues, acquaintances and friends wonder, do I even need to write a cover letter and does anyone actually read it?

The answer to this question is: yes, of course!

A well-written cover letter is the ID of your CV or, literally speaking, a cover letter is an introduction to a good book.

Do you know that feeling when you pick one book out of many in a book store, read a short introduction and immediately want to read the rest of it? Pretty much the same thing happens with your cover letter. Its purpose is to make the employer want to read the CV, meet the candidate and learn all about them!

It is a fact that cover letters are read in human resources, and a well-written cover letter can sometimes be the decisive factor in whether you get invited to a job interview or not.

Why is that so?

Since CVs are mostly written in the manner of listing all the information about your experiences, education, knowledge and skills, a cover letter is, in comparison, written in a more free literary form, which has a human touch.

It requires a more individual and personal approach, so it is necessary to specifically adjust it for the job you are applying for. Forget about the ready-made, edited layouts in which you only have to change the name and the address of an employee.

What does a good cover letter consist of?

A cover letter should not be a retelling of your CV.

In a cover letter you can explain in more depth the important information concerning your work experience which you have not mentioned in your CV (such as projects, seminars, situations that helped you in your professional career).

Supposing you have listed all the important information about your experiences, education, knowledge and skills in your CV, your cover letter should answer the employer’s questions why you have applied for a certain job and why you have chosen a certain company. It should also answer the question why a certain company should choose you out of everyone and how you can add to its development.

A well-written cover letter is the ID of your CV or, literally speaking, a cover letter is an introduction to a good book.

It will not hurt to say a bit more about your personality traits and how you manage working in a team and in challenging conditions. This is an opportunity to introduce yourself to your employer as a future colleague, parent, adventurer or a passionate lover of one thing or another. Don’t forget that your cover letter is going to be read by another person, so let them first and foremost see you as a human being.

This may sound a bit incredible, but most of my colleagues from human resources consider cover letters to be the most important document in job applications. When I asked them why that is so, they gave me the following reply: in a cover letter I can read what the candidate’s motivations are, what drives them, how passionate they are and whether they have applied because they really see themselves working in our company or if they have applied for some other reason.

Of course, a missing cover letter can also be a sign that the candidate has not really done any preparations or planning when applying for a job, and that gives away the impression that they do not care very much. Therefore, next time you apply for a job, don’t forget to send a cover letter along with your CV. Do not be afraid to be honest, open and spontaneous. I am certain that good results will follow.

If you are interested in working at Ciklopea, prove that you know how to write a good cover letter and contact me at hr[at]ciklopea.com!

The post How to Write a Cover Letter that will Help You Make a Real Splash appeared first on Ciklopea.

Human resources managers go through a large number of job applications on a daily basis and it should be of no surprise that a good CV can be somewhat of a ticket to the desired job.

What Makes a CV Perfect for the Language Industry?

A good CV differs significantly from a bad one. First of all, the visual contents of the CV should be organized in a clear and systematic manner.

You should tailor your CV for each job application. Everybody loves a personalized approach and you should definitely keep this in mind when writing your CV.

About the Candidate

List your contact information, such as your first and last name, address, e-mail address, Skype contact and your telephone number in one place. This makes it easy for the reader to contact you.

Short Summary

Write a short summary of the essential personal information bellow the contact information:

• Language pairs
• First language
• Years of active translation experience
• Services you offer (e.g. written translation and revision)
• Number of words you can translate per day (e.g. 2,500 words per day)
• Main fields of specialization (e.g. medicine, pharmacy, law, EU)
• Three of your most important clients or brands
• Desired type of employment (e.g. permanent employment and/or freelance employment)
• List of actively used CAT and QA tools.

Professional Experience

List the relevant positions in a chronological manner, beginning with the most recent one and work your way back.

Keep in mind that less is more, especially when writing a CV. Leave the irrelevant positions out. Working in a gift shop might have provided you with excellent experience and helped you perfect your communication skills, customer relations and calculation of a daily turnover, but this is not relevant for a translator position.

List your experience in the field of translation in such a way as to you list important information next to every position: the language combination, fields of specialization, brand, tools (CAT and QA tools).

CAT and QA Tools

Technical knowledge without proper linguistic knowledge is useless. However, the lack of technical knowledge is a serious impediment for the translator trying participate in a dynamic industry. This is why you should list CAT and QA tools that you actively use and for which you own licences. Using a trial version of a tool does not constitute active use of a tool! Always be honest. Your knowledge and skills can easily be tested. If you have not yet had the opportunity to work with such tools, make sure to emphasize that you are interested and open to learn.

The experience of using glossaries and terminology databases, as well as machine translation is also very important.

Specializations

Specializations are your greatest assets so make sure to list your three main and three secondary specializations. A specialization can be the key to your first job on a translation project.

List the clients and brands you have worked for next to your specializations. Specify the number of words you can translate and deliver per day, as well as your availability for new project engagement (e.g. every working day from 9am to 5pm, weekends upon request).

Education

Make sure to list your language combinations, in both directions. Specify your language proficiency (e.g. Croatian – native language, German – Master’s degree, English – living in England for 3 years).

List your formal education and any further training and/or certification which is relevant for the job for which you are applying.

Type of Employment

Specify the desirable type of employment. If the desired type is freelance employment, make sure to name the payment method for the provided service.

If you have a registered business and can issue invoices, be sure to state it because this is very important. LSPs mostly work with freelancers who can issue an invoice for the services provided. This is why this kind of employment constitutes the preferred type of cooperation.

If you are working abroad, make sure to state if you own a valid VAT ID number as it can be a very important factor for cooperation if you live in a EU Member State.

Templates

CV templates such as Europass can be very useful. However, keep in mind that even the most delicious cake can ruin your figure if consumed in large quantities. The same goes for templates. Templates can be very useful and can make it easier for you to create a good CV, but they can also make things worse if you forget the golden rule – less is more.

The post How to Write a Perfect CV: Tips for Language Industry Professionals appeared first on Ciklopea.