Letter of Application - Theory
THE LETTER OF APPLICATION
1. INTRODUCTION
A letter of application should accompany your CV, and these two items form a package. The letter has a number of purposes:
It allows you to sell yourself by pointing out key features of your CV.
It gives you the opportunity to include material that is not in the CV, especially personal qualities that you listed when making your preparations.
It shows a prospective employer that you know how to write a letter. While this may be of decreasing importance in an electronic age, many employers still value it highly, both as a skill in its own right and as a test of your ability to communicate clearly and effectively.
Some employers may be flooded with a stack of a hundred or more CVs on any given day. In such situations, getting an interview can represent a major breakthrough for the job applicant. The job application letter you write can and should be used to substitute for that all-important interview that you may not otherwise get, regardless of your qualifications. So, construct it wisely. CVs at best put forth only a rather simple table of data depicting your past work history and educational background for a potential employer's scrutiny. Lacking in a CV are many of the individual nuances important to employers regarding the people they are about to add to their organisation. Surveys of personnel directors of the five-hundred largest organisations show that the vast majority (over 80%) have agreed or strongly agree that they want to know the following:
1 - Your personality: what you are like and what you will be like as an employee?
2 - Why have you chosen to apply for employment with this particular company?
3 - What job are you specifically seeking?
4 - What makes you feel that your education or past experience relates to that job?
2. PLANNING YOUR JOB APPLICATION LETTER:
Think of your job application letter as being constructed of three parts: the introduction, body, and conclusion.
The purpose of
1. INTRODUCTION
A letter of application should accompany your CV, and these two items form a package. The letter has a number of purposes:
It allows you to sell yourself by pointing out key features of your CV.
It gives you the opportunity to include material that is not in the CV, especially personal qualities that you listed when making your preparations.
It shows a prospective employer that you know how to write a letter. While this may be of decreasing importance in an electronic age, many employers still value it highly, both as a skill in its own right and as a test of your ability to communicate clearly and effectively.
Some employers may be flooded with a stack of a hundred or more CVs on any given day. In such situations, getting an interview can represent a major breakthrough for the job applicant. The job application letter you write can and should be used to substitute for that all-important interview that you may not otherwise get, regardless of your qualifications. So, construct it wisely. CVs at best put forth only a rather simple table of data depicting your past work history and educational background for a potential employer's scrutiny. Lacking in a CV are many of the individual nuances important to employers regarding the people they are about to add to their organisation. Surveys of personnel directors of the five-hundred largest organisations show that the vast majority (over 80%) have agreed or strongly agree that they want to know the following:
1 - Your personality: what you are like and what you will be like as an employee?
2 - Why have you chosen to apply for employment with this particular company?
3 - What job are you specifically seeking?
4 - What makes you feel that your education or past experience relates to that job?
2. PLANNING YOUR JOB APPLICATION LETTER:
Think of your job application letter as being constructed of three parts: the introduction, body, and conclusion.
The purpose of