Writing Winning Resumes and Cover Letters (Coursera)

Writing Winning Resumes and Cover Letters (Coursera)

How can you bring your resume to the top of the pile? How can you present yourself to prospective employers using the language they already speak inside their company? This course will give you answers to those questions. You will learn how to convert a boring resume into a dynamic asset statement that conveys your talents in the language that an employer understands.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

  1. Identify the real purpose of a resume.
  2. Identify relevant competencies for a position.
  3. Adapt your resumes to Applicant Tracking Systems (resume screening software).
  4. Write powerful and convincing accomplishment statements using your accomplishments inventory to strategically assemble the most relevant evidence of competency for a specific position.
  5. Use the resume skills tier method to strengthen your resume.
  6. Write summary sections and objective statements aligned to a job position.
  7. Take advantage of web resources to find power language for your resume.
  8. Produce a strong resume in a format that is suitable both to your background and the position you're interested in.
  9. Produce strong cover letters that use A.I.D.A. to help you achieve your career goals.
  10. Produce effective follow-up letters that help you stand out from the competition.

Course 4 of 5 in the Interviewing and Resume Writing in English Specialization.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Preparing to Write
In this module, you'll learn to how position your resume to a specific marketing purpose, how to align your resume with the specific needs of the hiring organization, and how to ensure your resume ranks high on the relevancy scales used by top-notch organizations today.

WEEK 2
Writing a Winning Resume
In this module, you will learn how to construct powerful accomplishment statements, how to write effective summary sections and job objectives, how to select action words to present you as a doer and achiever, and how to use two web resources that can help you find powerful language for your resume.

WEEK 3
Choosing a Resume Format
In this module, you'll learn how to select the best resume format to support your experience and career goals. You'll learn how to prepare resumes for electronic submission and for submission to OCR engines. You learn the benefits of using an internal resume in your annual review process, and you'll learn what never to put on a resume.

WEEK 4
Writing a Winning Cover Letter
In this module, you'll how to prepare an effective cover letter and how to use marketing strategies to get you cover letter to work for you. You'll learn how to use similar strategies to write a follow-up letter after interviews.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Essentials for English Speeches and Presentations 英语演讲与演示 (Coursera) Coursera
Peking University

Essentials for English Speeches and Presentations 英语演讲与演示 (Coursera)

Students must learn essential knowledge and skills to deliver an impressive English speech or presentation for academic purposes, job hunting, and business occasions. Global perspectives and inter-cultural communication skills are taught here to facilitate most Chinese English learners. 学习在学术交流、求职、海外留学与商务场景下进行英文演讲与演示所必备的知识与技能,强化中国学生的全球化视角与跨文化沟通技巧。

Nov 2nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Interview Research and Preparation (Coursera) Coursera
University of Maryland, College Park

Interview Research and Preparation (Coursera)

This course, the first in the "Interviewing and Resume Writing in English" specialization, guides you to discover the interests, talents and competencies that you can use to find and do work that leverages your strengths, passions and who you are as a person, so you can start doing work that matters to you and to the world. Whether you already have a career and are looking to move forward, whether you’re looking to change careers, whether you’re starting out in the world of work, whether you’re coming back into the world of work after some time away – this course will help you see your path more clearly and will teach you how to communicate your value to an employer in a way that he or she can immediately recognize.

Nov 2nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Lesson | Telephone Language (Coursera) Coursera
Georgia Institute of Technology

Lesson | Telephone Language (Coursera)

This lesson is part of a full course, Speak English Professionally: In Person, Online & On the Phone. Take this lesson to get a short tutorial on the learning objectives covered. To dive deeper into this topic, take the full course. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to identify telephone language through phone dialogues.

Nov 16th 2026
1 Week
Gathering and Developing the News (Coursera) Coursera
Michigan State University

Gathering and Developing the News (Coursera)

Journalists develop information through interviews and sources. The most successful journalists quickly master these important skill sets. The production of journalism relies on several elements: newsgathering, interviewing sources, researching and trying to find as much information as possible. The course will also teach you how to where to find information, interviewing skills and how to process information from various sources for publication.

