Your application letter’s main purpose is to grab the reader’s attention and spark their desire to read your resume. With this in mind, your letter should highlight the points relevant only to the position advertised. If your application lacks something they have particularly requested, be sure and respond why this should/ could be overlooked. We recommend that your resume/ cv be no longer than 3-4 pages (lengthy resume’s can easily be shortened with clever formatting), with most recent work history first. 
When preparing your resume, consider:

• What key qualifications will the employer be looking for?
• What qualifications will be most important to them that you possess?
• Which of these are your greatest strengths?
• What are the highlights of your career to date that should be emphasised?
• What should be de-emphasised?
• What things about you and your background make you stand out?
• What are your strongest areas of skill and expertise? Knowledge? Experience?
• What are some other skills you possess--perhaps more auxiliary skills?
• What are characteristics you possess that make you a strong candidate? (Things like "innovative, hard-working, strong interpersonal skills, ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously under tight deadlines")
• What are the three or four things you feel have been your greatest accomplishments?
• What was produced as a result of your greatest accomplishments?
• Quantify the results you produced in numerical or other specific terms?
• What were the two or three accomplishments of that particular job?
• What were the key skills you used in that job? What did you do in each of those skill areas?
• What sorts of results are particularly impressive to people in your field?
• What results have you produced in these areas?
• What are the "buzz words" that people in your field expect you to use in lieu of a secret club handshake, which should be included in your resume?