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THE LETTER OF APPLICATION (THE COVER LETTER)

How to write a job application (cover) letter

Reading

The job-winning tips given by some professionals:

1. Writing in black ink on white unlined paper looks professional. Put your address, telephone number and date in the top right-hand corner and the name of the person you are applying to on the left, level with the date. Write the company name and address below.

2. You can possibly type your letter but employers do prefer to see your handwriting. Leave a line between paragraphs.

3. First paragraph - a polite one-sentence opening explanation why you are writing.

4. Tell them you know they are busy people but stress that your CV proves you are worth time too.

5. Describe yourself like a product on sale. List your skills and personal qualities like high motivation, enthusiasm and adaptability. If you have qualifications, list them briefly.

7. Ask for an interview. Say you are happy to come in for a chat at any time, even if there are no jobs available now. Thank the reader for their time and remind them you are waiting for a reply. Use "Yours sincerely" if you're writing to a named person and "Faithfully" if you started "Dear Sir/Madam". Sign your letter at the bottom left and print your name clearly below.

JOB APPLICATION LETTER (COVER LETTER) sample

30 Henry Court

Meadows Nottingham No. 92

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to apply for the position which was advertised last month in The Daily News.

Although I’m presently employed by a non-profit organization, it has always been my intention to work in commercial environment. I would welcome chance to work for your company as I have long admired both the quality of the products that it provides and its position as a defender of environmental causes. The job you are offering suits both my personal and professional interests.

My work experience has familiarized me with many of the challenges involved in public relations today. I’m sure that this, together with my understanding of the needs and expectations of sport and nature enthusiasts, would be extremely relevant to the position.

I would be pleased to discuss my CV with more detail at an interview. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me if you require further information. I look forward to hearing from you

Yours faithfully,

Ann Jackson

Writing

Write your own letter of application, using the following expressions:

I am writing to apply for the position – я пишу, чтобы получить должность..

It has always been my intention – моим намерением всегда было..

I would welcome chance – я с удовольствием использую шанс..

.. suits both my personal and professional interests – соответствует как моим личным, так и профессиональным интересам

My work experience has familiarized me with many of the challenges involved in – мой опыт ознакомил меня со многими проблемами, связанными с…

…would be extremely relevant to the position – исключительно соответствует этой должности

I would be pleased to discuss – мне было бы приятно обсудить…

I look forward to hearing from you – с нетерпением жду ответа

THE RESEARCH TRAINING

(The Cover Letter Vocabulary)

Choose the best response to complete each sentence looking for additional information if necessary:

1. I'm writing ____________________ your advertisement in the Los Angeles Times.

a) in response to b) to respond at c) in respond to

2. I'm writing to ____________________ the possibility of employment with your company.

a) inquire about b) inquest about c) question

3. I have a ____________________ deal (= a lot) of experience in (sales, web development, making folk-art, etc.)

a) big b) large c) great

4. I'm a ____________________ motivated self-started.

a) high b) highly c) height

5. I have been ____________________ (= formally or informally commended) for my ability to manage others.

a) noticed b) notified c) recognized

6. I would very much like to meet with you ____________________ to discuss this position.

a) in person b) personal c) for a chat

7. I would very much like to meet with you to discuss this position ____________________.

a) in detail b) in details c) details

8. I will call you on Tuesday to arrange a ____________________ meeting.

a) eye-to-eye b) nose-to-nose c) face-to-face

9. My main area of ____________________ is (= what I know/do best is) ...

a) expert b) expertise c) experienced

10. As the ____________________ CV/resume illustrates (= shows) ...

a) closed b) enclosed c) encapsulated

11. My academic training combined with my ____________________ work experience make me an excellent candidate for this position.

a) previous b) before c) precious

12. This experience ____________________ me with complete confidence in my professional ability.

(= made me feel confident about what I do)

a) insulted b) instilled c) installed

13. I am completely ____________________ in Spanish.

a) fluid b) flowing c) fluent

14. I have a very good ____________________ of quality assurance.

a) understanding b) comprehend c) understand

15. I developed strong ____________________ communication skills while working as a customer service representative for Bell South.

