Tips for writing a good Motivation Letter for an EVS project

Dear candidate,

You need just two documents while applying for European Voluntary Service (EVS) projects – your Curriculum Vitae (CV) and a Motivation Letter (ML). Both documents are very important and should be prepared properly. Here you can find a template of CV and fill it in accordingly if you don’t have one. You can also get inspired by CV Europass but it is not obligatory to have one like this.
The Motivation Letter plays a very important role in your application process because of the fact that it shows your ability to present yourself from the best side and to point out how seriously you consider the project. You are supposed to write no more than one page and a half (preferably one) and to summarize all your skills and experience related to the project. The best way is to divide your ML into some paragraphs in order to make it easier for EVS Coordinators to read, understand and evaluate it.

PART ONE – INTRODUCING YOURSELF

❖ Make your letter more personal and try to address directly the responsible/ contact person. If you did not find any names, start with:
❖ Dear Sir or Madam,
❖ Write your own introduction; tell them a little bit about yourself – interests, hobbies and passions.
❖ State some volunteering and/or social experience you already have if any. It is better to choose activities that would be more related to the project itself.

PART TWO – WHY YOU DECIDED TO DO YOUR EVS?

❖ Write why you came to the idea to volunteer, where you found information about this project and organization. Learn more about what this organization does (through their website) and show your interest in their activities.
❖ Describe why EVS is important to you, why you want to do it, why with this organization in particular.

PART THREE – YOU AND THE PROJECT

❖ Tell why you decided to choose their project, what aspects you prefer most of all.
❖ Say if you have ever worked in this area before, if yes – give examples.
❖ Write which activities that are planned during the project you would like to do and why.
❖ Tell them about some activities that you could propose them. It is very important for hosting organizations to know that you are able to take initiatives!
❖ Explain why this organization should give the priority to you and say what makes you different from other candidates.
❖ Finally say about your plans after the project and explain how it will help you to achieve your future goals.

PART FOUR – CLOSING

❖ Write some closing sentences that you will be happy to get a response from them and you are always ready for a Skype-interview.
❖ Finish your letter with – Faithfully yours, (first name and last name)
❖ You can also add some photos, which illustrate your experience and can make you ML more visual, interesting, interactive and easy to read.

A piece of advice from “Stella”

Nowadays EVS became an extremely popular program not only among Ukrainians but also among young people from other European countries who try to compete for their EVS positions. Therefore, you should keep in mind that the competition for EVS is quite high. European Voluntary Service gives youth a great opportunity to volunteer and to work at the same time in the field related to your interests so finding a suitable EVS project can take a lot of time and energy. It happens that there are more than 200 candidates for 1 EVS position, especially in such countries as France, Spain, Germany and Italy. Thus you have to do everything possible to make your application as attractive as possible.

We strongly recommend our candidates being creative and instead of writing long and boring motivation letters think of something personal like:

  • making a PowerPoint presentation with some pictures and music;
  • filming a short 1-2 minute video about your motivation;
  • writing a pdf document with pictures;
  • preparing an article etc.

Just use all your creativity in order to be accepted for the project of you dream! In the end, you are not looking for a job but for an EVS position. Organizations working in the field of EVS appreciate creative people and they certainly will give priority to an unusual motivation. But please, use pictures moderately so that yourmotivation would have a great combination of pictures and words.

When you have your CV and motivation letter (or presentation) ready, you can always send them to us so that we could check it for general understanding and spelling mistakes. We will be happy to help you out with that.
If you have further questions, do not hesitate to contact us at evs.stella@gmail.com or info@ngo-stella.org.
Sincerely, Team of Kharkiv non-governmental association for active youth “Stella”