"The Job Seeker's Guide"EXAMPLE LETTERS INTRODUCTION
The average job application letter is read by someone who knows how such a letter should look and is able to spot errors. You must not send out gobbledegook so check your work carefully or have a friend check it for you. Make sure the friend is a good one as checking someone's work is tedious in the extreme.As it is your letter, and a reflection of your personality, what you have to say and the way you say it needs to get across to the recipient.
To be grammatically correct is fine but do not fall into the trap of having your cousin, who happens to be a professor of English, write all your letters for you and bury your personality in the process.
Be receptive to help from others by all means, refer to your asset register and anyone who is prepared to help you. What you must not do is allow anyone, however well intentioned, to put you in the position of selling your soul in the process. Beware of the danger of not being able to live up to the image you have projected in your correspondence.
The letters that follow are examples, nothing more. They are in sequence of how you might use them in a JOB HUNT situation. Use them as you wish. I have, many times. They have worked for me and for friends and acquaintances over many years in all sorts of JOB HUNT situations.
If you have the luxury of a word processor then the exercise is very simple and the tedious chore eliminated. You simply set up a template and fill in the relevant names and addresses. I bought and taught myself to use computerised word processing and publishing software many years ago. I suffered agony at the time but thank my lucky stars now that I had the foresight to see the potential of such a technological development. I now use a variety of state of the art software packages running on very powerful computers.
If you do not have the technology available then do as we did in the past. Have your example letters before you, in a binder, in order. Copy them out or get someone else to help you. See that they are done when they are required.
And you do not delude yourself that you do not have to do it.
Be receptive to help from others by all means, refer to your asset register and anyone who is prepared to help you. What you must not do is allow anyone, however well intentioned, to put you in the position of selling your soul in the process. Beware of the danger of not being able to live up to the image you have projected in your correspondence.
Remember:
It is you who has to attend the interview.The letters that follow are examples, nothing more. They are in sequence of how you might use them in a JOB HUNT situation. Use them as you wish. I have, many times. They have worked for me and for friends and acquaintances over many years in all sorts of JOB HUNT situations.
If you have the luxury of a word processor then the exercise is very simple and the tedious chore eliminated. You simply set up a template and fill in the relevant names and addresses. I bought and taught myself to use computerised word processing and publishing software many years ago. I suffered agony at the time but thank my lucky stars now that I had the foresight to see the potential of such a technological development. I now use a variety of state of the art software packages running on very powerful computers.
If you do not have the technology available then do as we did in the past. Have your example letters before you, in a binder, in order. Copy them out or get someone else to help you. See that they are done when they are required.
And you do not delude yourself that you do not have to do it.
Using the telephone is another trap. It is no substitute for a letter. Telephones are a valuable asset and I shall fully cover their use in future sections of the course.
Telephones have their place but should never be used as a substitute or an easy way out.