a) verbose b) speaking c) verbal

16. During the ____________________ (= span) of my career ...

a) life b) course c) lifeline

17. I believe that I could be ____________________ asset to your organization.

a) a valuable b) a value c) valuable

18. Please contact me at your ____________________ convenience.

a) early b) earliest c) earlier

19. I graduated in June with a B.A. in Sociology ____________________ University of Georgia.

a) from b) from the c) at the

20. Most recently, I have been working as a representative for a major pharmaceutical company, presenting and ____________________ various pharmaceutical products to potential clients.

a) making promotions b) doing the promotions c) promoting

21. Because of the small size of this company, I have been ____________________ to and participated in most aspects of managing a business.

a) averse b) exhibited c) exposed

22. ____________________ a Web Developer with MasterCard (= when I was working as a WD at MasterCard), I was responsible for updating and maintaining all of the corporate websites.

a) Since b) As c) Like

23. I ____________________ the development of (= I helped develop) several prominent products.

a) spoke about b) assisted in c) included

24. I believe that the ____________________ of my education, work experience, and personal interests make me an ideal candidate for this job.

a) combination b) union c) unification

25. An ideal candidate = A ____________________ candidate

a) good b) decent c) perfect

26. As I ____________________ (= said, mentioned) earlier...

a) indicated b) vindicated c) appointed

27. Please don't ____________________ = feel free) to contact me with any further questions.

a) hesitate b) a value c) valuable

28. I look forward to ____________________ your reply.

a) the reception of b) receive/get c) receiving/getting

29. My education and employment background are ____________________ (= suitable) for the position.

a) appalling b) appropriate c) appealing

30. Some of my ____________________ (= tasks, etc.) included designing and testing the user interface of the company's corporate intranet.

a) responsibilities b) responses c) respectability

CHECK YOURSELF USING ANSWERS:

1)a 2) a 3) c 4) b 5) c 6) a 7) a 8) c 9) b 10) b 11) a 12) b 13) c 14) a 15) c 16) b 17) a 18) b 19) b 20) c 21) c 22) b 23) b 24) a 25) c 26) a 27) a 28) c 29) b 30) a

HOW TO BEHAVE DURING AN INTERVIEW

Basic Vocabulary

to pay attention to the appearance – обращать внимание на внешность;

to meet the requirements of business style – соответствовать деловому стилю;

previous experience - предыдущий опыт;

good results you achieved – хорошие результаты, которых вы достигли;

to organize thoughts logically – построить мысли логично;

to have self-confidence – иметь уверенность в себе;

unexpected questions – неожиданные вопросы;

settlement of conflicts – улаживать конфликты;

to overcome your nervousness – преодолеть нервозность;

to speak the way you speak with your friends – говорить, как со своими друзьями;

eye-to-eye contact – контакт «глаза в глаза»;

enthusiastic and lively – живой и выразительный.

Reading

Your behavior during an interview is often the best and often the most important stage in getting a job. The interview is the opportunity for the applicant to project his/her personality and convince the interviewers of his/her suitability for the job. Here are some tips how to behave during an interview.

Pay attention to the way you are dressed. When you are properly dressed you demonstrate respect and consideration for those with whom you interact. Your clothing should meet the requirements of business style. It's very important that in your suit you should feel comfortable.

Be ready to speak about yourself. Your words should contain something to make people take notice of you. Describe briefly your experience at the previous job, good results you achieved there. You should organize your thoughts logically and have self-confidence, never distort facts and try to persuade people to your way of thinking.

You must be ready to answer some unexpected questions: "What are your strong points?" "What are your weak points?"

“What salary are you expecting?” Think of concrete figures - you should base your answer on the average salary of other employees with your qualification.

You may be asked what you can do for the company or how you see future duties. You should learn as much as possible about the company you are dealing with. What salary are you expecting?

Be ready for practical tests - if you apply for a job as a sales manager you may be asked to sell something or to express your opinion on settlement of some conflicts in a hypothetical situation.

Some more advice:

Never be late.

Try to overcome your nervousness. Be yourself - just speak the way you speak with your friends.

Much attention should be paid to eye contact. You should not look at the floor or at the ceiling. Look in the eyes of the person you are talking to.

Your speech should be enthusiastic and lively.

AN INTERVIEW Sample

- Good afternoon! I am Sergey Pavlov and I'm currently applying for a position of a visa manager with your company.

