Examine the following checklist of points regarding a good job application. For the questions, decide whether your application rates a "yes" or a "no". If you have many "nos" you may need to revisit your application.

Timing
When should you send in your applications? The answer may be obvious for ad hoc job adverts (i.e. before the stated application close date) but if a position is likely to be hotly contested you may be advised to submit your application well before that date, in case recruiters decide they already have a sufficient pool of candidates.

If you're applying for positions during your final year with higher-profile graduate employers who come onto campus, double-check application closing dates directly with each organisation. Dates can vary dramatically and some may even close as early as Week 2 or 3 in Session One.

If you intend to apply for summer vacation work experience, be aware that some organisations expect applications by the middle of the year, while others will accept them by September or October. Again, check directly with organisations you're targeting.

Above all, plan enough time, amidst your other commitments, to work through the steps below, as this will significantly enhance the numbers of interviews you are invited to.

If this means making fewer, but more customised, applications (rather than attempting to apply to every position in sight) then so be it.

Thorough analysis
Thorough analysis is always highly recommended before you start on your cover letter, resume and application form. This is true whether the position you seek has been advertised, or whether you plan to approach an organisation directly.

How fully do you understand what the organisation you are targeting is actually looking for? To what extent do you really understand what you will be doing in the role, if successful, on a day-to-day basis? Arguably, the above factors are a strong indication of how likely it is you will be offered an interview, as they will impact directly on the relevance of your written application, in the eyes of the recruiter.

Research the organisation itself, research the skills and qualities most valued by graduate employers and, when you've established everything that the employer has told applicants it wants, research what else your intuition, your previous experience and your contacts in the field tell you that the employer will also be seeking.

Self audit
So what can you actually offer the employer? More accurately, how best will you be able to fill your written application with information that you are confident will be of particular relevance to the recruitment decision-maker?

Now it's time to think up specific examples that best demonstrate your capabilities. Work in turn through each selection criterion identified by your Analysis as required by the employer – each of the technical skills; each of the generic/transferable skills; every personal quality or attribute and, if applicable, each knowledge area and qualification and every piece of previous experience required by them.

Where possible, think of examples from your various paid and unpaid working experiences, but it's fine also to use examples drawn from your university course, projects and group work, or from your extra-curricular involvements both on and off-campus.

Golden tips for selling yourself
In each of your application documents (and for each of the selection criteria highlighted during your Analysis) do you offer sufficiently detailed supporting information, preferably an actual example of when you have demonstrated your abilities? Or does your application merely read like a list of unsubstantiated claims?

Given that these are your promotional documents, have you eliminated anything that could be construed as negative, or anything that may even raise a question mark against your suitability? Note that this is not the same as lying (something that is advised against in the strongest possible terms).

Have you then accentuated all the positive things that you do have to offer? Are all your documents professionally and attractively laid out and formatted?

Cover Letters
How customised (i.e. how individually tailored) is every cover letter that you send? Is it focused on only a small number of selection criteria (identified during your Analysis) which you believe the employer is especially interested in?

How strong an impact does your critical first paragraph make? Is it a strong self-introduction, that will successfully attract a busy recruiter's attention and encourage them to read on?

Does it explain convincingly why you are applying to that role (and/or organisation, and/or field)? Does it clearly link this information to your own, definite career aspirations?

Does the remainder of your letter then build on your strong start by demonstrating the key, relevant elements of what you can offer the employer?

Resumes
Do you build a new resume for every application, by deciding what information is most relevant, then cutting & pasting from a longer 'Master Resume' document?

As with your cover letter, does your resume make a strong opening (whether or not you include a Career Objective statement)?

Does the order of your sections reflect the employer's key areas of interest (as per your Analysis)? As you have more space available to you here than in your cover letter, do you offer detailed supporting information for all the other selection criteria identified during your Analysis, but for which there wasn't sufficient room to address them fully in your letter?

Organisations' own application forms
Have you looked through the entire form and made an assessment of how much preparation time that, realistically, will be required in order to submit a quality application?

Have you taken particular note of the trickier and more time-consuming 'interview' questions that may lie towards the end of the form?

Have you been able to print or download a copy for making earlier drafts, in preparation for submitting your finalised form?

Fear not! Help is at hand
Have you taken full advantage of the wide range of support offered by the UNSW Careers and Employment service? Have you attended Workshops and Guest Presenter employer talks on applications, resumes and interviews?

Have you then drafted your application documents and brought them to an Individual Assistance appointment for feedback?

Have you taken every opportunity to meet with and question employers via your own networking, but also via the assortment of on-campus activities - the Careers Expo, Graduate Recruitment Program interviews and organisations own Information Sessions?

If your answer to most (or all) of the above questions is a resounding 'Yes' then you're well on the way to writing Winning Applications!

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