Prepare your CV and the letter of intent

Learning objectives and the skills developed

To learning about how to prepare a CV and a letter of intent
To learn about personal strengths, weaknesses, and about opportunities and threats for an ideal job

Materials:

A4 paper sheets, flipchart paper sheets, pens, markers
Printed CV templates for all the participants

Preparation:

Download the Europass CV format, in your own language, here: https://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/en/documents/curriculum-vitae/templates-instructions
Read about the letter of intent format from the FACT BOX
Print out CV templates for all the participants

Presentation:

Give to each participant an A4 paper sheet and a pen, and ask them to write as a title on the page a name of an ideal job for them, the job they dream about.
Then ask the participants to split the paper in four sections, as you will do it on the flipchart paper:
This analysis is a personal SWOT analysis. SWOT comes from the first letters of: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.
Ask each participant to fill in his / her table individually with their own strengths, weaknesses, and the perceived opportunities and threats. Give them about 10 minutes for this exercise.
Pair the participants, and ask them to present to each other the results of the personal SWOT analysis.

Ask then one or two volunteers to present in the large group the SWOT analysis, and with your help analyse what they identified as strengths and weaknesses (traits? values? interests? skills?). At the same time, make sure that the opportunities and the threats are from “outside”, and that these are realistic.
Explain participants how this SWOT analysis helps them to build their CV, and the letter of intent for a job. They will use the strengths part in describing the skills, interests, values and traits they have, choosing the ones that are needed for the job position they apply for.
Give each participant the Europass CV format, and present it to the participants. Connect the presentation (the areas of experience, education, personal skills) with the strengths they identified in step 3.
Ask each participants to take 5 minutes to take out from the SWOT analysis the information they will need for their CV. At the same time, ask them, to make notes on what they need to improve, how they will eliminate the weaknesses so that they will improve their CV.
Ask some volunteers to present their work or pair up the participants to present their notes.
Present the format of a letter of intent (read the FACT BOX on the letter of intent) to the participants.
Give the following Important note: the letter of intent should be personalized based on the job / internship announcement (pay attention to all the requests made!), and based on the candidate’s profile. Do not use ready-letter of intents from Internet. Write your own letters, so that those that are reading the letter can see a personalized letter, different from the models that everyone can find on the Internet. Remember that not only you will reply to the same announcement and try to distinguish yourself.
Group the participants accordingly to the ideal job they identified at the beginning of the workshop (try to find the same jobs, or similar, or from the same sector of activity). Then, ask them to write a letter of intent, and finally to read it to the colleagues from their groups.
Finish up the workshop, asking each participant to set an objective for the improvement of their CV, for the next six months. The objective should be related to weaknesses they identified, or to opportunities they found around, or to threats they can do something about. The objective should be shared in the large group, and written down as letters / notes to themselves.

Follow-up questions:

What new things did you discover, while doing the SWOT analysis, about yourself or the environment which you live in?
What will you do in the next six months in order to make sure you reach your objective for improving your CV?
Where and when you could use your CV?

Possible Variations:

If the workshop is too long for the participants, you can split it in two, after step 6. Do an energizer, and then come back to step 7.