Little CV / Cover letter feedback

[dobeliou]

Hi
I'm currently in Montreal, looking for a job in QA

If i may , I'd really like some feedback on my cv and cover letter.
Also posted on IGDA forums

Here it is :

CV : http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/6...avideogame.jpg

Cover letter (copy paste, acutal Cover letter will look nice ) :

Admirative gamer of XXXXs history and it's important involvement in the modern video game industry I've always admired both it's technical and artistic high quality standards and have rarely be disappointed by it's main licenses. I've had the chance to visit your French studio's in XXXX, during summer 2006. Participating in XXXXX multiplayer playtest sessions.
A dozen years ago, while discovering Doom I asked myself for the first time what made a video-game fun. What elements makes it so incredibly addictive, immersive, beautiful etc. Every year since then has brought me a little closer to my dream, working with the people whose job is to make games fun, beautiful and immersive.
My previous work experience allowed me to gain and improve all the skills which lead me to apply today in a QA Testing position. I learned to be patient and thorough in a stressful, teamwork environment and valued the importance of giving and receiving constructive criticism in order to improve team's effectiveness :
As a technician, I've had to follow thoroughly every technical instructions involved in the process of assembling, networking, and repairing computers, but also had to show initiative and decision making. Various technical tasks and low personnel forced me to prioritize work, and communicate efficiently with my technician coworkers, solving potential disagreement. As company was renowned for it's quick and efficient services we had to work on tied schedules. Between a demanding clientele and company's strict objectives, I managed to stay organized and satisfying both. I Enjoyed even the hardest part of the job as I had the chance to put my games knowledge at use in a work environment by advising and selling video-games and Hardware solutions for gamers.
A step closer to the game industry, my school course gave me the chance to learn the base of programming and design. My Graphic Art degree allows me to be familiar with Adobe's software and 3DS Max.
Convinced that I belong in a QA team, I've also had the chance, these last few month, to familiarize myself with bugzilla report writing and game testing methodology, in order to better apprehend QA Testing ground rules ( bug reporting, regression testing, black box, clear box etc. )
My coming in Montreal is just the last logical step that lead me to gaming industry doorsteps .
I'm ready for the challenge of helping Quality Assurance accomplish its difficult objectives. I intend not only to fit in an efficient QA team, but to become one of its asset so that many gamers can enjoy high quality well finished games.
I would love the chance to prove my passion and dedication in person. Please call me if you think I may fit in your team. I'm looking forward to meet XXXXX's member at the MIGS where i'll be volunteering.
Yours sincerely,
Anthony JOS
514-xxx-xxxxx
ps: I have my cover letter and CV available both in French and English, if necessary.



Thanks !

[Yipperpants]

Hey there, Jos.

The first thing that hit me while I looked over your stuff is the the presence of grammatical and spelling errors. I understand that English was probably not your first language (coming from France), and it's impressive for that. However while I could easily overlook one or possibly two mistakes, but the CV's and cover letter's current states read awkwardly in Stateside English. I'm not saying it's brutal, but it is definitely noticeable. The QA position requires attention to detail, right?

However, please also note that I'm from the states. Some standards may be totally different, but some corrections you should look into include:

* Making sure there are commas after the first and second item in lists (example: I want a cat, dog, and goat for Christmas).

* "It's" mean "It is." and "Its" mean "belonging to it."
* Always capitalize "QA."
* Put commas between cities and countries (example: Annecy, France).
* Have standard capitalization in sections. This refers specifically to the "IT Technician : hardware and software" part of your CV. Something like "IT Technician : Hardware and Software" may look better.

Another thing you may want to look into is the existence of the QA Tester section on your CV. Why are you describing the position exactly? I'm not too familiar with CVs, but this seems somewhat unnecessary. Instead of describing your future job, you should be describing yourself. I assume recruiters already know what QA's responsibilities.

[Adrir]

Hi there, welcome to the community!

I am from the UK, so this to me is a resume. Not a CV. Although, apparently in Quebec the terms are synonymous. So please ensure that you are using the correct format.

You've put on your resume that you have 3 years of relevent work experience, however you don't list any experience in quality assurance. Relevent work experience means you have experience doing the things the job requires. That you've done the job before. The word 'relevent' shouldn't be used if you only have transferable skills from other roles.

As mentioned above, there are several noticable grammatical errors. Strikingly, the lack of '?' at the end of a question and inappropriate use of ':' in your cover letter. This could be an issue if the working language is english because it is important for a tester to be an excellent communicator. Nobody has an excuse

On a similar note, it is extremely important to use paragraphs! For any print documents, this means a empty line between each paragraph. This improves readability.

Why do you start using the third persion passive case? Don't do this. This is the opposite of what you want! It reads horribly. To make the cover letter punchy and read confidently, always use an active tense. Furthermore, always use the first person. Then stick to it!

