During my days as recruitment director of a national employment agency, I was forced to wade through the most appallingly written, ungrammatical letters which purported to represent a serious attempt at gaining a position with our company.
There is no excuse for sloppy applications and, as an employer, it is hard not to find scruffy and slipshod efforts insulting. I ended up thinking, ‘Well if you can’t be bothered, why should I?’ and I don’t suppose that I am alone in feeling this.
It’s quite simple really – if you want to give yourself the best chance of getting a job, then make the effort.
Admittedly much of the problem caused by the modern approximation for English can be laid at the door of low standards in schools, poor qualifications in teachers (they are only required to have a Grade C GCSE English themselves) and the loose language of texting and emails. That does not excuse it, though.
Many people don’t even know how to put an application letter together. Don’t worry, though, here’s how to do it:
Start with a heading:
Vacancy for Senior Timewaster at your Donothing Office (putting the job title here allows the company to instantly see what the letter is about as well as saving you having to keep mentioning it in the letter)
Dear Sirs (‘Dear Sir’ if you are knowingly addressing it to one person or ‘Dear Madam’ but only if you know for a fact that they’re female. Never write ‘Dear Mr .. or Dear Ms …’ as you are writing to the company not to an individual. ‘Dear Sirs’ is correct even if the recipients are of mixed gender.)
I write to express my interest in the above post (see, you didn’t need to name it) and attach herewith (a bit legalesish but it’s a standard phrase in business) my completed application form for your consideration.
The position (another word for ‘vacancy’ and ‘job’ – saves repetition) is especially relevant to me as it fits in with my long-term aspiration of a career in clock-watching.
I am available for interview at short notice (worth putting in as a first choice candidate may cry off suddenly) should that be necessary.
I look forward to hearing from you in due course. (A standard ending).
Yours faithfully (‘Yours sincerely’ would have been correct for another sort of letter, addressed to an individual i.e. if you began with ‘Dear Mr’. Never use ‘Best regards’, ‘Yours truly’ or any other option)
Your name
This is the basic letter. If you really feel you have to address it to an individual, it is better to write ‘For the attention of …’ above the ‘Dear Sirs’). Remember it is very rare that the envelope will be opened by the person you are writing to. Normally, all post is opened by a secretary or mail room, date-stamped, made available to the big boss for perusing and then passed to the intended recipient.
Such a basic application letter is acceptable but can be improved upon. However that is a topic for another blog. In the meantime, give this model a try. Don’t forget to manually check the spelling of every word you aren’t sure of (the computer can’t sort ‘which’ from ‘witch’ or ‘there’ from ‘their’ etc).
Good luck with your job-hunting.
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