A WELL-WRITTEN RESUME IS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF YOUR APPLICATION FOR ANY JOB
It is a key selling tool for you and what you want a prospective employer to know about you. We suggest reviewing your resume each time you apply for a new role to ensure it effectively highlights your key behaviors, achievements, roles, and responsibilities.
How can you do that? Here are our top tips to help you create an effective resume and cover letter or email:
How can you do that? Here are our top tips to help you create an effective resume and cover letter or email:
- Research the company, role, values and expectations and reflect those back in your resume. Think about why they are important and how you can demonstrate that.
- Identify the key learnings, achievements or responsibilities you think best summarise what you want a recruiter to know about you and for this particular job.
- Keep it short. You want to give enough detail to be genuine and to stimulate interest. You don’t need a full and lengthy history.
- Be genuine, honest and direct. Use clear language and avoid superlatives or unnecessary jargon.
- Check out these helpful tips for building a standout resume that will impress at Merck.
Cover letter essentials:
- Express Your Motivation: Clearly convey why you want to work for us. This should reflect your genuine interest in the role and the company, rather than summarizing your CV. Note: Summarizing your CV is optional.
- Highlight Key Terms: Identify the main keywords from the job advertisement. For each keyword, craft a clear sentence that articulates your interest in the role and why you believe you are a strong candidate.
- Align Experience with Requirements: Discuss how your work experience and skills correspond with the core requirements of the position. Focus on specific examples that demonstrate your qualifications.
Note: While a cover letter can provide additional insights into your motivation, it is optional.
Sometimes there isn’t enough space to include everything you have done or been part of. Remember that a recruiter or interviewer will often look at your LinkedIn profile. This can be a great additional space to showcase your work history, experience, interactions, references, ideas, achievements and behaviors. Make sure it is up-to-date and complete and reflects what you want a potential employer to see about you.