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The University of Sheffield

How to Succeed at: Writing Applications

The University of Sheffield via FutureLearn

This course may be unavailable.

Overview

Experts from The Careers Service here at The University of Sheffield share their top tips to help you write exceptional applications, CVs (or résumés), covering letters and personal statements.

You’ll also hear from employers and admissions tutors to find out what they really look for in a candidate. And once you’ve written that perfect application, prepare for the next stage with our course: How to Succeed at: Interviews.

This course is designed for anyone applying for jobs or courses. It will be of particular interest to those in the early stages of their career, or those who are out of practice and need to update their skills. No prior knowledge or expertise are needed.

Syllabus

  • Preparing to apply
    • Welcome to Week 1
    • Understanding yourself
    • Understanding jobs and courses
    • Making the match
    • Summary of the week
  • CVs and covering letters
    • Welcome to Week 2
    • Create an effective CV
    • Develop a professional online profile
    • Sell yourself in your covering letter
    • End of week summary
  • Application forms and personal statements
    • Welcome to Week 3
    • Outstanding application forms
    • Brilliant personal statements
    • End of course summary

Taught by

Hilary Jones and Pamela Hafekost

Reviews

4.7 rating, based on 445 Class Central reviews

Start your review of How to Succeed at: Writing Applications

  • I've taken a lot of writing courses in my life, but I must confess that "How to Succeed at: Writing Applications" organised by the University of Sheffield via FutureLearn is exceptional. The course teaches modern approaches to preparing applications that guarantee employment at workplaces and admission at institutions. We, the course-takers, are provided with real-time materials to assist us to gain insights into the world of applications and sell ourselves to recruiters. If anyone is looking forward to "upping" their application writing skills, the course is a must.
  • It's a very easy course to prepare resumes, linkedin profiles and job / courses applications. It's well documented with recruiters interviews.
  • Ih San
    - A wonderful course! - I liked the pedagogical approach the course used to attract attention from the first till the last step, with various activities (videos, articles, exercises and successful samples with analysis - I liked the discussions, th…
  • Anonymous
    Practical learning. The process is very easy to understand and follow. The tutors did an amazing job, and thanks to everyone who put this course together, I am confident of my ability to prepare a CV and write Applications.

    I'd give more stars if I could. It's very satisfying when you get what you hoped for (and more).
  • Anonymous
    This course increasingly enhanced my Personal statement and application writing skills. I regularly follow it to refresh my knowledge.
    Thanks a bunch to the British Council and the University of Sheffield.
  • Anonymous
    Writng application must be accurate , clear and related to the a job . First of all write clear info. about youself. List of education , date ,grade and format specified in the instruction.Then give brief details of each period of employment and wo…
  • It is an effective course to develop your skills.It shares tips ,techniques and ways to write best applications.If you learn it ,your chances of getting a job might increase significantly.Good luck!
  • Anonymous
    If you are struggling with job applications or university/college applications then I would highly recommend this course as it provides a great deal of useful information such as preparing CVs and covering letters, STAR, the type of questions you might be asked at an interview and the best way to answer them. It provides information on how to approach an application form, sample CVs and covering letters.
    The videos are quite good too. The people involved know what is expected of potential candidates whether it's for a job or an application to a university or college. I would definitely recommend listening to what they have to say and taking onboard their advice.
  • Chunfang Zhang
    I very much like the course “How to Succeed at: Writing Applications” provided by the University of Sheffield via FutureLearn, the duration of which is 3 weeks. There are 51 sections, including 22 articles, 16 videos, 3 quizzes, 6 discussions and 4 exercises. I am happy to have completed the course and do appreciate the diligent, friendly and excellent course team, attractive instructional design, helpful contents, rich resources, and diversified teaching methods. I have benefited a lot from the tips and techniques, together with the brilliant samples and detailed analysis for making more effective applications. I do recommend you to attend the course.

  • Anonymous
    A thorough and engaging course, this learning has taken me through writing a cv, covering letter and application form. Also different types of question we may be asked and how we should answer. Its been really useful to me as I prepare to go back to work after a gap.
  • Anonymous
    I have gained a lot from this course. For instance, I have learned how to showcase my skills through my online presence, create a professional CV, and complete application forms to increase my chances of being selected. I am grateful to you for providing this course.
  • Anonymous
    It is very insightful and full of valuable and helpful knowledge and resources to help one succeed in writing an application.
  • Alex Cianca
    The course was really interesting.
    All the given info, examples and clarifications clearly helped me to get a better understanding of how to approach interviews, fill application forms and be visible online.
    A big thanks for the included PDF. Their content highlighted step by step what to add when producing CV and Covering letters.
    Extremely useful the interviews with the HR Managers.
    My only complaint is the absence of the educators in replying to the users query or comments.
    It'd have been fantastic have someone who could correct or suggest the right way throughout the course.
  • Richelle Hemnath
    The course is very comprehensive covering writing applications when applying for both jobs and programmes of study (courses). The lessons shared cover all aspects of the writing application process and include feedback from recruiters who review applications submitted to their firms and universities. The course developers did a very thorough job of presenting the material in an easy to learn fashion, with lots of videos, interactive elements and templates to help you record 'the story of you'.
  • Anonymous
    Outstanding course to learn and put into practice information, tips and thoughts about our resume, cover letter and job's applications into an easy way.

    During this course I could learn and practice, and finally, seeing a remarkable improve on my documents. In my experience, I didn't know many things so I really appreciate to be here and discover new material to reinforce my confidence and redoing my resume and cover letter. In addition, the opportunity to download some files provides a valuable support for the future.

    I highly recommend this course. Thank you so much to all the staff for your time and dedication.
  • Anonymous
    This course offered much more than I had expected. Not only do the activities help you writing effective applications, but also provide insights into interviews and what kind of behaviour should we have.
    The course takes three weeks and lessons are straight to the point. They give us models of CVs and cover letters, as well as some ideas to answer tricky questions.
    As a point of improvement, I would suggest the educators participate in the forums. Although the dialogues between learners are constructive, it would have been more engaging to see the educators interacting with us.
    I definitely recommend this course.
  • Anonymous
    Sensibly structured and presented to give some clarity to the recruitment process and how to take advantage of current recruiter thinking.
    There probably isn’t much to be said o how to avoid the groupthink endemic in the process.
    Of necessity, examples are always of people who have shown leadership, done all manner of selfless activities, or worked well under stress.
    Probably the audience for the course are a self defining group who have these abilities to call on, but what about the other fifty percent of candidates who are just ‘ordinary and a bit dim’. How do they get interviews and jobs?

  • Over the past three weeks, I have learnt key tips, guidelines and techniques that has impacted on me positively, especially in CV writing. I have also learnt practical steps to apply in selling myself (unique selling point) in my resumes and covering letter. Listening to experts/recruiters talk about what they expect from applicants has opened my eyes tremendously. The interactive videos, quizzes and comment sections also makes this course worthwhile and interesting.
    Thank you.
  • Martha Njoki Muthoni
    I have enjoyed every bit of the course. I have tried most of the tasks and loved the results. This is a rich course that I would highly recommend to students and even adults and everyone who wants to stand out in their career. It is well organised,…
  • Anonymous
    I'm a mature aged professional looking to make a career change. I found the course a valuable exercise as it has helped get up to date with current recruitment trends, writing application, especially streamlining them). The STAR model a very useful tool. I would recommend this course to all age groups.

    The handouts very helpful.

    Thank you for giving me the opportunity to join the course.

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