- Why do you want to work in our company?

- I have a considerable experience in this area; I have so far worked in several travel agencies on similar positions. So, working for your company won't be challenging. I like my job.

- I see. What was your last work place?

- I worked at X travel agency, which offered tourist voyages over Europe .

- Why did you leave your job?

- The company cut jobs and finally went bancrupt.

- Tell me, please, about your educational background.

- Well. I graduated from The State University in 2001, Faculty of Economics; afterwards I joined a post-graduate course and received a Philosophy Doctor. The thesis was public relations in the sphere of tourism. I also did a management training for the travel agency managers in 2005, for which I've got a certificate.

- You received good education. But why this position? Wouldn't you like to work as a university teacher?

- Yes, I wanted to try this sphere, but the salary is too low there. Therefore I chose a career in the commercial sector.

- I see. How do you understand your responsibilities?

- Well. I'm supposed to be in charge of consulting clients on visa regulations in different countries and assisting them in preparing the necessary set of documents. I will also be responsible for visiting embassies, submitting documents and getting visas for the clients or arranging on interview dates for them if needed.

- All these require good knowledge of English. As I can see, you know the language very well. But where did you learn it?

- I graduated from a specialized language school, I also studied English at the university and afterwards I passed a candidate exam of English, had got an excellent mark and did an English course to raise my language level.

- Thank you. What can you tell me about your character? Everybody has their strong and weak points, how can you describe yourself?

- Well. I have excellent communication skills. I have good people skills. I'm very helpful. As of my weak points, I don’t like to get up early. But it doesn't mean that I'm not punctual. I'm always on time for work, take my word for that.

- Tell me, please, about your family.

- Well. I am single, I have no children. I live in my own flat alone.

- So, Sergey, it was very nice talking to you. I'm sure you will make a good candidate for this position. But as you might understand: to know English means not only to be able to speak fluently, but to write and to understand English. Therefore I must be sure that you have these skills. I'd like you to take a number of tests. When are ready with those, please, give the papers to the office manager. I’ll check them later today, and if everything is fine, I’ll be in touch soon.

- Thank you for your time. Hope to hear from you.

- OK. Have a nice day! Good bye.

- Good bye.

Practice

1. Writing Put down some recommendations how to behave yourself during the interview using Basic Vocabulary.

2. Discussing the Key Points

What do we mean, when we say that a person is:

- reliable, hardworking, sociable, helpful, ambitious, friendly, professional, experienced?

when we say that a person is:

- unreliable, dependent, unfriendly, inexperienced, dishonest, indifferent, unsuccessful, irresponsible, helpless, inflexible?

Role Play

Several days ago there appeared an advertisement for a job in the newspaper “Moscow Times”. Some of you decided to apply for this job while the others are going to be interviewers. The applicants will have to write application letters and their CVs and later they will be called for an interview one at a time. Finally, the successful applicant is called back into the interview room and offered the job.

Book-keeper

A well-established British company requires a book­keeper/secretary for their new office in Moscow.

The book-keeper/secretary must be bilingual in Russian and English and experienced in IT.

Competitive salary with a challenge to grow.

Write enclosing CV to

Mr. J. Smith School House

Halshead Road

Paynton BVG 8MN.

The List of Roles

1. INTERVIEWER, the head of the Personnel Department.

2. INTERVIEWER, the Personnel manager.

3. APPLICANTS.

The description of the roles:

John (Irene) Smith, the head of the Personnel Department

Before interviewing the applicants look through their resumes, CVs and application letters, decide what questions to put, be ready to explain about the job advertised and to say what the person will have to do. The contract is for one year. You are looking for someone aged 20-30. You think that a man is more suitable for the job and that the person should be friendly and have a nice personality.

Experience is not of vital importance - you have your own training program. Analyze the results of the interviews, choose the most suitable applicant and announce your decision to the applicants.

Paul (Nora) Williams, the personnel manager

Before interviewing the applicants, look through their resumes, CVs and application letters, decide what questions to put, be ready to explain about the job advertised and to say what the person will have to do. You are supposed to take notes (name, appearance, general impression, speech, answers to questions - you could give each applicant points out of ten each of the above). Offer applicants to put questions to you. You think that the person should have some experience, must be energetic, ambitious and enthusiastic. You are interested in the results of his studies. Analyze results of the interviews, discuss them with your colleagues, choose most suitable applicant and announce your decision to the applicants.