Nov 2nd 2026
4 Weeks
Build Your Professional ePortfolio in English (Coursera) Coursera
Georgia Institute of Technology

Build Your Professional ePortfolio in English (Coursera)

Roughly half of the world’s population is already online and so setting yourself apart from the crowd is more important than ever before. One of the best ways to do that is by creating your own ePortfolio. An ePortfolio is a site that showcases or shows your background, your resume, and samples of your work. In this course, you will learn step by step how to build the site and you’ll learn the grammar, vocabulary and writing skills needed to create it. You will learn how to apply information from your ePortfolio to other online tools like LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube in order to network with others so that you get a job or connect with other professionals.

Nov 16th 2026
4 Weeks
First Step Korean (Coursera) Coursera
Yonsei University

First Step Korean (Coursera)

This is an elementary-level Korean language course, consisting of 5 lessons with 4 units, and covers 4 skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. The main topics include basic expressions used in everyday life, such as greetings, introducing yourself, talking about your family and a daily life and so on. Each lesson covers dialogues, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, quizzes and role-plays.

Nov 2nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Qualitative Research Methods (Coursera) Coursera
University of Amsterdam

Qualitative Research Methods (Coursera)

In this course you will be introduced to the basic ideas behind the qualitative research in social science. You will learn about data collection, description, analysis and interpretation in qualitative research. Qualitative research often involves an iterative process. We will focus on the ingredients required for this process: data collection and analysis.

Nov 9th 2026
5-12 Weeks
English for Effective Business Speaking (Coursera) Coursera
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology - HKUST

English for Effective Business Speaking (Coursera)

This course aims to improve your Business English speaking skills by developing your use of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, spoken communication skills within a Business context, and your ability to deliver professional business speeches for specific purposes. Skills learned in this course will be used in the cross-cultural communications course and help prepare you to deliver the professional business presentation in the Capstone project.

Nov 16th 2026
5-12 Weeks
English Intermediate B1.2 (Coursera) Coursera
University of Naples Federico II

English Intermediate B1.2 (Coursera)

Welcome to the second and final course in our B1 program! English is the most important international language for the workplace and for study, and this second course will help you improve your language skills even further to reach the convincing intermediate level you need to work, study or travel abroad. The varied learning activities will enable you to communicate on a variety of more complex topics like the digital university, the climate and the environment, and looking after your health.

Nov 9th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Teach English Now! Second Language Listening, Speaking, and Pronunciation (Coursera) Coursera
Arizona State University

Teach English Now! Second Language Listening, Speaking, and Pronunciation (Coursera)

In this course, you will be introduced to some of the challenges of teaching and learning listening and speaking, such as paralinguistics, performance variables, reduced and regional forms, and differing types of oral discourse. Don't worry--you'll learn what those mean, too! Then you'll learn how to ease the acquisition of listening and speaking for your students. The course also highlights the powerful opportunity to include pronunciation in listening and speaking classes and offers strategies to incorporate pronunciation activities.

Nov 9th 2026
5-12 Weeks
English Lower Intermediate B1.1 (Coursera) Coursera
University of Naples Federico II

English Lower Intermediate B1.1 (Coursera)

Welcome. This is the first of our 2 courses in English to take you to a B1 level of competence. English is the most important international language for the workplace and for study. The varied learning activities on this course will enable you to communicate effectively in a variety of situations and on a range of important topics like daily life, travel and food.

Nov 16th 2026
5-12 Weeks
English for Effective Business Writing (Coursera) Coursera
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology - HKUST

English for Effective Business Writing (Coursera)

This course aims to improve your Business English writing skills by developing your use of vocabulary, grammar, understanding of different business writing genres, and your ability to write professional business documents. Skills learned in this course will be used in the cross-cultural communications course and help prepare you to produce the professional business documents in the Capstone project.

Nov 16th 2026
5-12 Weeks