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We're here to help you, whether you are in the discover, focus or action phase of your career journey., careers in the uk: cover letter tips for international students.

What is a UK style cover letter like? How can international students get acquainted on this important (but sometimes very mysterious!) job application document? Read on to find out!

In this series of blogs, we’ll cover all the basics you need to know about Careers in the UK as an international student. King’s Careers & Employability have just released new resources and a whole new layout on our International Students KEATS section – to answer all of your jobs and career-related questions.

Introduction

A cover letter is where you talk about your motivation to apply for a job, and how the skills and experience on your CV relate to the specific job you are applying to. It is standard for employers to ask for a cover letter alongside your CV during a job application process.

When a UK employer reads a CV, they are skimming through the document to check essential information. While this gives some idea about who you are, the real moment comes when they read your Cover Letter. This is where you give the first impression of yourself, your motivation to applying for their vacancy and why you are a great candidate for the role. You will elaborate on experiences you have on your CV and tie these in with the specific job in context, making sure that the employer can really focus on what experiences or skills you have to offer.

Our quick tips to a great UK style Cover Letter

Now that you know a little bit about the importance of a cover letter, let’s see how you can craft a great application!

The essential flow

For a great cover letter, your aim is to write about three things: Why you want to work in the organisation, why you want to work in that particular job, and why your knowledge, attributes, skills and experiences make you the right candidate for the job. As you may already know, high importance is put to tailoring your application in the UK. So make sure you are not using a ‘generic’ cover letter or reusing one for multiple jobs!

Follow the ‘Person Specification’ criteria

Most job applications have a job description that includes the person specification criteria. It is a list of essential and desirable criteria that UK hiring managers look to when evaluating your application.  To write a great UK style cover letter, always bring up examples that relate to these terms or keywords. For example, if the person specifications lists ‘leadership’ and ‘communication & teamworking’ as an essential criterion, you’ll want to talk about relevant leadership experience, and explain how you’ve developed experience in team working and communication.

Keep it brief and clear

The expectation is that a UK style cover letter is not too long – single page cover letters are popular and if some are longer, the aim is to only mention what is relevant and helpful for the employer to know. Keep your cover letter as brief as possible, while maximising the way you discuss your experiences, and ticking off keywords and examples relevant to the job specification document. Remember that your cover letter is an example of your written skills, so make sure you’ve triple-checked the text for typos or misspellings.

Don’t just tell, show

A cover letter is a way for you to talk about yourself – but it is not just retelling everything that your CV says. A great UK style cover letter mentions your experience and uses this as a springboard to discuss how your experiences have developed you or how you can apply them in this job. Just look at the difference between telling, “I worked in a café for 3 years” and showing, “I believe that my experience as a café worker, which taught me important customer service skills and the ability to work under pressure, directly benefits the needs of this job.”

Use your research!

Organisations are all very unique and stand for various different values. Make sure you have done some research as a UK style Cover Letter is expected to mention why you are applying to work for this employer specifically. Examples could include that you are a satisfied customer, you share personal values with the organisation based on your research, or you’ve learned something about them that has impressed you. A well-researched cover letter looks highly personal to employers and you have a higher chance of success.

Stick to a simple standard structure

What is the structure like? A UK style Cover Letter starts with a greeting, introduces you, then goes onto discussing the reason you’ve applied for THEM, discusses why YOU are an ideal candidate and closes off with a polite and motivated ending. Learn more about the structure and sections of a UK style Cover Letter on our KEATS pages.

Getting feedback for your Cover Letter at King’s

It’s always a great idea to get feedback on your application. To proofread the text, or ask quick feedback, you can always send your Cover Letter to a friend. If you’d like dedicated feedback on your application from King’s Careers & Employability, our Application Advisers hold appointments to discuss and develop your application further. You can book these on King’s CareerConnect.

If you would like to join us for a Cover letter workshop, we run these throughout the year, also bookable on KCC.

  That’s it… our quick guide through a UK style Cover Letter. In our next blog, we’ll talk more about what a job interview is like in the UK and what you can expect from the experience.

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These UCAS personal statements have been kindly provided by students applying to King's College London. You can click on one of the links below to view the entire statement and find out if the applicant was offered a place.

You can also view our entire collection of personal statements or view personal statements for application at other universities .

