Position your letter more as a service offer: you're offering the company your skills and know-how. By adopting this approach, you'll be able to highlight your strengths. The cover letter also has the role of making the recruiter want to meet you. If you manage to arouse his interest, he'll contact you for an interview, where you'll have the opportunity to discuss your experience, your objectives and, above all, what you can bring to the company.

“Following the advert that appeared”, ‘A graduate of the school...’, ‘I've always dreamed of joining a company like yours¨’ - these common formulas, repeated by thousands of candidates, will certainly not help you to arouse the recruiter's interest. From the very first lines, you need to hook your reader, because it's often this introduction that will encourage him or her to continue reading your letter. Choose an interesting attack that will highlight your motivation.

The CV is always attached to the cover letter. Its purpose is to describe your education, career path and skills. It is therefore not necessary to repeat this same information in your letter. The latter is designed to reveal more subjective information: traits of your personality, your approach to challenges, your way of arguing ¨

Yes, you should talk about the company you want to join. This proves to the recruiter that you've researched the company, its environment, its sector of activity¨ But be careful, you mustn't fall into the trap of flattery: “big name company”, “market leader”, “leading company”¨ This is information that the recruiter knows better than you. So stay factual and don't dwell on the company. Instead, describe what your skills can bring to the company, given its activity.

Like the CV, the cover letter must be precise and concrete. Use action verbs and express yourself with clear, punchy language. Specialists advise against the use of present participles, as they weigh down the style. Verbs such as “I think”, “I believe”, “I imagine”¨, are to be avoided as they are not energetic. Avoid using the conditional in sentences such as “I could join your marketing department and would like to take on the role of product manager”. Instead, use the present and future tenses to show the recruiter your willingness and determination, and say “I am perfectly capable of joining your marketing department and would like to take on the role of product manager”.

The negative form should be avoided in cover letters. Some candidates use this form to talk about their strengths. For example, “I'm not experienced, but I'm willing to learn”. Although this type of sentence illustrates the candidate's modesty and honesty, it is not much appreciated by recruiters, as it denotes a certain passivity. Instead, you should say: “My ability to learn will enable me to quickly master the job and mobilize my energy to achieve your objectives¨”.

The cover letter is a very important document. CVs may look the same, but cover letters are always personal. That's why, when two candidates present the same profile, the recruiter chooses to meet the one who has aroused his or her interest. You need to take particular care when drafting this document, and above all have it proofread by several people.

First impressions are crucial. A candidate who arrives, even a few minutes late for a job
interview, is not well received. Plan ahead and estimate how long your journey will take. If you still arrive late, be sure to let the recruiter know. He or she will appreciate your politeness and may even forget you were late.

Put yourself in a job interview situation and ask friends and family to analyze your speech, reactions and general attitude.

This exercise is often beneficial, as it enables candidates to correct a few shortcomings, such as posture, body language and speech rate.

The interviewer's aim is to get to know you, so you'll be talking about yourself. So prepare a speech that illustrates your motivation.

The aim of the job interview is also to go back over your career path. Be prepared to describe it in a synthetic and structured way. Include a brief introductory sentence.

When recounting your career path, do so in chronological order. Don't forget to summarize your experiences - if the recruiter wants details, he'll ask for them. This will help you keep the recruiter's attention to the last part of your presentation, when you list your areas of expertise, your achievements and your career plan.

The aim throughout this exercise - which should only last a few minutes - is to interest the recruiter by demonstrating that your collaboration will be of benefit to him/her.

During the interview, your speaking time is limited.

If you talk for too long, you run the risk of talking about things that are not directly related to the job, or even of preventing your interviewer from speaking.

Not asking questions or answering yes or no to questions is just as risky, as your interviewer will interpret this as a sign of lack of interest or even weakness on your part. The best thing to do is to follow your interviewer's rhythm: speak when he's finished speaking, listen carefully to his questions so you can answer them accurately, and ask questions when he gives you the chance.