Never use post scriptum in a covering letter or covering email. It is an uneccessary gamble since the reader may not think that it professional or appropriate. Human resource departments are usually inundated with massive numbers of application and petty application culling processes exist!

There is no need to state that your resume is available in English on the English version!

Finally, your cover letter doesn't effectively convey your passion, in my opinion. Are you passionate about testing? What is your goal? Have you participated in any public beta tests? Also, you need to be more concise and specific...admiring 'high quality'...gain and improve 'all the skills'...etc. You should elaborate. What specifically did you admire? What skills? You've started to hone in on the role by listing knowledge of testing techniques - this is a good start.

For everyone's ease of reference:

Admirative gamer of XXXXs history and it's important involvement in the modern video game industry I've always admired both it's technical and artistic high quality standards and have rarely be disappointed by it's main licenses. I've had the chance to visit your French studio's in XXXX, during summer 2006. Participating in XXXXX multiplayer playtest sessions.

A dozen years ago, while discovering Doom I asked myself for the first time what made a video-game fun. What elements makes it so incredibly addictive, immersive, beautiful etc. Every year since then has brought me a little closer to my dream, working with the people whose job is to make games fun, beautiful and immersive.

My previous work experience allowed me to gain and improve all the skills which lead me to apply today in a QA Testing position. I learned to be patient and thorough in a stressful, teamwork environment and valued the importance of giving and receiving constructive criticism in order to improve team's effectiveness.

As a technician, I've had to follow thoroughly every technical instructions involved in the process of assembling, networking, and repairing computers, but also had to show initiative and decision making. Various technical tasks and low personnel forced me to prioritize work, and communicate efficiently with my technician coworkers, solving potential disagreement. As company was renowned for it's quick and efficient services we had to work on tied schedules. Between a demanding clientele and company's strict objectives, I managed to stay organized and satisfying both. I Enjoyed even the hardest part of the job as I had the chance to put my games knowledge at use in a work environment by advising and selling video-games and Hardware solutions for gamers.

A step closer to the game industry, my school course gave me the chance to learn the base of programming and design. My Graphic Art degree allows me to be familiar with Adobe's software and 3DS Max.

Convinced that I belong in a QA team, I've also had the chance, these last few month, to familiarize myself with bugzilla report writing and game testing methodology, in order to better apprehend QA Testing ground rules ( bug reporting, regression testing, black box, clear box etc. )
My coming in Montreal is just the last logical step that lead me to gaming industry doorsteps .

I'm ready for the challenge of helping Quality Assurance accomplish its difficult objectives. I intend not only to fit in an efficient QA team, but to become one of its asset so that many gamers can enjoy high quality well finished games.

I would love the chance to prove my passion and dedication in person. Please call me if you think I may fit in your team. I'm looking forward to meet XXXXX's member at the MIGS where i'll be volunteering.

Yours sincerely,

Anthony JOS
514-xxx-xxxxx

ps: I have my cover letter and CV available both in French and English, if necessary.

[dobeliou]

Hi there, welcome to the community!

I am from the UK, so this to me is a resume. Not a CV. Although, apparently in Quebec the terms are synonymous. So please ensure that you are using the correct format.

Thank you, from what I've heard they're the same, I'll check again.

You've put on your resume that you have 3 years of relevent work experience, however you don't list any experience in quality assurance. Relevent work experience means you have experience doing the things the job requires. That you've done the job before. The word 'relevent' shouldn't be used if you only have transferable skills from other roles.

That's a pretty big mistake indeed,
I've always thought "relevant" could be use as a synonymous of "usefull".

As mentioned above, there are several noticable grammatical errors. Strikingly, the lack of '?' at the end of a question and inappropriate use of ':' in your cover letter. This could be an issue if the working language is english because it is important for a tester to be an excellent communicator. Nobody has an excuse

Team members will speak and write in French, but working language may be English. So yeah... no excuse. It's just that grammatical errors don't seem as obvious to me in English as they do in French. I sometimes don't spend more time verifying an English document than I would spend verifying a French one... and of course that's not a good idea.

On a similar note, it is extremely important to use paragraphs! For any print documents, this means a empty line between each paragraph. This improves readability.

Why do you start using the third persion passive case? Don't do this. This is the opposite of what you want! It reads horribly. To make the cover letter punchy and read confidently, always use an active tense. Furthermore, always use the first person. Then stick to it!

Noted, will correct that.

Never use post scriptum in a covering letter or covering email. It is an uneccessary gamble since the reader may not think that it professional or appropriate. Human resource departments are usually inundated with massive numbers of application and petty application culling processes exist!

