Should you tailor your CV for each position? What advice can you give on writing cover letters? Are little white lies okay on your job application form?

Just a selection of the questions graduates asked career-coaching experts during the live Find a Job webinar hosted by the Times.

Answers given by Graduate Coach, one of the appointed Times career experts, included: ‘Yes, CVs should be tailored to each position. However, if you tailor your CV for each job field then you should find there’s little tweaking to do for each position.

Cover letter advice for graduates

‘The cover letter is where you sell yourself. Don’t use it to drone on about your super personality or to regurgitate information on your CV – talk about the tasks relevant to the post, outcomes of actions you’ve taken and what you can bring to the role directly as a result of your knowledge and experience. Never send off a CV without a cover letter.

‘And, as for little white lies, that’s a no, no! You’ll get found out under interview cross examination but even if you pass this you’ll soon come face to face with expectations from others that you can’t meet.’

What about unpaid internships?

We also received a question about unpaid internships, whether they were worth it. A number of the panel experts responded to this with all saying they were definitely an invaluable way to gain the experience you need to get on your chosen career ladder. Brian Michael from Meet the Real Me said if the internship is generating money for the company then the internship should be paid.

At the very least, says Graduate Coach Chris Davies, no internship should be taken on without travel and lunch expenses being covered – you should never pursue an internship that leaves you financially worse off as a result.

The broad response is that internships give you valuable experience that you would not have been able to secure otherwise. This means that you should never settle for an internship that doesn’t offer you the chance to build your experience and learn more about the field in which you want to work.

Questions were still coming in when the hour webinar was up so unfortunately we weren’t able to answer them all!

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