A2 Cover letter assessment guidelines PDF

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UC Employability Portfolio...

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UC Business School/UC Careers BSNS299 – Cover Letter Assessment Guidelines Assessment purpose and outcomes Cover letters are a very important element of the job application process. They are your personal introduction to an employer and accompany your CV, and other application forms. A cover letter is the first thing the employer will read in an application and can be very influential in determining whether an applicant is shortlisted for interview. Therefore is very important to make a good impression in a cover letter. The purpose of the assessment is for you to write a cover letter in response to a job advertisement relevant to your studies and future career aspirations. Most people find writing an effective cover letter challenging. To successfully meet this challenge it is important that you have as much information as possible of why, where and what you are applying to, and that you have a high level of awareness of what you have to offer a role or organisation that is of interest to them. While this can be time consuming, it is in fact excellent preparation for an interview, which is often the key to a job offer. This assessment addresses the learning outcomes below: • •

Understand how a range of personal and professional activities can contribute to future employment Articulate how their skills and attributes may be applied in the workplace in both written and oral form

Cover Letter instructions This assessment involves writing a cover letter to a prospective employer. The cover letter should be no longer than one page. To complete this assessment you must: 1. Identify a currently advertised job in a career that you would like to enter when you graduate from UC. Ideally the advertised job should be aligned with your studies, knowledge, skills, attributes, interests and career intentions. Download and save the job advertisement as you will need to upload this to Learn. 2. Obtain or request a detailed ‘Position Description’ if one is available. This will provide additional information to that in any advertisement that contained in the advertisement and will be useful in understanding and matching yourself to the position. 3. Undertake come additional research on the company. You can do this by visiting the company’s website or other sources of information. This may provide a broader overview of the nature, culture and vision, and provide greater context for writing a successful cover letter. 4. Prepare a cover letter for position identified. This cover letter needs to be relevant to what is being sought by the employer, and should highlight how your knowledge skills and abilities (ksa’s) fit with the job requirements. The cover letter should also explain your motivation for applying for the role. Page 1 of 3

The cover letter is your one opportunity to convince the employer that your CV is worth looking at. While there is no set format your cover letter should include at least the following: • An engaging relevant paragraph of introduction • Outline of what you have to offer that is relevant to the role • Reasons for applying for the role, including ‘fit’ to the organisation • Concluding paragraph and appropriate sign off 5. Submit Job advertisement, Positon Description and cover letter to LEARN. Your cover letter will be assessed using the following criteria: Criteria

Below expectations (fail)

Meets Basic expectations (pass)

Excellent – Exceeds expecations (clear Pass)

Written presentation skills

Grammar, spelling and presentation are poor. Overall sloppy and unprofessional presentation and structure. Does not reflect appropriate business communication formatting.

Grammar, spelling and presentation are adequate though may contain several errors. Is presented in a business letter format and is appropriately addressed.

The standard of English (spelling, grammar, structure, flow etc.) is excellent. Is presented in a business letter format and is appropriately addressed.

Introduction

Paragraph of introduction is not engaging and is unlikely to result in the employer reading any further.

There is an engaging and relevant paragraph of introduction.

There is an engaging and relevant paragraph of introduction, which captures the employer’s attention and makes them want to continue reading.

Person/job fit (your ksa’s)

Does not make connections between ksa’s and the advertised position.

Broadly describes how ksa’s are relevant to the advertised position.

Clearly explains how specific ksa’s are relevant to the advertised position.

Person/organisation fit (your motivation)

Unable to make any connection between motivation for applying, and what the organisation has to offer.

Provides clear motivation for applying for the role and some indication of how this fits with the organisation

Clearly explains how motivation for applying fits with the organisation’s purpose, strategy or values.

Concluding paragraph

No concluding paragraph and/or professional sign off.

Concluding statement and professional sign off.

Strong concluding statement showing enthusiasm and appreciation of consideration. Professional sign off.

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This assessment is pass/fail. You have to pass all of these criteria to pass this assessment. ‘Meets Basic Expectations’ (pass) means your assessment has passed, however it is not at a standard where you could use it to apply for a job – a bit more work is needed.

Submission guidelines The cover letter will be submitted to LEARN as part of your employability portfolio alongside the reflective essay, video presentation and LinkedIn portfolio. Due date 3 May 12noon: Assessments submitted by 3 May will be assessed and at this point, you will be provided with feedback on the quality of your submission. If you pass the assessment at this point, great, you do not have to resubmit it again at the final due date. If, however, you have failed any of the individual assessments on your first submission you may reattempt the assessment and submit it by the final due date of 4 June. You may choose not to submit any assessments at the first due date and only submit at the final. However, the downside of doing so is that these assessments will be marked but no formative feedback will be provided and there will be no opportunity to resubmit should you fail. Thus you are encouraged to submit as many assessments as possible on the first due date. Due date 4 June 12noon: Assessments submitted by 4 June will be assessed as final submissions.

Format • • • • •

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Details: You should submit this assessment using the assessment cover sheet on the assessment info page. Format: Business letter – no more than 1 page Addressed: includes name and title of addressee if available Font: Use Times New Roman font and 12pt font size. Margins and line spacing: Use 1 ½ line spacing and normal margins of 2.54cm. Submitted as a Microsoft Word file on LEARN.

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