There is no need to state that your resume is available in English on the English version!

ok, good to know,

Finally, your cover letter doesn't effectively convey your passion, in my opinion. Are you passionate about testing? What is your goal? Have you participated in any public beta tests? Also, you need to be more concise and specific...admiring 'high quality'...gain and improve 'all the skills'...etc. You should elaborate. What specifically did you admire? What skills? You've started to hone in on the role by listing knowledge of testing techniques - this is a good start.

Ok,
What is my Goal, you mean career goal ? I almost spoke of it, problem is, i seem to have an already long cover letter, and wouldnt want to elaborate too much... I though that could be saved for the interview.

And yeah I'm passionate about the industry, and I want a career, I just crossed the Atlantic in that purpose
Passionate about testing, i want to say Yes, but i don't really know... I want to be in QA, that's sure, but passionate about testing, I'm not sure how to express that...

anyway i'll try

* Making sure there are commas after the first and second item in lists (example: I want a cat, dog, and goat for Christmas).

* "It's" mean "It is." and "Its" mean "belonging to it."
* Always capitalize "QA."
* Put commas between cities and countries (example: Annecy, France).
* Have standard capitalization in sections. This refers specifically to the "IT Technician : hardware and software" part of your CV. Something like "IT Technician : Hardware and Software" may look better.

Ok noted, thanks, i'll work on that.

I'm not that much into goats though...

Capitalization are used quite differently in French, I have to get use to it.

Another thing you may want to look into is the existence of the QA Tester section on your CV. Why are you describing the position exactly? I'm not too familiar with CVs, but this seems somewhat unnecessary. Instead of describing your future job, you should be describing yourself. I assume recruiters already know what QA's responsibilities.

Well I have seen that on some resumes here in quebec (not QA resumes)

It's not a standard, but i had the feeling that it said something like : " I know what is expected of me, and what is the job, I'm not some random gamer who wants to play a video-game. "

But I guess my whole application, if correctly done, will implicitly state that i'm not some random gamer...

Anyway, Thanks to the both of you, I now have some homework to do, and that's exactly why I posted ^^ ... so thanks for your time

I know I have what it takes, I have the passion, I have the skills (for the job) , I just lack the application skills, coming from France (and its weired CV and cover letter standards and format, as I know realize )

So here is a quickly corrected / 0.8 alpha (?) version of my cover letter :

I am an admirative gamer of XXXX Montreals history and its important involvement in the modern video game industry, admirative also of both its technical and artistic high quality standards.
While advising video-games, I always was honest and passionate when advising XXXXXs games and there gameplay, artistic, and technical qualities. They always satisfied both casual and more hardcore gamers.
I also visited your French studios in Annecy, during summer 2006 and participated in XXXXXs playtest sessions.

A dozen years ago, while discovering Doom, I asked myself for the first time : What makes a video-game fun ? What elements makes it so incredibly addictive, immersive, beautiful ? Every work, school or personal experience since then have oriented me towards what I now consider as a life goal : working with the people whose job are to make games fun, beautiful and immersive.

My previous work experience made me gain and improve the problem solving, teamwork and technical skills which lead me to apply today in a QA Testing position. I learned to be patient and thorough in a stressful, teamwork environment, and valued the importance of giving and receiving constructive criticism.

As a technician, I had to follow thoroughly every technical instructions involved in the process of assembling, networking, and repairing computers.
I showed initiative and decision making, as great autonomy and low personnel forced me to prioritize work efficiently and made communications with coworkers an important part of the job. As company was renowned for its quick and efficient services, I worked on tied schedules. Between a demanding clientele and company strict objectives, I managed to stay organized and satisfied both. I enjoyed even the hardest part of the job as I put my games knowledge at use in a work environment, by selling video-games, and Hardware solutions to gamers.

During my school course, I learned the base of programming, and design. My Graphic Art degree allows me to be familiar with Adobes softwares and 3DS Max. These 2 years of school were a big step in my path towards Game Industry, and QA in particular. While learning the bases of some relevant game oriented knowledge, I also actively participated in Guild Wars beta tests, and XXXXX multiplayer playtests inside XXXXXs studios.

Convince that I belong in a QA team, I also familiarized myself these last few month, with bugzilla report writing, and game testing methodology, in order to better apprehend QA Testing ground rules ( bug reporting, regression testing, black box, clear box etc. )
My coming in Montreal is just the last logical step that lead me to Game Industry doorsteps today, and that lead me to this dream, borned twelve years ago.

I'm ready for the challenge of helping Quality Assurance accomplish its difficult objectives. I intend not only to fit in an efficient QA team, but to become one of its asset in XXXXXs studios, so that many gamers can enjoy high quality, well finished, fun games.

I would love the chance to prove my passion and dedication in person. Please call me if you think I may fit in your team, and let me know when we can meet. I will also be volunteering in the MIGS at the end of the month, and I am looking forward to share my passion with some of your team members.

Yours sincerely,

Anthony JOS
514-xxx-xxxxx