Applicants

You are to use your own names and background. If you like you can add some details, write an application letter. Be ready to answer the questions of the interviewers and to put your own questions about the job. Don’t forget to say "Congratulations" to the person who finally gets the job.

THE FINAL TRAINING

(The Interview Vocabulary)

Choose the best response to complete each sentence looking for additional information if necessary:

1. When did you start your current ____________________ (= job)?

a) position b) place c) work

2. I left my last job because I felt that they didn't recognize my ____________________.

a) accomplishments b) accommodations c) acclimation

3. I've always been a team ____________________. (= I've always worked well with other people)

a) play b) worker c) player

4. I believe I'm a good ____________________ for this position.

a) fitness b) fit c) man

5. Tell me a little about your ____________________ job. (= your last job)

a) past b) finished c) previous

6. I developed good communication skills ____________________ as a customer service

representative.

a) while working b) when working c) by working

7. What does "rep" stand for?

a) representative b) republican c) reprimand

8. You shouldn't discuss salary until the interviewer ____________________. (= starts talking about it)

a) brings up b) brings it on c) brings it up

9. An interviewer might ask you what your "salary ____________________" are. This is the formal

way of asking how much money you require.

a) needs b) requirements c) desires

10. Many companies want to hire someone who can ____________________ well.

a) take pressure/stress b) handle pressure/stress c) get pressure/stress

11. I had a good working relationship with my ____________________ (= boss).

a) supervisor b) superior c) superintendent

12. During an interview, you might be asked to describe how you ____________________

(= resolved) a difficult situation.

a) dealt b) dealt with c) went through

13. We need someone who can work under minimum ____________________.

a) supervision b) supervisor superior

14. Instead of using the word "difficult" to describe something, you should use a more positive word

like:

a) really hard b) challenging c) awful

15. Is there an ___________________ of which you are particularly proud?

a) action b) atonement c) achievement

16. An interviewer will ask you about your strengths, but might also ask about your

___________________.

a) challenges b) week c) weaknesses

17. I was ___________________ for developing the company's intranet.

a) responsible b) made c) responsive

18. Some of my ___________________ included helping customers, filing complaints, and dealing with

emergency situations.

a) jobs b) duties/ responsibilities c) activities

19. When someone asks you to "outline your experience" they want you to:

a) forget about your experience b) brag about your experience

c) talk about your experience

20. Things/activities done on your free time (hobbies, etc) are known as «___________________

activities".

a) extracurricular b) extra c) extraneous

21. You should always make the employer feel like you have ___________________.

a) much to give b) a lot to offer c) to offer

22. The interviewer asked me if I'm good at meeting __________________. (= getting things done at the required time)

a) borders b) new people c) deadlines

23. Did you send a __________________ letter to the person who interview you?

a) thanks b) thank-you c) thanks-a-lot

24. When an employer asks you how you see yourself five years from now, she/he wants to know about

your __________________.

a) career goals b) working goals c) work ideas

25. Can you explain the __________________ (= missing time) in your employment history?

a) gap b) blank c) space

26. Do you prefer working alone or __________________?

a) in team b) with a team c) in a team

27. The employer asked Karen about what motivates her to "go the extra mile" on a project. In this

context, to "go the extra mile" means __________________:

a) to do more than is necessary b) to become very tired c) to run hard

28. I'm sorry but you're just not ___________________ enough for this position.

a) qualified b) qualification c) quality

29. When you make the decision to leave a job it's called "quitting" - When your boss makes that decision because of something bad that you've done, it's called "being ___________________", ex.

John was ___________________ for stealing a stapler.

a) fire b) fired c) thrown

30. When you are told to leave a job because there's not enough work, money, etc. to keep you there, it's called "being ___________________."

a)left b) fired c) laid off

CHECK YOURSELF USING ANSWERS:

1)a 2) a 3) c 4) b 5) c 6) a 7) a 8) c 9) b 10) b 11)a 12) b 13) a 14) b 15) c 16) c 17) a 18) b 19) c 20) a 21) b 22) c 23) b 24) a 25) a 26) c 27) a 28) a 29) b 30) c