- Not having any questions to ask your interviewer ---> lack of interest

- Insisting on your achievements and qualities ---> pretentiousness

- Showing self-doubt ---> lack of fighting spirit

- Not listening to your interlocutor ---> dissipation

- Denigrate previous jobs ---> lack of entrepreneurial spirit

There are a few questions that come up frequently in interviews, so prepare your answers and make sure they're consistent!

 

- What do you like about this particular job?

- What would you really like to do in this position?

- What prompted you to apply?

- Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? Why or why not?

- What management style do you prefer?

- What do you know about our company?

- What has been your most decisive experience?

- What are your main areas for improvement? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses?

- Are you mobile?

- What does teamwork mean to you?

- What is the most important value for you?

- How do you react in conflict situations?

- What motivates you?

- Are you capable of managing a team?

- What might your former colleagues say about you?

By asking questions, you show your interest and motivation. Take a look at these suggestions :

- Can you give me a detailed job description?

- Why is the position vacant?

- What is the company culture?

- Is there an induction seminar? Or a training session?

- Are there any advanced training programs?

- Does the company have any development projects? What are they?

- What are the best-selling products/services?

- What's the next step in the recruitment process?

These are tests designed to assess your technical or professional skills. They can be French or math tests. There are also tests that measure your capacity for concentration and memorization¨ In this case, logic exercises based on classification, comparison and reproduction may be proposed. Some companies don't hesitate either to run “situational” tests to assess candidates' behavior and responsiveness. The best way to be prepared is to find out in advance from the recruiter what type of test you might be taking.

Intelligence is difficult to assess using tests. Recruiters generally use abstraction and problem-solving tests of varying complexity. Candidates have to solve sequences of words, numbers, symbols or figures by finding the appropriate logic. This type of test is available from a number of dedicated websites and books.

An almost systematic interview question, its purpose is to get to know you better, but also to assess how far you've come with regard to yourself.

Focus your answers on your skills (not necessarily on your personality).

Be honest about your strengths and areas for improvement, and illustrate your points with examples and real-life situations.

Explain how you are addressing your weaknesses.

If you've mentioned your love of reading in your CV, this question is a must.

So be prepared to talk about a book you've read and enjoyed, and know how to argue your appreciation of the book.

Avoid polemics as much as possible. Above all, don't quote books you haven't read

 

Even if you're not a great reader, this question can be asked during an interview.

This generic question will enable you to mention the newspapers or business or current affairs magazines you read from time to time.

Try also to mention titles close to the company's sector of activity.

Again, if you've mentioned in your CV that you're a perfect English speaker, the English-speaking recruiter may ask you to answer in English. Above all, don't overestimate your skills if you don't feel able to hold a conversation in English.

Prepare your introductory sentences in English.

It all boils down to talking about yourself. The recruiter's aim is to analyze not only the way you express yourself, but also the way you look at yourself.

This vague question allows you to talk about your qualities and faults.

Above all, don't choose to talk only about your faults or only about your qualities. When talking about your faults, choose character traits that are negative but can be positive in business: perfectionism, nervousness, attention to detail¨

Preferably, talk about an experience that has a link with the position or company you're aiming for.

Then demonstrate how it was a success by sharing with your interviewer all the information that will give them an overall idea of the experience and from which they can draw meaningful conclusions: team spirit, taste for challenge, open-mindedness¨

The aim of this question is above all to identify your approach to difficulties and the type of obstacles that hold you back.

Talk about the difficulties you've encountered and associate them with the solutions you've found and implemented. This will show the recruiter your independence.

The recruiter's objective is to understand your motivations, what you didn't like about your previous job and your career plans.

Above all, don't fall into the trap of disparagement.

Talk about your previous job in positive terms, explaining your ambitions and the fact that you want to enrich your career path, for example.

This question, which may surprise you, helps the recruiter to assess the way you make decisions and express them clearly.

Your answer will also illustrate your aptitude for dialogue and negotiation. Reinforce your answer with professional examples and specific situations.

This is a surprising question if you're not prepared for it!

If you've already talked about your strengths, there's no need to repeat them.

If you're feeling confident, you can play the humor card and answer “why not me?”, but don't overdo it and keep your seriousness.