Chances are you went through several drafts of your CV before you submitted it to a prospective employer. You wrote and rewrote each line several times and had friends, family, even strangers proofread it or you even had a professional firm do it for you. But if you send it off without enclosing a cover letter, your hard work may never be seen. I recently had to read an email application for someone who had one line as a
cover letter. It really left me wondering about the seriousness of such a candidate.

Most HR managers, directors, recruiters or other decision makers prefer a good cover letter attached to a CV. Think of it as the first chance to stand out in a sea of applicants. Your cover letter, if done well, tells the hiring manager you are qualified for the job and a serious candidate. Perhaps more important is the opportunity to show your personality.

For this reason, many hiring managers discard any CV’s that don’t have cover letters. Omitting a cover letter tells the employer that you can’t make the effort to sell yourself and to save him or her some time. Writing a cover letter is an easy way to keep you in the game.

Here are some things to remember as you write your cover letter:
It’s your cover letter, not your memoirA lady once sent me quite a long cover letter and asked me to critique it and of course get back to her on what could be wrong. I had to actually take a minimum of 20 minutes off to read through it because it came to 2 pages of story after story which of course was irrelevant. Keep the cover letter to a few organized paragraphs that fit on one page. You want to give the reader a glimpse into your personality and your ability as an employee, but no one needs to know every little detail about your life. Being yourself doesn’t mean being your Saturday-night self. It means putting a little personality into your writing. Recruiters aren’t looking for jokes, but they do want to know a real person is applying for the job. Don’t copy someone else cover letter and send it as you. The point would be it is not you. Hiring managers read the cover letter before they (hopefully) flip the page to look at the CV. They might decide they don’t want to read the CV if your cover letter sounds like it’s restating the exact same information without offering anything new. Discuss a specific achievement or experience that shows your qualifications for the job. The cover letter and CV combined give you their attention for only two pages, so don’t waste it repeating yourself.
If your boss greeted you each morning by saying, “Hello, employee,” you’d be irked she didn’t know your name. Cover letters beginning “Dear Sir or Madam” and “To Whom It May Concern” leave similar impressions. If the job posting does not specify who will receive the applications, you are exempted and you are allowed to address it as such. If you do know the name of the person, use a formal title such as Mr., Ms. or Mrs. It adds a personal but professional touch that will be appreciated.
Sure, a paycheck would be nice, but hopefully you want this job for another reason. The company’s history, accomplishments and culture probably played a role in your decision to apply. Let the hiring manager know. It tells him or her that you’ve done your homework and are serious about being a member of the team.
Even though job hunts are increasingly taking place online, you still need to adhere to business etiquette. As you would on any professional correspondence, include your full contact information as well as the hiring manager’s name and company address. And of course, avoid any typos and grammatical errors, which include net speak (k? thx). You already know how important a cover letter is, so don’t rush through it. Treat it with the same care you used for your CV. Check your facts. Write several drafts, revise it and look it over again. Let your first impression be a good one.

The writer is a HR Officer. Corporate Staffing Services.  Reach her on Email. bettercv@staff-kenya.com for CV writing and recruitment services. www.staff-kenya.com

Some public servants in Kenya hold no certificates at all, while a majority -- nearly 170,000 -- are Form IV graduates, an audit shows.

The Ministry of Public Service findings released on Tuesday put the number of public servants with bachelors degree at about 20,000.

There are more than 500,000 public servants in the country. Most teachers, about 170,000 are also Form IV
leavers, while 50,000 are university degree holders.

About 30,000 teachers are Form IV graduates while about 7,000 are diploma holders.

The Teachers Service Commission also still has Standard Seven -- Certificate of Primary Education, Kenya Advance Prime Education and Kenya Certificate of Prime Education employees in its payroll.

Some teachers, the audit, indicate have no certificate, while about 2,000 teachers hold the Kenya Junior Secondary Education (Form II) certificate. A few have masters degrees.

Conducted as part of rapid results initiative, the audit released at the Kenya Institute of Administration showed that a number of public servants have no certificate at all, a few have diploma while the number of those with doctorate degrees is insignificant.

Public Service minister Dalmas Otieno was the chief guest during the release of the audit which also showed men dominate the public service at 72 per cent compared to women (28 per cent). Women however form 46 per cent of teachers and men (54).

The goal of the research was to determine the human resource capacity in the civil service and TSC to inform the implementation of the national and county governing structures as envisaged in the constitution.

Article 81 of the constitution requires that not more than two-thirds of the members of the elective public bodies shall be of the same gender.

The director of management consultancy services at the Ministry of Public Service Mr Henry Ogega who led the audit said they also collected data on staff distribution, ethnicity, age profile, skills profile and employment trends since 2005 and gave the results to permanent secretaries.

"It is necessary to maintain and update staff audit data on regular basis in the public service for decision making," Mr Ogega said.

The findings, he said, would be discussed with stake holders including Public Service Commission, TSC, PS's, Vision 2030 secretariat, Committee on the Implementation of the Constitution and the National Cohesion and Integration Commission.

The results are to further assist in counties' staffing and organizational structures.

Mr Otieno said the staff audit would be extended to Local authorities and parastatals despite lack of IT system capturing staff data in the organisations.

PS Titus Ndambuki said the audit has been presented to the task force on devolved government.

"The audit is key in deployment of staff. It will determine what will happen to the counties which have a shortage and those with excess," Mr Ndambuki said.

Mr Ndambuki and Mr Otieno called for awareness of public servants on constitution especially Chapter Six on leadership and integrity.

Accompanied by assistant minister Aden Sugow, Mr Otieno warned that civil servants who don't deliver services risked being sued.

"Remember the new constitution has empowered Kenyans with the right to demand for quality services. Public servants have to change their mindsets to serve," he said.