5.3 Read a covering letter of Thomas Crown and analyze taking into account information given above.

17 King's Terrace,

Richmond, Surrey, UK

Tel: +44 181123 456

E-mail: thomas. crown@interwell. net

The Principal Interplay Sales

77 bd Saint Germain

75006 PARIS

17 April 2006

Dear Madam:

I am interested in working as International Sales Manager for your organization. I am a National Sales Manager with nearly 15 years’ experience to offer you. I enclose my resume as a first step in exploring the possibilities of employment with Interplay Sales.

My most recent experience was managing national sales for Intelel London. I was responsible for the overall software sales, including home and professional ones. In addition, I doubled the sales from 5 to 10 $ million.

As International Sales Manager with your organization, I would bring a focus on quality and effectiveness to your sales design. Furthermore, I work well in a team, and I am experienced in sales planning.

I would appreciate your keeping this enquiry confidential. I will call you in a few days to arrange an interview at a time convenient to you. Thank you for your consideration.

Yours faithfully,

Signature

Thomas Crown

Remember! In British English it is “Covering letter” and in American English – “Cover letter”.

5.4 Here is the typical format for your covering letter. Match the structural units with the descriptions and instructions.

1. Your address	a) is the name of the person to whom you are address writing, his/her job title, the company name and address. This should be the same as on the envelope.
2. Date	b) a letter in English always begins with “Dear...”, even if you do not know the person. There are several possibilities: Dear Sir, Dear Mr. ...
3. Destination name and address	c) put the subject of your letter, which for a job name and application is normally the Job Title.
4. Reference	d) the letter itself, in 3 to 6 paragraphs.
5. Salutation	e) sign in black or blue ink with a fountain pen.
6. Subject	f) put your telephone number, fax and/or email address at the top, in the centre or on the right
7. Body	g) your first name and surname
8. Ending	j) if you are using company headed paper, write your Job Title here. If you are using personal paper, write nothing here.
9. Your signature	h) indicate that one or more documents are signature enclosed by writing “Enc: 2” (for two documents, for example).
10. Your name	i) do not write the date as numbers only: it can be name considered too official and therefore impolite.
11. Your title	k) includes the word 'Yours' - sincerely, faithfully, truly
12. Enclosures	l) you write the number or code given by the employer in their advertisement or previous letter in the form: “Your ref: 01234”. If you wish to include your own reference, you write: “My ref: 56789”.

Remember! All-number dates are written differently in British English (31/12/99) and American English (12/31/99). This can lead to confusion.

5.5 There are some unwritten rules of preparing a cover letter. Here are the instructions what should you do and what don't. Organize the recommendations into two columns. There are 10 of them in a column.

Do...

Don't...

1. be positive.

2. sign your letter with a fountain pen

3. be neat

4. write CV or Resume at the top.

5. write Mr., Mrs. or Miss in front of your name

6. give full addresses of past employers

7. keep to the point. Be relevant

8. ask a friend to look at your CV and letter

9. give minor or unimportant school qualifications

10. give lots of irrelevant or unimportant hobbies

11. look forward to the future

12. check your work for grammatical errors

13. make your covering letter more than 1 page

14. look backward to the past

15. emphasize the benefit you will bring to an employer

16. write names in capital letters

17. use lots of capital letters, italics or fancy typefaces

18. create an organized layout

19. include false information.

20. use active verbs