HOW TO WRITE A LETTER OF APPLICATION

Some advice

• Your letter of application can be either handwritten (it must be legible), typed or emailed.

• Beware of grammar and spelling mistakes; have yourself helped by someone you can rely on.

• Don’t use any abbreviations.

• Use block style, i.e.:

— no commas after Dear and “Yours faithfully / sincerely”,

— no indented lines at the beginning of the paragraphs,

— line spaces between the paragraphs.

• Be as accurate, concise and straightforward as possible and don’t

— boast with sentences such as “This is exactly the kind of career I had hoped for”,

— use appalling flattery such as “1 would be very pleased to work in your world-famous company”,

— make blunders with sentences such as “1 am ready to do anything”.

 

The contents of your letter

¦ The date:30 June 2003 : this is the most usual way to write a date in British English. In American English, it should be June 30,2003. In both cases, it is pronounced June the thirtieth, two thousand and three. Be careful!12/01/03 means January the twelfth in British English but December the first in American English.

O Clearly indicate the subject of your letter .

O Indicate the ad you are answering, with its reference (newspaper, date, ad number job advertised).

O Briefly introduce the reason why you are applying for this job.

O Sum up your CV (without repeating it) in accordance with the qualities required for the post you are applying for. Use the nouns or adjectives mentioned in the ad (e.g: “autonomous personal assistant” ) use the word “autonomous” in your letter) with examples. For instance, if “dynamism is required you can write (only if it’s true!): I organised my sales manager’s trip to Germany and prepared his conference there overnight.

¦ Close your letter by showing interest in further discussion.

¦ Thank the addressee and finish with the usual letter ending .

¦  Don’t forget to indicate that you’ve attached documents to your letter, either by the number of documents or by their names (“Enc. 1” or “Enc. CV). For an email, use “Attached”.

A few useful phrases

• I am currently preparing my BTS Assistant Secrétaire Trilingue.

•After I passed my BTS, I worked with…..as a….

• On leaving school, I worked with…

• As indicated in my CV,…

• As you will see from my enclosed CV, I…..

• When I worked with X company, I dealt with….,I was responsible for, I was in charge of….                                  After reading the text,    Click here