I’m thinking about looking at other opportunties, locally and internationally. If I am to apply for an SAP Tech/Functional. Consultant type position for some major consultancies like IBM, Accenture etc. what type of a cover letter should I add with my resume?
Is cover letter just a small half page thing that tells them briefly about my background and what position I’ve applied for etc. or should I go for a couple of pages and be slightly more detailed about the type of work I’ve done, the nature of projects, and also highlight my soft skills?
I’ve just jotted down a one and a half to two page long cover letter that gives them an idea about what I’ve done and what kind of skills I possess etc…and my felixibility to relocate/travel etc. Its only a rough draft a this stage, would need more refining.
If I have a detailed 12/13 page resume, do I need a detailed cover letter? or is one and a half page long enough? too long?
cover letter is more of an introduction to you, if you met the hiring manager how would you say what your background is, what you can bring to the position etc. think of it as an advertisment not an autobiography basically.
for the resume, not sure about other places, but unless its academia, for US atleast, in companies including accenuture 12 page resumes are not going to fly.
hmm... The thing is, as a general position, I can understand a 2 page resume and thats how I had all my resumes up until now. But applying for a specific consultant role in a specific area, dont you think they would be keen to know what the guy has done? to guage his true exposure and background and level of experience?
I'm thinking of it more of as a 'consultant's profile' and not a resume I guess. But then again, applying for a job is very different to placing a consultant at a client where they(consultancy) normally really like a beefed up resume/profile to impress the client.
God, a 2 page resume is going to be tough. The aim I guess is to have an impressive resume... Do yo think there wuld be instances where a detailed resume with a list of projects with brief description of each project be relevant? Or I really need to narrow it down and keep it to 2/3 pages?
I'm thinking, these are specialized roles where they are looking for specific experience, so there wont be thousands of resume to compete against,, just other solid consultants... how do you stand out??
^ yep... three paragraphs at most, three sentences each... the middle one can be expanded however I'd rather allude to the resume in it. A general position can be the hardest one since there is no set objective from a functional perspective, so be careful.
kakay I would say that you mention some of that in a profile or skills summary section at the top of the resume, 4 bullet points key to the skills that are extremely relevant to that role.
in your position you dont have to list every project and every accomplishment in that project, dont think of your resume as a laundry list but as a brag sheet.
you dont have to note everything in your resume, just enough important stuff that they want to talk to you.
consultant profile is a diff ballgame but even for that there are pressures to keep it to a few pages or was the case when i was in consulting
I've personally used a 3-page résumé while applying for management consulting positions and have seen it used in many places - but I've supplemented it with an online portfolio highlighting my consulting engagements and project experiences and accomplishments. If someone reading your résumé is going to be interested in reading more, they can always revert to the website.
As far as the cover letter goes, make sure that you map as many of the requirements advertised in the job description to what you have to offer. This may seem like a very mechanical task at first but it helps in multiple ways... it shows that you've taken the time to study the job description and done your homework about the company, and it gets the hiring person/committee to at least look at your résumé. One page is typically the maximum for a cover letter.