English Personal Statement Example 1 Ever since I have had the ability to understand it, I have been fascinated by the English language. As a child, I would either be writing, reading or telling stories and ever sine then, have read a wide variety of both fiction and non-fiction texts from a variety of genres and eras...

Linguistics Personal Statement Example 1 My most memorable Christmas came with a parcel of Harry Potter audio books and this was where my quest to understanding language began. The moment Stephen Fry started to narrate chapter one, I fell in love with words and all they could achieve...

Law and Politics Personal Statement Example 1 Laws, in my opinion, are the cogs in the machinery of society; they are guidelines and deterrents that are fundamentally essential for humanity to function. Law is the combined public conscience that tells us right from wrong...

Politics & International Relations Personal Statement Example 2 It was November 1989. My parents were rattling their keys in the main square of Bratislava with other Czechoslovak youngsters asking for the democracy that was denied by the Communist regime. They raised me in an environment, where appreciation of freedom, expressing my thoughts and being an active citizen have been essential...

History Personal Statement Example 5 As the descendant of an Auschwitz survivor, my family history allows me to understand the influences that the Second World War has had on people's families and the victims of the Nazi regime in occupied Poland...

Economics and Politics Personal Statement Example 1 "I killed the bank": the last words of Andrew Jackson, former president of the US, after he had vetoed to renew the charter and withdraw all federal deposits from banks causing them to bust. Real money was backed with gold shortly after, causing the greatest economic boom in history for the US where no income tax was implemented...

History Personal Statement Example 7 It isn't an exaggeration to say my devotion to History has moulded me into the diligent and ambitious person I am today. History continues to shape our contemporary world and my opinions have been formed from an intellectual curiosity about the resonances between the past and the present...

Chemistry/Chemistry with Biomedicine Personal Statement Example I was told I couldn’t have the opening paragraph I had originally written, so to begin I’ll to describe the scientific processes in my own words as this is what will underlie my degree and hopefully my foreseeable future...

English Literature & Creative Writing Personal Statement Example 1 'I write for the same reason I breathe- because if I didn't, I would die.' I believe that Isaac Asimov sums up writing particularly aptly. Whilst it could be classed as hyperbole, I feel my sentiments are similar...

Law Personal Statement Example 11 My desire to study law at university is firmly rooted in my interest in world events and also with helping others. Law effects our everyday lives almost without us noticing. If we look at the news, there is always an aspect of law up for debate...

Natural and Biological Sciences Personal Statement Example Experiencing first-hand life as a human in the natural world, I have the authority to confirm that regardless of previous knowledge, unexplained phenomena still exist. As a scientist, I adore observing the unknown, analysing the known and making decisions accordingly...

English Personal Statement Example 23 My love of literature is rooted in the connection it gives us to centuries of ideas, giving us the ability to converse with ghosts, linking us with the greatest and most eloquent minds in history; as Bovee puts it, “books are embalmed minds”...

Pharmacology and Human Sciences Personal Statement Example From the race to find a vaccine for the H1N1 virus to the almost daily reports of breakthroughs in the field of cancer research, science has always fascinated me.On a more personal note, my interest has largely stemmed from school, work experiences, and science in the news...

Physiotherapy Personal Statement Example 3 My fascination with the body and understanding how it functions has fuelled my desire to pursue a career in physiotherapy as it incorporates science, sports and medicine which are all areas of specific interest to me...

Medicine Personal Statement Example 40 I graduated from the University of Southampton in July 2008 with an upper second class honours degree in podiatry. Since leaving university I have worked as a locum podiatrist. The majority of my role involves working independently in the community providing a high standard of quality clinical care to patients who self present or are referred to the service...

Business & Management Personal Statement Example There is no limit to what you can learn and how much you can earn from it. Instilled with this belief by my father, I have since the beginning learnt to approach the world differently. I view that knowledge can be applied practically not only to earn a living, but also to earn wisdom...

English Literature Personal Statement Example 16 I believe that to read English is to read the human being itself: after all, we are all writers. Even in the very act of choosing our words - thinking them, speaking them, physically writing them down - we create something meaningful...

European Social & Political Studies Personal Statement Example In my opinion, the problems societies face today deserve an in-depth analysis which draws on different disciplines of thought for its relevance; furthermore the implementations of strategies to combat problems must take into account more than one academic approach if they are going to be positively effective...

