Most colleges attended

without ever earning a degree 6

Most employers in a ten-year period 7

Longest resume (# of pages) 9

Greatest use of "I" and "my"

in a one-page cover letter 23

That's right. One individual used the first person twenty-three times in a twenty-five-line cover letter.

I am enclosing my resume and I am interested in the position advertised...

I attribute my success to my leadership abilities … I am prepared to demonstrate my talent and I would like to discuss my experiences and my strengths... Please contact me at my home so I can meet with you to explain my interests in your company.

What jumps off the page are all the “I’s" that not only demonstrate subjectivity but also truly distract the reader. In addition, relying on the first person locks you into using opinionated phrases, such as "I think," "I feel," and "In my opinion." There is nothing wrong with having opinions unless they are incorrect, inappropriate, or offensive to the reader.

However, you can use the first person when you are describing a specific fact or accomplishment.

• My sales exceeded quota for five years running.

• I was awarded "Manager of the Year" for reducing manufacturing rejects by 50 percent.

Another problem with overloading a letter with the "I" syndrome is creating the perception that you're a lone ranger. Statements like "Through my efforts alone, our company grew by 25 percent in a difficult economic climate" can send up a flare revealing that you may not be a team player. Stress the corporate "we" and "our" in your letters. "Through the efforts of our group, we were able to expand our sales by 25 percent in a tough market."

Because of cutbacks in staffs and reduction in overhead, companies are looking for loyal, team players who can wear a number of different hats.

Grammatical Errors and Misspellings

Finally, make sure your letter is free of careless grammatical errors and misspellings. Technical errors in your cover letter demonstrate a lack of attention to detail while raising serious questions about your level of professionalism.

Cover letters are meant to attract attention and pique an employer's interest, not to close the sale. A concise, objective, and professional letter will draw attention to your qualifications instead of highlighting your shortcomings.

One final point: Always ask another person to review and assess your letters objectively. You may be surprised to find out that what you are trying to say is not the same as what the reader is reading.

Vocabulary and grammar exercises

1 Choose the correct form and fill in the gaps:

1 If you are shy about getting your job search on your own, ask for the help of professional _________.

a) consultants b) shareholders

c) recruiters d. publishers

2 We have two teams calling possible clients to fix ________ with the reps.

a) executives b) meetings

c) accounts d) customers

3 Users can now ________ calls, i.e. transfer them to another number.

a) forward b) reverse

c) charge d) postpone

4 We need a team of creative persons to make our company ________ in the world market.

a) competitive b) environmental

c) skillful d) responsible

5 Don’t make ________ if you cannot deliver on the job.

a) jumps b) claims

c) use d) disorganizations

2 Ask questions on the underlined words:

1 Letters and salutations should remain formal until the recipient tells you otherwise.

2 Familiarity breeds contempt.

3 This problem breeds contempt.

4 This problem is also compounded when people use initials instead of names.

5 For a top position, a cover letter that is any longer than tree paragraphs is too lengthy.

6 Letters of recommendation send a covert signal that you had problems in the past and wanted to clear your name in writing.

3 Fill in the blanks with prepositions and articles:

1 When you apply ________ sales or management position it is important to include ________ names of recognizable customers.

2 ______ cover letter is _______ first piece of evidence ______ potential employer can use to gauge your professionalism and ability to communicate ________ the written.

3 I am interested _______ the position advertised.

4 When in ________ doubt, call ________ company and clarify _______ gender of _______ person.

5 Let’s buy him something nice ________ his birthday ________ a change.

6 The Prime Minister arrived ________ the capital on Monday.

7 Helen Lynx is ________ last person I want to see ________the conference.

8 We are busy today, but we have ________ little time to spare tomorrow.

4 Reword the following sentence without changing their meaning. Pay attention to the italicized words:

1 Sending a letter that shows superiority over.

2 Always ask another person to consider, examine and assess your letters objectively.

3 Stop sending letters of recommendation.

4 He keeps late hours, starting around eight and finishing around seven at night.

5 He is a linguist (an ex-student of the School of African and oriental Studies) and he makes sure his foreign language publicity material is accurate to the last accent.

5 Scrambled sentences. Put the words according to the word order:

1. the/we/up/offer/turn/if/problems/no/job/them/

2. off/business/last/took/year/

3. always/run/time/of/we/out/

4. up/for work/she/almost/turns/late/every day/

5. the report/could/look/you/over/the meeting/before/?

6. in the meeting/up/we/action plan/drew/an/

7. the offer/so/up/it/I/good/was/took/

8. next year/changes/the/to/tax system/in/be/brought/will/

9. the CVs/a short list/interview/then/over/all/for/

candidates/look/we/of/draw up/and/

10. candidate/a/she/like/seems/good/

6 Rewrite each sentence so that it contains the word or words given, and so that the meaning stays the same. Do not change the word given in any way:

Model

a) Terry works in a different place now. JOB

Terry has a different job now.

b) A good boss looks after everyone in the company. EMPLOYER

c) I am sure you will learn a lot in this job. EXPERIENCE

d) This job is a good way to earn money, but that’s all. LIVING

e) The firm gave me a rise after I had worked there a year.

RAISED

f) The company was profitable last year. MADE

g) I had to be interviewed at head office. ATTEND

h) My annual salary will be £40,000

A YEAR

i) Jill is employed by a firm of accountants. WORKS

j) We advertised the job in the paper.

PUT

7 Put the sentences in place to make 2 paragraghs and complete this covering letter.

Start with the sentence that is underlined.

I have been interested in website design since I was fifteen.

As well as studying in my spare time I play golf and work in the local community. For example, I help to run a youth center one evening a week and do charity work at weekends.

This is why I chose to study for a degree in IT and Design at my local university.

After this, I am thinking of going on to do a Master’s degree in computer technology.

I have had excellent grades throughout my course and expect to get a first-class degree.

Because of this kind of voluntary work, I find it easy to meet people and have many friends.

Most of them would probably describe me as hard-working and easy-going.

8 Pair work. Discuss the statements below and find out your partner’s views on the issues:

1 A cover letter is not as important as your resume.

2 Addressing people by their first name in the salutation will show you are an informal friendly person who immediately gets down to business.

3 The more details you can cram into a cover letter, the letter your chances that something will pique the reader's interest.

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