Cover letter and CV

[marinyork]

In stores/supermarket/back shop/front shop one of the key things they are looking for is evidence/skills to say you'd handle working in a "busy" environment. Help desks may certainly be considered along those lines.

I'd do what Jack says and put a few bits and bobs for aldi in the covering letter, playing up the help desk angle.

 

[mangaman]

That's better

I feel I'm knitpicking now! but I read a hell of a lot of CVs

I would put the interests at the end.

They'll mainly want your work experience / skills / education

They already know you are interested in computing so will probably skip past that bit

 

[mangaman]

I agree with marinyork and Jack - play up the helpdesk in the letter

Also if you get interviewed be prepared to have examples of difficult customer based situations you came across and how you dealt with them.

(Calmly, despite the busy environment etc)

 

[willhub]

The main difficult situation I've came across have being in class at college, when one of the other students who is around 60 was arguing as he thought he was correct, so I had to calmly tell him to listen and explain why the equipment was set like that and why we could not do one installation per time and he was getting on his high horse.

Most have being at college, as I said earlier, the work I've done has not being for long which as I said puts me in a bad position for my age.

The help desk was only a week long work placement.

 

[swee'pea99]

There's some good advice here - better than mine. Sorry, it was well meant.

But on reflection, using your covering letter to 'close the gap' between your cv and the particular job you're going for seems to make very good sense. Flagging up aspects of your personal experience that show how you're equipped for the challenges they're going to want you to handle if you get the job. (May seem obvious, but I haven't applied for a job in decades.)

I think there is neverthless some merit in my recommendation of trying to be short, sharp and to the point. Try to say that stuff, but briefly. Make their life easier. No-one ever bored their way into a job.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

if you want to work for aldi, their recruitment site is the best place to start.

 

[marinyork]

I agree with marinyork and Jack - play up the helpdesk in the letter

Also if you get interviewed be prepared to have examples of difficult customer based situations you came across and how you dealt with them.

(Calmly, despite the busy environment etc)

Yes. There are books on competency interviews (not necessarily going to get one at aldi) that could explain things far better than I can. There are a few questions that generally pop up.

Can you give us an example of a difficult customer and how you dealt with it?
Can you give us an example of you being a team player?
If you were in a busy environment with two totally ridiculous and contradictory demands we've just thought up on your time, how would you deal with them? Prioritise. There are ten or fifteen of the same questions that crop up again and again and again.

Aldi would probably focus on stock levels and things like that.

The main difficult situation I've came across have being in class at college, when one of the other students who is around 60 was arguing as he thought he was correct, so I had to calmly tell him to listen and explain why the equipment was set like that and why we could not do one installation per time and he was getting on his high horse.

Most have being at college, as I said earlier, the work I've done has not being for long which as I said puts me in a bad position for my age.

The help desk was only a week long work placement.

You might feel that (I don't think it's justified) but it has to go out of the window at interview time. If you have these apprehensions an unreasonable interviewer will tear you apart. If you lack confidence, some totally unreasonable person will read your CV and start trying to paint the geek picture. Competency interview books are available at many libraries.

 

[bikepete]

Hate to be the typo nazi but there are still some in the new version.

- Last sentence needs to start with a capital letter.
- That odd indent under 'cleaner' isnt' correct - justification shouldn't cause that.
- Helpdesk: 'answer' should be 'answering'
- Two full stops at the end of the cycling bit.
- tiny lettering for the Chief Superintendent still looks odd to me.

If you'll be e.g. pricing up for them, then attention to detail will be a quality they're after... worth double and triple checking.

That said don't be afraid to throw away whole painstakingly written and checked chunks of it, if some of the very sensible advice above convinces you another approach would be more effective.

 

[willhub]

The indent under cleaner is an underline :s

This is my latest revision of it, and the cover letter, the cover letter (obviously) is far from done I know, I have just started typing information that could be relevant.

 

[mangaman]

Will - you're hired!

 

[bonj2]

if you're going for a job in aldi, sprinkle your CV with a few spelling and grammar mistakes, grocers' apostrophes and the like.
You've already done one (where/were), and a lack of commas, but put a few more in for good measure.
Seriously. they don't want people too clever in there. They prefer inbreds.

 

[willhub]

if you're going for a job in aldi, sprinkle your CV with a few spelling and grammar mistakes, grocers' apostrophes and the like. Seriously. they don't want people too clever in there. They prefer inbreds.

Lol you cant be serious....


How is my cover letter? I'm still trying to make it better.

 

[jack the lad]

It is on the right lines.

It has to be your letter - you can't write it by committee.

You need to think about what the job might involve - look at the advert for information if that is all you have got and think about what trannsferable skills you have that would make you good at it. You might not have directly relevant experience so you need to think about how the experience you have got might help you to do the job you are applying for. We've already mentioned the helpdesk as an example of customer service, what about the cleaning job - was it about meeting expectations, attention to detail - I don't know (and neither does the HR person at Aldi) You did the job - tell, don't ask!

Quantity of experience doesn't really matter all that much. For some people 5 years experience means the same one days experience 2000 times over, it is what you have learned from it that matters.

And make sure the grammar, punctuation and spelling are correct. Get it checked when you've finished.

 

[bonj2]

Lol you cant be serious....


How is my cover letter? I'm still trying to make it better.

comma after "CV"
'were important', not 'where important'
possibly comma after important and 'also' before 'true on the shop floor'
comma after occasions and another one after systems.
capital letter Sir/Madam

HTH

 

[willhub]

I basically started from scratch from the last one, think it looks abit better, I'm not applying for a specific position, I'll do any position really, I'm not applying from seeing them advertising the need for staff, I am just asking if they have any job vacancies and handing in my CV/Cover letter.