Pharmacy Personal Statement Example 6 Having grown up with parents that were both involved in medicine and pharmaceuticals, I developed a deep interest in their work and the effects it had on their patients and customers respectively. Seeing them at work, and witnessing the help they gave to sick people to regain their health or cope with pain, made me decide that I wanted to be part of this fascinating profession...

Geography Personal Statement Example 16 "What do you want to be when you grow up?" is an ever recurring question asked to me by many individuals, including myself. I have come to the conclusion that I will never come up with a final answer, as I have many ambitions and aspirations...

Computer Science Personal Statement Example 49 My views about computing changed considerably when I heard about Linux. In the late nineties it was a newer operating system and tasks like installing and configuring were considered to be quite challenging in India...

Medicine Personal Statement Example 57 My enthusiasm for the advances of medical science, understanding and technology drive me towards medicine. I yearn to discover further the wonder and complexities of science, and have a greater understanding of the illness' and diseases we face...

Biological Sciences Personal Statement Example 2 I am interested in pursuing a career in biological sciences because I am captivated by the wonders of the components of life. There upon, I desire to understand the background of problems that are formulated by biology on a molecular level, such as cancer, diseases and genetic disorders...

Medicine Personal Statement Example 58 My desire to study medicine grew from a young age when my mother was diagnosed with hypertension. The regular visits to the GP gave me a glimpse into the profession but particularly the thirst to learn more about heart disease...

Computer Science Personal Statement Example 51 Building my first computer was an experience I will never forget. Looking over what seemed to be a city of silicone, I marveled at how elegantly the components were arranged on the motherboard. Yet I did not feel fully satisfied, as I knew there was a whole other world of computing, which could only be explored by completing a degree in computer science...

Medicine Personal Statement Example 62 When two, I suffered a large third degree burn on my chest. Living in a small town in Romania, I was not able to get appropriate treatment, so I grew up with complexes about the aesthetical appearance of the scar...

German Personal Statement Example 7 The study of language has always been appealing and is the focus of much of my time and energy, but the study of the German language is what mesmerises me most. Before understanding German I was first intrigued by its sound, and as I began to learn it, I became fascinated by its complexity...

Medicine Personal Statement Example 66 White coats, stethoscopes hung around necks and the sense of playing hero were popular amongst childhood dreams. However, unlike others around me, this dream was not lost when I realised reality paved a much tougher road- instead, it grew to become a fierce ambition...

Economics Personal Statement Example 30 The ever-changing nature of the human science intrigues me. Newton’s laws of motion will never change, from wherever ‘the ball is dropped’. However, different strategies and policies have to be framed and implemented for each economic problem...

PPE/Politics and Economics Personal Statement Example 1 I have a strong interest in the close relationship between political events and economic developments, highlighted by a study of Russia in the lead up to the 1917 revolution. I was grabbed by the film adaptation of Ten Days That Shook the World, with its emphasis on its power of the masses...

Dietetics Personal Statement Example 2 “Can I have the sirloin steak served with the oven dried tomatoes and pizzaiola sauce? This was the order of a girl between the ages of 10-14yrs. This choice of dish made me evaluate people’s reasons behind the food they eat and whether these choices are influenced by the people around them or their own individual decision...

Physics Personal Statement Example 15 I have always been intrigued by the world of physics. From everyday experiences to the most extreme boundaries of today's knowledge, I have always voraciously searched for answers to my questions. As I grew up, the elegance of mathematical demonstrations and of physical theorems fascinated me, and I have often dreamt of making contributions to the unification theory and of improving and simplifying the Navier-Stokes equations...

Pharmacy Personal Statement Example 9 I would like to study pharmacy as I wish to play a part in providing medical assistance to the general public, but in also understanding how this process occurs. My enthusiasm in science highly interests me into learning about the production of drugs and their functions on the body...

PPE/Economics Personal Statement Example Humanity today stands at the intersection of the most significant questions facing the world today: if democracy leads to political infighting, should it be sacrificed in the interest of economic well-being? Does religious fundamentalism provide a way for countries in the developing world to assert their identity in the face of Western hegemony? Does the entry of Western consumer goods threaten a country’s economic self-sufficiency? The answers of these questions will determine what the nature of our world is in the twenty-first century...

History Personal Statement Example (Oxbridge) 2 Whether considering the real world applications of Bentham's utilitarianism in Religious Studies, analysing the context of a changing Victorian society in English Literature, or debating the evolving ideology of the Labour Party in Politics, there is one common thread connecting what I enjoy most about my studies: history...

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