Question:

I’m preparing my job documents for a job placement and looking for ways to economize. Can I just write a really short cover letter since all the information I would put in a letter is already on my CV? The cover letter feels redundant.



Answer: NO.

And the reason for that is — they are two different documents. They have different functions and are designed to help the search committee ascertain distinctly different things. It is a good practice to go over the basics of both documents as a job seeker.

The CV.

It’s a chronology of your accomplishments. As a genre, it has its own conventions and styling, where form follows function. The CV is a comprehensive record of the following:

PERSONAL DETAILS:
Name, address, telephone, DOB, e-mail. Make sure name is big and bold and stands out from page.
EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS:
State years of study and qualifications gained (most recent first) eg:
2012-2016: University of Lagos.
BSc(Hons) Physiology

Don’t get carried away writing exam results. Just state what exams you did, especially when talking about school. State school and ‘Leaving Cert’ / A-level, no need to list every subject and grade.
Don’t go back any further in time than secondary school, no need to list primary school (This is debatable though, some professionals in the HR field seems not to agree with this).
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:
State dates and relevant places on employment. No room on CV for things like bar work when applying for a physiology job. State things like health care assistant, nursing home work and other relevant stuffs.
STATE YOUR EXPERIENCE
Here you talk briefly about your work experience and your pace of work.

You may use a table format to save space while allowing for adequate delivery of information.
Remember CV should only be approx 3 page MAX so you don’t want to use up too much space, important to keep brief.


CERTIFICATION:
Any classes or workshops you have gained a certificate for example;
2011: Neurology Workshop with Grainne McKeown
Sports Traumatology including CPR/AED with Santry Sports Clinic

Again state in chronological order: most recent first.
Sports Coaching course.
· ACHIEVEMENTS:
Scholarships
Academic awards
Student union or leadership roles etc. (Be careful here, Student unionism is fast losing its importance especially in Nigeria. This can be turn off for many companies. Nowadays, they are careful not to bring unionist and students activists into their companies for obvious reasons. Also, some believe there is widespread corruption in the students Union sectors that ends up producing people of questionable integrity)
Sporting achievements eg cups won, international/ provincial / county honours
Music grades
· HOBBIES
REFERENCES

The people in your corner. The final page of your CV should list the names and contact information of your references. A quick scan, at this stage before the letters are requested, it will give an idea to the the HR committee who the people writing your letters. Ensure you include top officials in your previous place of works or perhaps your senior lecturers whom you have had contact with if you are a young school leaver.
Remember, the HR may make a case against you when they discover the people in your previous place of work are mysteriously refusing to be your recommenders.
Is one of your references a well-known scholar from another campus who is willing to vouch for your brilliance? That scores you points, but it is not something you can mention in your cover letter without sounding like you are name-dropping. On a CV, however, the appearance of the scholar’s name speaks for itself. Your candidacy gets a boost without losing any points for sounding self-aggrandizing.
The cover letter. The letter you include with each job packet has a mission distinct from the vitae. Whereas the CV is a document that informs, the cover letter is a document that elucidates and persuades. In the letter you have to be able to explain the following:
The substance of your work.
The likely contributions to the firm or company.
The view of your work e.g your work ethics and relationship with others.
How you “fit” the place. Rather than leaving the search committee to read between the lines of your CV — trying to establish possible collaborations or ways in which you would augment their course offerings — you can make those connections for them in the letter, and frame your candidacy as an asset. A CV cannot show that you did homework on their department, but a cover letter can. A CV cannot say, “I can envision collaborating with X professors in your department on Y project, as their new research project intersects with something I have already been exploring in my last three articles.” But your letter can — and should.
In other words, if you don’t understand that a CV and a cover letter are not just redundant vehicles for the same information but are documents that exemplify fundamentally different genres, you are going to shortchange yourself and your application.


https://kaybaba.com.ng/your-cv-should-inform-your-cover-letter-should-persuade-here-is-the-reason/