CV and Application Checking

What to expect

A member of the Careers Service Team with specialist training on current recruitment methods, (for work or further study), and what employers/course providers look for will review any CV, cover letter, personal statement or application form. They will focus on whether your application is fit for purpose and give you advice on how to improve it if necessary.

They will also help you analyse your skills and experience in relation to how these fit with the recruiter's requirements and help you understand how to promote them effectively so that you can use the same techniques on similar applications.

The Applications Advisers will not write your application for you so you should use the resources and/or events suggested below before booking to ensure you have a well written draft before meeting an Adviser.

What we don't/can't cover

Spelling and Grammar

As the guidance and feedback concentrates on the content and relevance of an application for the target area of work or study, while we may point out grammatical or spelling errors in passing, it is our policy not to proof-read applications, nor to give detailed feedback or coaching against English Language competency. Such coaching falls beyond the remit of our specialist area. Where the English demonstrated in applications is clearly unlikely to meet recruiters’ requirements for candidates we will encourage students to take advantage of the wide range of English language courses| offered by Royal Holloway International|.

Checking and re-checking

In line with this, the sessions also aren't designed for repeated checks of the same application to make it word perfect.

How to prepare

Before booking for Applications Advice, you will need to write a draft application, (CV, cover letter, personal statement or application form), for whatever it is you're applying for. If you're unsure about your career or further study options and don't yet have an application for something specific, a Quick Query| session to explore options will be more useful for you.

Use the Applications| or CVs and Covering Letters |sections of our website for advice on how to write the draft application. These provides a range of general resources on writing applications and also give suggestions for sector / occupation specific guides or postgraduate study guides which highlight what recruiters look for.

We also run a range of events through which you can get information and advice on how to write effective applications - a list of all our evernt can be seen here|.

Who will I see?

All of our Applications Advisers are trained to review any type of application and the Adviser on duty may be different each day so you will be seen by whoever is on duty when you book. It wont be possible to check in advance who is on duty on any given day.

How to book an appointment

Availability

Applications Advice sessions run at the same time every week (all year round):

• Monday to Thursday: 2pm - 4pm

Appointments are available at 15 minute intervals during these times.

Bookings

We only offer same day bookings to ensure availability of appointments at short notice. You can either:

• Come to the Careers Service in person or
• Call our Booking Line: 01784 443073

any time after 9.30am on the day that you want to see an Applications Adviser. Please note that we do not take booking by email or though our website.

During busy times of the year, we recommend early booking as there are a limited number of slots available each day which can fill quickly when demand is high.

If you are late

If you arrive more than 5 minutes late, your appointment will be cancelled and you will be asked to re-book on another day. Application queries cannot generally be dealt with effectively in under 10 minutes and starting late will inconvenience other users of the service.

Please ensure that you print a copy of your application and/or the job/course description before the appointment starts to avoid delays.